KitchenAid, the appliance brand owned by Whirlpool, deployed a smart ad sequencing strategy as it engaged consumers on YouTube, the video-sharing platform.

Christina Hoskins, Whirlpool’s shopper marketing director, discussed this subject at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) 2020 Annual Leadership Meeting.

And she explained that KitchenAid’s “Marks” campaign – which celebrated creators like cooks, brewers and bakers – leveraged a nuanced approach to sequencing ads on YouTube.

“We started with a base piece of content,” Hoskins said. (For more, read WARC’s in-depth report: KitchenAid uses “moment marketing” YouTube strategy to boost awareness and recall.)

“We made a 15-second story that we served up to our audience. We then paid attention to how they were engaging with that content. Did they skip it or did they watch it? And that determined what the next step would be for us.”

If a viewer skipped an ad, the next time they opened a YouTube video with a KitchenAid ad, they would be served up a six-second, non-skippable bumper ad.

“Those have proven to be pretty successful for KitchenAid in the past as a way for us, even in six seconds, to get our brand message across and to leave an impact with our viewers,” said Hoskins.

But if the consumer watched the 15-second spot, the brand would show them a 30-second spot ad the next time they clicked on an appropriate YouTube video.

Those ads were sequenced as a narrative, Hoskins added, with the half-minute spot building on and extending the story of the 15-second spot, and going “further into the offerings and line up of the brand.”

And this approach reflected the aim to “serve a consumer who’s truly passionate” about cooking – but who, in one moment, may watch a culinary YouTube video for entertainment, and, other times, do so as they fulfil an immediate task.

“In those moments, they don’t want to be interrupted by some brand … And we don’t want to be that nuisance for them in those moments.

“So, let them skip, move on, and do what they need to do, and then get to them in those moments where they’re consuming in a different way, and are ready to hear from us.”

Sourced from WARC