The focus of online marketing has shifted from creating content solely for search engines and their algorithms to producing digital content that appeals to human beings. All aspects of your online campaign, even your video advertising, should appeal to your viewers’ emotions.

The Philippines was named the most emotional society in the world back in 2012, and that makes it even more important for local advertisers to appeal to their target markets’ feelings. There’s a lot we can learn from the local video advertising scene in terms of adding a more human element to your online video campaign.

Talk to Your Audience

The Tactic: Palmolive produced a series of commercials to promote their Naturals line and their Facebook page at the same time. The commercials are formatted like video blogs where actress KC Concepcion spoke directly to the viewers. Instead of simply showing off her perfect hair and enumerating the benefits of their products, the commercials show her in more believable scenarios, like this commercial of her getting ready for a girl’s night out.

Palmolive commercials continue following this format to encourage their audience start discussions on their Facebook page and launch successful online video contests.

The Take Away: People always appreciate it when you show how much you care about their attention and contributions. Addressing them directly and encouraging them to share their thoughts on your social media accounts is a good way to develop better relationships with them.

Know Your Audience Well

The Tactic: The first “Pinoy Siri” videos were not actual commercials. They started out as a parody of Siri, the iPhone 4s virtual assistant. The videos feature Vangie, an iPhone 4s virtual assistant that speaks in Filipino and is well-versed in local culture. When prompted to help an iPhone user make spaghetti, Vangie gives instructions on making Filipino spaghetti, which is notorious for being sweet and using ketchup and sliced hotdogs in its sauce.

Vangie became a runaway viral hit, and her success spawned several other “Pinoy Siri” videos. This led to a local TV station using Vangie in videos with David Archuleta to promote a drama series he starred in.

The Take Away: The reason Vangie appealed to so many Filipinos is that it played on cultural quirks that most people in the country are familiar with. Knowing your audience’s background and culture well allows you to create videos that they’ll keep sharing and coming back to.

Create Characters Your Audience Can Relate To

The Tactic: The Lorenzos, a fictional family of four, have been starring in a series of commercials for PLDT’s myDSL service. The commercials follow a storyline that begins with Derek Lorenzo posting a YouTube video dedicated to Anna, a girl he has a crush on, and ultimately being rejected with a video response. From there, PLDT started a contest to find the “new” Anna. Many young girls participated in the contest, and the winner got to appear in the next commercials involving the Lorenzo family.

The Take Away: As I mentioned in a previous blog post, you need to make characters your audience will care about. In this case, the videos show how supportive Derek’s family is through his efforts and heartbreak, and encourages the audience to root for him as well. Making your audience invest their emotions in your characters convinces them to stick around to find out how their stories unfold.

Appeal to Sentimentality

The Tactic: Francis Magalona was a successful rapper whose legacy, nationalistic spirit, and contributions to the local music scene live beyond his death in 2009. Oishii used one of his popular music videos in a recent online campaign, but made one significant change: they added his son, Elmo Magalona, to the video. The song was re-recorded with Elmo singing some of the lines, and the singer was reunited with his father through green screen technology and seamless video editing.

The video was not meant to be a direct form of advertising (it’s only at the end of the video that an Oishii product and the brand’s logo make an appearance), but the video was uploaded to their YouTube channel where it earned a lot of shares, likes, and views.

The Take Away: Appealing to sentimentality, which manifests as the audience’s love for a musical icon and their love for their own families in this campaign, can create a powerful video that leaves a significant impact. You don’t have to hard sell your products to make a name for yourself; leaving a lasting emotional impression will keep your brand in your customers’ minds and hearts for a long time.