This post is part of Rassak’s “YouTube Tuesdays Plus” featuring mini critiques of product and service videos (plus other digital brand experiences). New on Tuesdays. Don’t miss one, subscribe.
Thanks to Eric Blantz of Inveneo for sharing this awesome bit of YouTube from the Rainforest Alliance, a group with a mission to “conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior”
… ok enough blah blah blah, the video is way more interesting. Not only is it pure-pure-pure-fantastic on-message marketing with a dead simple call to action — it’s, also funny and fast-moving. It’s more than three minutes long though it doesn’t feel it at all!
After the video I have some tips (based on some of the technology the Rainforest Alliance is using here) for non-profits who want to add clickable calls-to-action (think “donate now”) buttons on their videos. I’ll look at options for commercial entities another time.
The Rainforest Alliance is using an interesting overlay on their YouTube video. Here’s a screenshot:
Clicking the share button simply opens the standard YouTube video sharing controls. But clicking the “Learn about this campaign” takes you to Rainforest Alliance’s YouTube channel where they are using a YouTube/Google Checkout tool. See for yourself. You can donate right from the channel and see how the sharing/fundraising campaign is going.
This is one way non-profits can raise money directly from buttons on their videos. Here are other ways.
If you are company and want to link outside of YouTube from a YouTube button or overlay on top of your video (YouTube calls them annotations) that’s possible too… but that’s a story for another day.
