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StyleHaul, Whistle Sports execs: Collaboration boosts ROI for mobile video

NEW YORK - Cross-functional collaboration, with mobile video in a key position, fuels the greatest return on investment on campaigns that target smartphones, tablets and mobile Web sites, executives with StyleHaul and Whistle Sports said at Forrester?s Forum for Marketing Leaders.

In an era when consumers increasingly control their media choices, approaching mobile initiatives ? and mobile video in particular ? in a way that involves multiple teams beyond or within an organization yields the best results, the executives said during a session, ?YouTube and Beyond: Finding ROI in the New Video Platforms.?

?The best results are collaborative,? said Stephanie Horbaczewski, co-founder, president and CEO with StyleHaul, a multi-channel marketing system for fashion and beauty brands containing about 5,000 content creators and seeing approximately 1 billion monthly views.

?There are social platforms to get the message out and there are thousands of creators.?

Aggregating clips
StyleHaul?s YouTube-focused video network produces original content and aggregates clips by both amateurs and semi-professionals.

Last fall, European broadcaster RTL Group agreed to pay $107 million to acquire the remaining stake in StyleHaul that it did not already own, in the race to reach younger audiences less attracted to traditional media. At the time, StyleHaul had around 900 million monthly views.

Catering to multi-tasking millennials on mobile.

The move was aimed at tapping the growing trend among consumers to watch videos and listen to music on smartphones and tablet computers via platforms such as YouTube.

Whistle Sports, Los Angeles, is a multi-channel network that focuses on professional- and collegiate-level sports content from more than 200 YouTube channels. 

It provides support and resources to video creators, receiving a percentage of generated revenue. It aims to offer an alternative to major video networks from pro sports leagues and news organizations by targeting millennials who prefer to consume short video clips.

Marketers increasingly realize they must include YouTube in their strategies to reach millennials, who were born between the early 1980s and early 2000s. Members of the demographic, poised to become a major spending group in the years ahead, are mostly active on online platforms and less likely to access information via traditional media such as television, newspapers and magazines.

?TV is still a great reach medium,? said Michael Cohen, executive vice president for finance and operations with Whistle Sports. ?People want to participate in a conversation, they want to personalize it. They want to share it, they want to comment on it.
 
?In thinking about how do I go from TV to this new world, it?s not about taking your 30 second spots and making them six seconds for Vine,? hsaid. 

?It?s about finding ways into that conversation to engage with this audience.?

Translating to video
The TV evolution translates well to mobile video, which is seen as a key tool for reaching millennials who in many cases are just starting to form brand loyalties ? ties that will have major implications for marketers in the years ahead. 

StyleHaul's Stephanie Horbaczewski, second from left, with Whistle Sports' Michael Cohen, right, during panel moderated by Forrester analyst Jim Nail.

?We went from three major broadcasters to 400 channels on cable, so you could find what you were looking for and what you wanted,? Ms. Horbaczewski said. 

?You no longer control the brand messaging. To make sure you?re still relevant in five years to an audience that is no longer using the traditional medium, you have to be on social platforms.?  

Final Take
Michael Barris is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York