That is what we like to call them. The concept is simple, create a project for a brand that will shine above the rest and act like an asset for them in the digital world accessible via search, their website, scalable through a marketing campaign and viral conversation/talkback, etc.
It is interesting to see how other major media companies are offering similar products and platforms to the marketplace. Google is clearly showing off YouTube as a platform for brands to have their own dedicated channel of marketing for conversations to build a community around and also act as a Content Delivery Network.
An Example
I saw a great GMail ad today on LinkedIn.
Just the ad unit is impressive in and of itself. Integrated hyperlinks that let you flip from video to video if you want within the ad unit or you can click-through and go to the Google Channel on YouTube.
What stuck out at me about this page is how similar it feels to a lay out of MySpace page. Clearly Google is looking for people to interact on this page, so what better way to initiate interaction than to give the end users something that they are most likely comfortable with.
All this seems to be set up with a brand play in mind but there is a direct response angle here as well. Imagine QVC like channels on YouTube with maybe even Google Checkout incorporated in it. Imagine those ads being incorporated into Google search results, where you could click to watch the programming. Google could use YouTube as a walled-garden of sorts to make it a channel marketers would have to pass through to get their video content into contextually relevant adsense. Chas has a good post on why the contextually relevant space, specifically sponsored search, is so core to Google’s margins.
I think the evolution of YouTube as a platform, channel, CDN, and a community for a marketer could mean another winner take all situation for Google in the realm of video and providing the marketer a one-stop shop for the holy grail of online brand advertising. It appears that while Yahoo has been cooking up Brand Universe and working with brands for years, Google bought a trojan horse in YouTube with a huge platform and they have the technology, the free cash flow, and enough javascript on pages across the net to scale these programs better than any large competitors in the space.
YouTube as the new QVC is a very interesting concept. Google is certainly better than anyone when it comes to selling and delivering DR programs to marketers. The YouTube deals makes sense, then, whether or not they emerge as a major platform for brand advertising dollars. Meanwhile it gets them into conversation with the marketers who currently control video-ad assets — the brand marketing budget holders.