Why Vine may just be the perfect channel for Challenger Brands

What is your six seconds of genius?

If Vine is not on your short list of elements to add to 2014’s marketing calendar, it probably should be.

Many of you are aware of Vine, especially if you have children of a certain age. But for those of you who do not, Vine is a mobile app owned by Twitter that enables its users to create and post short looping video clips. Video clips created with Vine have a maximum clip length of six seconds and can be shared to Vine’s social network, or to other services such as Twitter and Facebook.

Since its debut in January 2013, we in the agency world have been getting our arms around it as yet another marketing tool. Our advice to clients has been to embrace Vine as part of their social marketing mix as it looks to be the category killer in video sharing (sorry Viddy.com) with great potential commercially. The big challenge has been understanding how to use a six second window to tell a compelling story, make a connection with consumers, or deliver important information. It’s been both daunting and frankly, exhilarating. For challenger brands looking to tell their story in unconventional ways, Vine offers a unique platform and one that’s not anywhere close to being played out.

The Vine debate in the industry has been interesting. There are those who wonder how it’s possible to deliver a coherent message strategy in that short a period of time. On the other hand, there are those like us who believe it will be the next big thing for social marketing. If you think about it, six seconds is about how long you have to capture interest regardless of media channel. (Another interesting by product of working with Vine? It’s a great tool for focusing your agency. Just ask them to come up with some six second concepts.)

Some brands have embraced Vine from day one. Very recently Buick enlisted one of the emerging stars on Vine to help them establish a following on their Vine page. Still, it would be a stretch to say it is an established communication channel quite yet.

The bottom line is this – short form video, regardless if it’s delivered via Vine, or some other technology, will be a staple of the media mix within a span of five years. Best to understand, practice and master it now while the stakes are relatively minor.

– Carl Thompson is Chief Strategist at The Loomis Agency in Dallas.