Skip to main content

The 6 Best YouTube Brand Takeovers

VW-2

There’s a form of advertising that is pretty much my favourite of all time and that’s the Youtube Takeover, an interactive YouTube experience. We’ve seen some brilliant examples of brands taking over YouTube channels for a day and doing the unexpected. What I like about the YouTube Takeover is you barely notice you’re actually engaging with a brand and it’s where you can really see brilliant technical and creative minds combining. Here I share what I think are some of the best YouTube brand takeovers, some old and new!

Samsung’s 3D Game

Samsung introduced a first with YouTube, when they used their takeover to develop a 3D game that the user was part of. The ad was part of a giveaway, incentivising the user to stay even longer on the page. The ad also worked to keep people’s attention, as it changed from a usual YouTube clip of their projection, to the screen falling apart, before releasing the game.


TippEx

This is pretty much the daddy of Youtube takeovers! TippEx took things to the next level with their Youtube ad, when they invited users to interact with the ad in a very real way. I’m sure you know this one by now, so just behold the magic below.

Chrome Fastball

This is a very inventive Youtube takeover, this time by Google Chrome. They involved people in an interactive game across different websites, starting with a challenge using Google Maps. This is a great example of thinking a little bit differently, while also encouraing people to interact with other products of yours, all within an ad unit.

VW Black Beetle

I think this deserves its place on the list for the quality of the video, which was produced by The Mill’s London office. Volkswagen have focused on creating a visually impressive video, rather than just the trickery available with a Youtube takeover. It may not be remembered for really wowing people, but given that Youtube is a video channel, I like what VW has done here.  I don’t recommend you watch this if you get scared easily by creepy crawlies!

Wario Land – Shake It

Though by no means the first Youtube takeover, this campaign seemed to really make people take notice of Youtube advertising and at the time it was pretty innovative. The user experience was incredibly good and I remember being surprised when I watched this in its original run in 2008.


Skittles

In just 3 days, the following YouTube video, part of Skittles Touch Series, has had nearly 1 million hits. The videos invite ask you to interact with the ad by touching your computer screen. Then, sit back and watch as your “delicious” finger gets licked by a cat… and then a man dressed as a cat… Is it funny? Creepy? Brilliant? You decide…

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Evolution Of Computer Virus [infographic]

4 Free Apps For Discovering Great Content On the Go

1. StumbleUpon The granddaddy of discovering random cool stuff online, StumbleUpon will celebrate its 10th anniversary later this year — but its mobile app is less than a year old. On the web, its eight million users have spent the last decade recommending (or disliking) millions of webpages with a thumbs up / thumbs down system on a specially installed browser bar. The StumbleUpon engine then passes on recommendations from users whose interests seem similar to yours. Hit the Stumble button and you’ll get a random page that the engine thinks you’ll like. The more you like or dislike its recommendations, the more these random pages will surprise and delight. Device : iPhone , iPad , Android 2. iReddit Reddit is a self-described social news website where users vote for their favorite stories, pictures or posts from other users, then argue vehemently over their meaning in the comments section. In recent years, it has gained readers as its competitor Digg has lost them.

‘Wireless’ humans could backbone new mobile networks

People could form the backbone of powerful new mobile internet networks by carrying wearable sensors. The sensors could create new ultra high bandwidth mobile internet infrastructures and reduce the density of mobile phone base stations.Engineers from Queen’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology are working on a new project based on the rapidly developing science of body-centric communications.Social benefits could include vast improvements in mobile gaming and remote healthcare, along with new precision monitoring of athletes and real-time tactical training in team sports, an institute release said.The researchers are investigating how small sensors carried by members of the public, in items such as next generation smartphones, could communicate with each other to create potentially vast body-to-body networks.The new sensors would interact to transmit data, providing ‘anytime, anywhere’ mobile network connectivity.Simon Cotton from the i