Online video is entering its golden age.

The increase in bandwidth, the decrease in cost for that bandwidth, and the
negligible costs of hosting streaming online video means that they are increasingly
coming into their own. Digital marketing campaigns now regularly use online video
to promote products and services whether hosted on the company server or uploaded
to major online video sites like YouTube, or both.
The low-cost of uploading and hosting online video and the freedom to expand beyond
the 30-second or 1-minute constraints of a television spot make online video an
attractive option for companies wanting to reach out, amuse, entertain, and inform
their audience.
This freedom from time restraints coupled with the cost advantages of working
online compared to working with film or in a television-ready formats allows the
content creators to let their creativity shine, opening up options that could never
be considered outside of the digital domain.
Creative minds can sometimes appreciate the constraints of the television
commercial as it forces them to sharpen their marketing, and fit in the narrow
window of time that is the 30-second slot.

But with online video, creative can think bigger, and producers can be set free to
explore the possibilities that exist when barriers are removed.
Hence, McDonald�s is able to mount not one, not two, not ten, but 280 different 30-
second advertisements in promoting their 280 burger. Some are funny, some are cute,
some are serious, and some are � frankly � a little weird and inside-jokey
If you are producing an advertisement for television or traditional video media
then you have a constraint that seems almost too obvious to mention: you have to
present and screen your advertisement on a channel you don�t own.
Makes sense, right? McDonald�s business is burgers, and NBC�s business is
television. If you want to advertise your burgers, you make an advertisement and
NBC will screen it for you.
But this is a very traditional paradigm and only applies to traditional approaches
to video. Online, everything is different.
McDonald�s not only produced 280 commercials for their burger, they also built
their own online television network: 280.tv
online video has empowered McDonald�s to produce hundreds of different commercials
as well as hundreds of different television-style channels to screen them on, and
an entire television network hosting all of these channels.
Online video has enabled McDonald�s to think well outside of the box in terms of
what they can create. Not only have they left the constraints of the television
network behind, they�ve built their own network!

You�ve likely seen a television commercial that urges you to visit a website,
retweet with a hashtag, or connect with the brand on Facebook. To some extent these
efforts can be successful, but they count on a couple, of things working exactly
the way that the brand expects.

First, they need the audience member to act fast � the recall is only going to
decrease as the time between the advertisement and the action increases.

Second, they need the audience member to remember something that wasn�t important
to them a few seconds before � for all the work that you put into your hashtag, if
it isn�t memorable to the audience there�ll be little engagement.

Online video is different in that it can be connected like any other digital
marketing element to the wider campaign by use of a hyperlink. The audience member
is already seated at their computer or has their smartphone playing the video in
their hand so any call to action (retweet this, share this, tap to enter) is far
more likely to be executed.

When the �cost� of sharing an entertaining or informative online video is simply a

few clicks of a mouse or a few taps of a smartphone screen then the chance of
growing the audience for the video is much increased.

Just compare how hard is it to remember the details of a television commercial and
recount them to a friend, and how hard is it to hit �Share this video on Facebook�.
The online video wins every time.

Conclusion
McDonald�s has used the power and potential of online video to incredibly good
effect in its 280 burger campaign. Not only have they broken out of the constraints
of a traditional television campaign by moving online, they have busted through the
barriers that limit creativity (time limits, cost, synchronicity with an audience,
network constraints) and engaged with consumers in a brand new and exciting way.