As a site with over one billion users, YouTube provides a massive platform for fashion brands to showcase their products. However, most people don’t go to You
Tube to watch advertisements that feel like advertisements. Therefore, it is not effective for brands to just post their TV ads onto YouTube.
Some fashion brands have figured out that that they need to elevate their video content to feel like they are not about selling a product. They are creating videos that are designed to purely entertain their audience –branded content.
Subconsciously, the person watching is being exposed to the brand name, the logo and key marketing messages which would be placed in a regular ad. Brands following this approach are the ones that are gaining a larger following and a higher amount of views on their videos.
Here are 3 Fashion Brands that are using YouTube video marketing effectively:
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Chanel:
Chanel’s channel has over 400,000 subscribers, more than any other fashion brand, giving it the top spot for YouTube reach. They fully embraced the idea of making branded content for YouTube, like a 7-minute film they posted called “Reincarnation”, made by Karl Lagerfeld that starred Cara Delevigne, Pharrell, and Geraldine Chaplin. Over three million people watched the film. Another film, called Chanel no5: The One That I Want, got over ten million views. Chanel also used music very well in their ads. Revealingly, in the comments under the video, one person said that they watched the video solely to listen to the music.
Chanel also used many celebrities in their videos, not just models. They capitalized on people’s interest in certain people, for example, Pharrell after his song “Happy” came out. Chanel also does well because they have many different products to work with, bags, perfume, etc. They have more opportunities to make interesting videos. Their imagination with their videos has given them an edge over the other fashion brands that hold YouTube channels.
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Christian Dior
Like Chanel, all of Dior’s most viewed videos are videos with big stars (Robert Pattinson, Rihanna, etc.) Dior did a very good job with their “J’adore Dior” films with Charlize Theron. The video got over 27 million views, more than any of the Chanel videos. Dior has teaser videos, which is a smart move because it brings people’s attention to videos that will be coming out soon. They make sure to look out for them when they are on YouTube and are probably likely to watch it if the video has a star they know well or care about.
Like Chanel’s The One That I Want Video, Dior’s “J’adore Dior” has a song in the background that many people commented on. The first five seconds can make a big difference in terms of a user’s decision whether to watch a whole video or stop it in the middle. The beginning shot of the Dior ad, the long hallway with the glistening chandeliers, mixed with the instrumental beginning of the song, and the clicking of Charlize Theron’s heels, gives enough mystery that people want to continue watching more than if it was a very obvious ad with a boring song.
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Up and Coming Fashion Brand on Social Media: Net-A-Porter
An up and coming YouTube channel is Net-A-Porter. Although they do not have as many followers as either Chanel or Dior (around 68,000) they are doing a very good job through what they call “Edit TV”. On their account, they state that Edit TV “brings you exclusive celebrity interviews, unmissable styling tips, beauty advice, fitness and lifestyle videos, every week.” The weekly update is a smart way to keep people interested in the channel as they know when new videos will be up and can check them every week for new tips, some of which come from celebrities. Also, hosting celebrity interviews is very smart because they get a lot of people viewing their videos that did not actually care about finding fashion videos, but instead wanted to see celebrity interviews. The end of the interview has the Net-A-Porter logo and there is a chance that people will check out the channel to see more videos like the one they just saw.
Net-A-Porter also does How To videos, which are very popular on YouTube. The how to videos range from how to wear certain articles of clothing, to how to make a specific kind of smoothie. Here is an example of one of the how to videos:
Net-A-Porter is doing a good job at trying to reach a large audience, through not only fashion videos, but also helpful workout tips and having interviews with celebrities that are mainly loved by teenagers around the age of 15. Net-A-Porter seems to be a fashion brand that will continue to have a growing presence on YouTube.
Fashion brands should continue to capitalize on YouTube and its far-reaching power. The videos circulate the brand name around extremely fast and help people become interested in buying the product. Using YouTube is extremely smart but also hard to do correctly, which is why hopefully this list will help with deciding how to make marketing videos for YouTube.