While print and static websites aren't going away anytime soon, consumers are increasingly turning to video online, not only for entertainment but also for information. More and more online retailers are using video to help sell items and there appears to be plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that an increasingly time-poor, lazy consumer is naturally attracted to video. A video presentation can give the consumer reason to briefly pause, watch and then buy.
While video isn't a requirement in an online marketing mix, we suspect that consumers will start to expect video and if it's not there, they may start to wonder why.
One thing that is apparent to us is that it is relatively difficult to sex-up a motel product using any media - including video. Unfortunately video examples that are being used in New Zealand at the moment are about as exciting as a late-night television infomercial.
While it is accepted that most promo-videos should only be between 1 -2 minutes in length, we see that one of our favourite accommodation chains, Wego Motels has broken new ground in motel marketing and have taken video to the extreme.
Those quirky and crazy folk at Taiwan-based Wego hired professional directors and actors and paid nearly US$400,000 to produce a series of artsy, provocative flicks that have crossed the line into soft-porn mini-movies. While the movies are set in Wego properties the actors and storyline take a staring role and the obvious "sell" has faded into the background.
Wego's first movie "Shower Cap" is supposed to appeal to young women and in an obscure way capture the Wego experience.
Could this work in New Zealand?
