I ran into this error message while adding an friend of mine to a school group.

The group limit turns out to be 200. I can’t decide if that is too low, or to high.

This is a partial summary of the presentation given by Chuck Porter (of Crispin, Porter + Bogusky) at the Minneapolis Creative Summit, hosted by AdFed of Minnesota on October 18, 2007.

Myths

Myth #1- “Everything Has Changed”

No it hasn’t. They said the same thing about radio and television. Interactive technology has changed some dynamics, but the fundamentals are the same.
All communications must be engaging, whether they are fables, parables, or, god-forbid, advertising.

“There is no learning without emotion.” -Plato

Myth #2- “The Customer is in Control Now”

They always have been, it was just easier not to listen to them before all of this technology gave them such loud voices. The flip side is that technology has made it easier to engage someone faster, and in greater depth. The best story tellers are always rewarded, and technology is amplifying that in advertising.

Rules

Rule #1- Stay loose, and back winners

Float lots of messages because no one knows what is going to work. Once you see what sticks, put resources behind those ideas.

Rule #2- Use pop culture to create brand moments

The BK King started out as a joke, and exploded.

Rule #3- Fly below the radar

They know you are advertising, get them in on the game and have fun with it.

Rule #4- Use traditional media in untraditional ways

Print campaigns for Molson

Rule #5- Consistency is good, surprise is better

CP+B does a lot of great creative that only runs once or twice, but the surprise of it leaves a much larger impact.

YouTube realizes that people have limited attention and provide information to aid viewing decisions such as ratings, number of views, descriptions, and clip length on their site. Unfortunately, even as they continue to add features to their embedded player, they miss two basic ones: clip length and driving engagement behavior.

Clip Length

YouTube tacitly acknowledges that clip length is the most important thing in choosing clips. On their site, even when no other information is provided, clip length is ubiquitous.

The embedded player forces me to guess how long a clip is, wasting real-estate and attention:

Whereas if it looked like this:

I could make a better decison to watch now, later, or never.

Driving Engagment Behavior

In the YouTube embedded player, after I watch a clip, I can copy the embed code, copy a link to the video page, or watch another video by clicking one of the thumbnails.

However, if I want to favorite the video, comment on it, or perform any other YouTube function, the experience falls short. These advanced features are not part of the player, and worse, there is no simple way to go directly to the clip’s page on YouTube. (Although sometimes I find that clicking haphazardly all over the player will take me to YouTube.)

Instead of:

Give me:

Conclusion

The YouTube embedded player is a cornerstone of YouTube’s success. With a few minor tweaks, it can provide a more seemless experience, driving more traffic to their website, fostering more community interaction, and demonstrating more respect for their viewers’ attention by mimicking the insights apparent on the YouTube website.