Confidential and proprietary

Brands as Creators

What brands can do to

weather the storm
 Confidential and proprietary

Introduction
The rapid spread of the Covid-19 is dramatically affecting people
and businesses around the world. It is influencing how people are
consuming content as well as what they expect from brands
during this time.

In this unprecedented, dynamic moment, no one has all the

answers. But through insights, tools and other resources, we are
committed to helping you navigate through the uncertainty with
YouTube.
 Confidential and proprietary

Table of Contents
1 Insights & Trends 4 Your Organic Toolkit
What we’re seeing and hearing on YouTube + Digital Events via Live & Premieres
+ Stories
2 Join the conversation + Community Posts

How are brands responding and how you can join in 5 Back to Basics
on the conversation
+ YouTube Channel 101
+ Video Metadata
3 Learn from Creators + Thumbnails
See what Creators are doing and how they are + Titles
connecting with their community + Descriptions
+ Tags
+ End Screens
+ Playlists
 Confidential and proprietary

Insights & Trends

 Confidential and proprietary

People are searching

and watching more than ever
10’s of millions of YouTube search queries a day
and billions of views related to COVID-19 content

Source: Google Internal Data, Global, March 2020

 Confidential and proprietary

Brands who act now may influence

consumers in the future

80%
of consumers want to hear from
84%
of consumers say that how brands act
brands at this time now is important to their future loyalty

Source: Google/Ipsos C-19 tracker, US, CA, UK, FR, DE, IT, AU, JP, RU, IN, CN, VN n=1000 online consumers 18+ / market. March 19-22. Link [share under NDA only]
Source: WPP/Benenson Strategy Group, The Pulse of America, US, 1,500 A18-65, March 22-24, 2020. Link
 Confidential and proprietary

Critical questions at this critical time

Consumers Brands
+ How are the lives and behaviors of customers + What immediate actions should I be taking to
impacted? communicate with customers?

+ Which changes constitute immediate + What media buy / marketing changes do I need to
make now and in the near future?
reactions, and which will ease after the
emergency phase? + How do I organize an agile cross-functional team?

+ Which changes will remain structural also in + What is the role of digital in this context?
the medium term?
+ What will the business landscape look like in a
post-COVID world?
 Confidential and proprietary

Join the conversation

 Confidential and proprietary

How Brands can join the conversation

Entertain Educate Connect

At home entertainment is surging People are educating themselves In challenging times people are
with other forms of entertainment online while sheltering in place, looking to connect with creators,
such as cinemas, concerts and from learning to draw a mermaid brands and each other more than
sports are on pause. to making the perfect viral coffee. ever.

Brands are bringing offline entertainment online
Charlie’s Corner Bookstore
Local businesses such as San
Francisco’s Charlie’s Corner
Bookstore are live streaming daily
storytimes
Steph Curry’s NBA Trivia
NBA are leveraging talent to bring
sports content online with
#NBATogetherLive after having
cancelled their current season
Confidential and proprietary
60% estimated
increase in amount
of content streamed
with some standouts such
as Coachella transforming
into an online experience
and Andrea Bocelli’s Easter
Sunday performance.
 Confidential and proprietary

Brands are creating fun educational moments

Vogue Paris Pizza DIY Lululemon Yoga Class

49% growth of Vogue teaching viewers new things to Lululemon is working with their
do from the comfort of your own global ambassadors to bring
“pantry meal” videos home, from recipes to workouts to talent to bring different workouts
related to cooking mindful beauty routines. online
Creators are using their
platform to educate ex. Lilly
Singh Covid-19 Q&A with Dr
Fauci while Baby Shark
teaches kids proper hand
washing technique.

Brands are connecting their customers
AirBnb’s #withme series
AirBnb partners with their hosts to
invite viewers into their homes and
share experiences from around the
world #withme.
MasterClass Live Q&A
MasterClass grows their online
community by connecting fans
with spotlight instructors in a new
weekly live Q&A series.
Confidential and proprietary
50% view growth in
“study with me”
videos
Consumers love behind the
home content from Bon
Appetit pro chefs to showing
their WFH coffee rituals to
Jimmy Fallon’s ‘At Home’
musical guests.
 Confidential and proprietary

Brands are showing up for the community

DoorDash open for delivery Budweiser & essential workers

In challenging times DoorDash supporting local businesses Budweiser highlighting we are in this
by educating consumers on the impact together by supporting essential
people are open to to these local businesses and how workers and each other
hearing from their customers can support
favorite brands
Purpose driven brand
messaging is welcome when
done with empathy and
authenticity like Walmart
Heros & Guinness’ St Pat’s Day

Creative considerations in uncertain times
Is the creative right for the
moment and the context
＋ From tone and visual imagery to copy
and keywords, carefully assess and
reassess the context of your media
buys and creative work.
＋ Show empathy for the current
context. For example, interactions like
handshakes, hugs and high-fives may
not be appropriate at this time
Keep reading: Inside Google Marketing:
5 principles guiding our media teams
in the wake of the COVID-19
Confidential and proprietary
Keep creative development Find helpful, human ways
agile to connect
＋ Adapt what you have. Rework existing ＋ Consider going live with via a
images to reach people on YouTube with YouTube virtual event.
Discovery ads.
＋ Utilize automated creative options
＋ Utilize automated creative options with with Responsive display ads and App
Responsive display ads and App campaigns.
campaigns.
＋ If you aren’t sure, run a Video
＋ Partner with an expert to create and Experiment.
iterate find a partner in our Creative
Directory.
＋ Try running a Video Experiment.
Tip: Consider personalizing ads to be relevant
for different groups who may experience
uncertain times differently, such as different
age groups and regions.

How your brand can win on YouTube
Do’s
＋ Create for YouTube
＋ Be consistent
＋ Keep it YouTube-y
＋ Focus on one series
＋ Dedicate resources to YouTube
＋ Collaborate with YouTubers
＋ Promote and cross promote
Read the full one sheeter here
Confidential and proprietary
Don’ts
✕ Repurpose other content
✕ Only focus on product launches
✕ Over produce it
✕ Produce without listening
✕ Neglect channel management
✕ Only focus on ‘traditional’ celebrities
✕ Upload and forget it
 Confidential and proprietary

Brands and YouTube are working together

How to get involved:

1. Share a post on your social channels that includes the

#StayHome Save Lives messaging

2. Add optional visual elements on your O&O channels if

appropriate for your brand (includes the Stay Home Save
Lives messaging). You can also adjust your end card in your
video assets.

Please note: Whether your brand, policies and practices enable

The Advertising Industry is leading your company to issue a STAY HOME. SAVE LIVES message is at
a call to action for people across your discretion - and is something that should be given careful
the country to #StayHome and consideration.
help save lives. Join in April 8.
 Confidential and proprietary

Learn from creators

 Confidential and proprietary

Creators are connecting #withme

Cook #WithMe Playlist Jam #WithMe Playlist Workout #WithMe Playlist

Meditate #WithMe Playlist Draw #WithMe Playlist Study #WithMe Playlist


Creators are innovating and giving back
Dude Perfect gave their fans, all 50M of them, what
they wanted during quarantine, more sports!
They raised over 30M while live streaming sports
like Spikeball while asking viewers to donate, live
on YouTube, to Feeding America
Confidential and proprietary
Mr Beast (in partnership with YouTube Originals)
ran a live rock, paper, scissors tournament with top
YouTube Creators raising over $1.4M for COVID-19
Solidarity Response Fund for WHO as well as $250K
donation to a charity of the winners choice
 Confidential and proprietary

Organic Toolkit
 Confidential and proprietary

Live & Premieres

Millions of people are coming together to experience virtual
events with their community, live in real time. Best of all, your
content will continue to reach a massive audience as viewers
can tune in on-demand afterward.

Virtual Events comes in many shapes and sizes

＋ Nike’s live Weekly Community Workouts
＋ Global Citizen’s Together at Home live concert
＋ HBO premieres a new series:, We're Here (Full Episode)
 Confidential and proprietary

Live & Premieres

Setting up your first virtual event

We’ve made it easier than ever to host a live moment
on your channel. Bring your audience together for a
shared experience and have fun with it!

There are a few ways you can go live on YouTube:

＋ Webcam or Mobile: You can live stream using the webcam on your
computer or via the YouTube app on mobile*.

＋ Streaming with an encoder (LCR): If you want to do more with your live
stream, you can use an encoder which enables you to use external
audio/video hardware, multiple cameras and more.

＋ Premieres: Uploading your pre-recorded content as a Premiere turns

your video into a live event for viewers to tune in and watch at the
same time. No additional work required!

*To be able to live stream on mobile, your channel will need to have at least 1,000 subscribers
 Confidential and proprietary

Live & Premieres

When to use Live and Premieres

Both Live and Premieres allow you to schedule an event
ahead of time, create a public watch page to share, and
enables community-building features such as live chat.

Here are some key differences to consider:

Live
＋ Broadcast a live physical event
＋ Content has interaction w/ a live
audience via chat
＋ Comfortable with risk of hosting
live events such as tech issues
＋ Want your content to appear live?
You can stream pre-produced
“live” content!
Premieres
＋ Turn your pre-recorded content
into an event to remember
＋ Often used to launch content on
a regular rollout schedule
＋ Same upload workflow as VOD, no
live stream encoder required
＋ Content is final at the time of
scheduling the premiere (no last
minute changes!)
 Confidential and proprietary

Live & Premieres

Invite viewers to your virtual 1

event on YouTube!
Set up your channel to raise awareness of the live
event & encourage users to save the date.
2

Before your virtual event, don’t forget to:

1. Customize your channel art to display information
about the live event.
2. Feature your teaser video on the trailer/ featured
video spot. 3
3. Create an upcoming live stream section.
4. Use a Community post to engage your fans.
5. Post on Stories to reach audiences beyond your
subscribers to tune in.

4

Live & Premieres
Virtual Event Best Practices
Before Event
Build hype & anticipation
Make sure viewers know to tune in
＋ Program strategically: Is your audience
likely to watch in real time? Consider
time zones and time to build awareness
w/ promotion
＋ Use your YT presence to grow awareness
via channel art & teaser videos once you
schedule your event
＋ Share your broadcast URL across all your
social media channels to build the hype
and to invite your viewers to set a
reminder to tune in for the event
＋ Tell your friends and don’t forget to
invite relevant media outlet and use PR
levers to promote!
During Event
Build viewership & community
Ensure massive reach on day of event
＋ Use paid media to drive maximize reach
on the day of your event: promote a
teaser via TrueView, drive awareness via
a CPD masthead, etc.
＋ Be there with your fans! Viewers tuning in
live are your most engaged audience. Be
there with them for the action and
encourage them to participate through
live chat.
＋ Build your community by taking
audience suggestions, answer a
customer’s question and provide
insights in a non-intrusive manner.
Confidential and proprietary
After Event
Build momentum
Continue the conversation with fans
＋ Create highlights by editing down some
of your best live moments into a more
digestible highlights reel. These broader
appealing videos can act as an anchor
to exposure to a new set of audience.
＋ Drive more views by continuing to
promote your content to build the
momentum of your event. Follow your
event with a strong media strategy to
help further your reach!
＋ Continue the convo by post a thank you
message and respond to questions from
your audience.
 Confidential and proprietary

Stories
YouTube Stories allow Creators and brands to easily express
themselves while engaging their audience more casually and
frequently through short mobile videos.

＋ Start a conversation: Comments on Stories gives your audience a unique opportunity to

engage with your brand and your content in a familiar experience native to the
platform.
＋ Bring fans on stage: The reply in story feature allows creators to publicly respond to
comments via video; giving you a deeper connection and fans their magic moment in
the spotlight.
＋ Share more: Stories allow you to showcase the moments outside your standard uploads
and give viewers a backstage pass to your brand.
＋ Grow subscribers: On average, Creators that have an active Story can accelerate their
weekly new subscriber count by 8.5% (vs. if they did not have a story)

Tip: Stories last for 7 days on YouTube vs 24 hours on other platforms Balmain teases new #AtHome series w/
Creative Director Olivier Rousteing via Stories

Stories
Stories Best Practices
Try new things
Currently, your stories do not impact the
discoverability of your main uploads and are
surfaced to both subscribed and
unsubscribed audiences, providing an
excellent opportunity to get new content in
front of fresh viewers.
With this in mind, we encourage creators to
play around with new formats and open
themselves up to their audiences in ways they
might not be able to in their main uploads.
Keep it Fresh
While it may be tempting to repost or reuse
content from either your main channel or other
platforms, doing so can be off-putting for
viewers, who’ve told us that the repetition of
content across multiple platforms results in a
negative viewing experience.
Instead, reward your most loyal subscribers (and
the new audiences you’ll reach!) with unique,
engaging content that adds value to their
engagement with your YouTube presence and
keeps them coming back for more!
Confidential and proprietary
Promo Responsibility
While we’re excited for you to share your videos
via Stories, we also want to make sure that your
audience enjoys them too. We’ve heard from
viewers that they prefer to watch original
Stories content vs. Stories that only link to
video uploads.
Knowing this, we encourage brands to promote
new videos only when necessary and do so via
standalone, engaging content that provides a
unique, positive experience for viewers.
 Confidential and proprietary

Community Posts
Community posts are a new way for brands to engage
with fans outside of posting videos, popular with Artists
and Public Figures.

＋ Post Strategically: Posts get the most reach when a brand regularly uploads videos to
their channel.
＋ Be Authentic: Use posts as a way to communicate directly to your fans. This means
asking questions, and responding to, giving hearts, and liking comments to show you
care.
＋ Use video posts carefully: The YouTube feed's mission is to distribute the right video to
the right user. Posts shouldn't be a way for you to share new videos; YouTube does that
for you! Your posts will have more success when you’re highlighting catalog content,
posting collaborations that live on another channel, and spotlighting fan content.

Netflix Hyping up the Tiger King fandom

with a Community poll to viewers. What
team are you on?
 Confidential and proprietary

Community Posts

Posts drive engagement outside of videos

Text Polls Gifs Video Links
 Confidential and proprietary

Back to Basics
 Confidential and proprietary

YouTube channel 101

1
A YouTube channel is your brands home on YouTube,
customise and maximise it through these simple steps. 2

1. Channel banner: Use a compelling visual image that aligns with your
brand, highlighting unique social moments or upcoming launches. 3

2. Channel avatar: Select a signature image or logo that represents your

channel and will be visible when leaving comments, community
posts, or live chats (among others)
4
3. Featured Content/Trailer: Set the most recent, most relevant content
as the Featured Content for returning subscribers + Trailer for new
audiences

4. Playlist shelves: Focus on the top 3 shelves, as this is where viewers

primarily look.
 Confidential and proprietary

Video metadata
1
YouTube is the second largest search engine (behind Google)
and metadata is critical for search and discovery and helping 2 1:30 / 24:32

connect users to your content. 3

1. Thumbnail: Add words or visual branding to thumbnails so that users

can quickly and confidently identify official content.

2. Length: Experiment with a variety of video lengths depending on your 4

content; consider making longer videos when that suits the genre and
topic.

3. Title: Titles allow you to provide a one line description of your video,
helping users to easily find your content.

4. Descriptions: Accurate descriptions help users find your videos. Include

links to other websites or channels to drive further engagement.
 Confidential and proprietary

Thumbnails
Thumbnails act as billboards for your content; they can capture
viewer’s visual attention and encourage them to engage with
your content

＋ Be appealing, but don’t clickbait: Don’t use thumbnails to create false expectations;
focus on creating thumbnails that get the viewer to “click and stick” to your content
＋ Consider the topic and audience: Always consider the audience that will be served the
thumbnail and plan accordingly; videos targeting your subscribers might highlight
familiar features (like your face) while those targeting casual viewers can lean on more
universally recognizable or appealing images
＋ Plan ahead: While stills from the video itself can work, taking some time during the
production process to stage and shoot a custom thumbnail for each video is also an
option
 Confidential and proprietary

Titles
While thumbnails attract the viewers’ visual attention, your titles
allow you to provide a one line description of your video:

＋ Keep it classy: Avoid overuse of ALL CAPS when titles read more like sentences. (Okay
to use when the title is a short snippet).
＋ Be brief: While YouTube allows up to 100 character titles, try keeping them under 70
characters and focusing on the most important words at the front.
＋ Think in terms of users’ searches:What will users be looking for? Make that the title.
Hot topics should be within the first four words.
 Confidential and proprietary

Descriptions
Explain what the video is about with search-friendly keywords
and natural language. “Above the Fold”

＋ Create a unique description for “Above the Fold:” Prioritize the first few lines of your
description - it’s what the viewer sees first!
＋ Set a default description for “Below the fold”: Create a default description that
auto-populates key channel information in all of your videos upon upload. This may
include other social network links, playlists of related videos , subscription links and
more.
＋ Natural language is key: Identify one or two main words that describe your video and
feature them prominently in both your description and title in your language - don’t
just use a stream of keywords.

“Below the Fold”

 Confidential and proprietary

Tags
Focus on information not communicated in your title and
description.

1. Keep it simple: Include a mix of both general and specific tags, use
enough tags to thoroughly and accurately describe the video, don’t
forget keywords from your title and use the “tags” field during video
upload.

2. Use tags to build playlists: You can automatically add videos to a

playlist with video tags.

3. Google Trends and Google Ads Keyword Planner will help! These tools
help identify popular keywords and their synonyms; including these
terms can help maximize traffic from search.
 Confidential and proprietary

End screens
End screens give you the opportunity to extend watch time on
your channel by directing viewers to up to four different
elements during the last 20 seconds of your video.

＋ Choose wisely: End screens are most successful when they give your viewers
something relevant to watch; consider using them to drive traffic between episodes
of your formats or series
＋ Pair the video with a specific Call To Action (CTA to maximize impact): End screens can
be paired with an in-video “end card” that visually houses links and features a call to
action directing viewers to “like, share, and subscribe”
 Confidential and proprietary

Content playlists
Playlists, or channel shelves, provide an arranged experience
that can introduce content to your users.

＋ A lean-back experience: A playlist is an ordered list of videos that you

create, often with a specific theme, that may appear in search results and in
suggested videos. Grouping videos into playlists can provide a lean-back
experience for your viewers.g them to drive traffic between episodes of your
formats or series
＋ Focus on your playlist strategy: Playlists can help you introduce more
content that they your fans love. Most popular uploads, timely content and
highly sought-after content should be prioritized.

Tip: Share your playlist on another social network

 Confidential and proprietary

Brands as Creators

Thank You.