How brands can leverage culture to amplify their role in Asia’s online video landscape

Brands need to keep pace with shifting cultural trends and consumer behaviours in order to reach engaged customers via online video; a new white paper from WARC looks at how this applies in Asia. 

The report, Brand-building at the speed of culture: The role of online video in Asia, is derived from an analysis of the winners of YouTube Works 2020-2021 awards from across Asia, accompanied by industry insights and best practice from WARC.

Why it matters

Online video is where culture is being cross-pollinated between brands, creators, fans and viewers. One billion hours of content are watched on YouTube every day and watch time has grown by 60% in the past year. At a time of unprecedented change, online video has emerged as an opportunity for brands to stay in tune and contribute regularly to interpret and recreate culture.

Key insights 

1. Pull cultural levers for emotional impact

The success of any storytelling is dependent on how a brand story fits the cultural narrative and how well it resonates with the intended audience. As seen with Kleenex Viva in Taiwan, brands should align with relevant subcultures to find new stories that entertain, resonate and invite the community to share and amplify. 

One fifth of the winning case studies leveraged humour as an effective means to achieve an emotional connection and audience sharing (examples: RC Cola in the Philippines and Delicare Ms in Japan). 

Traditions, rituals and festive celebrations have also been reimagined digitally following COVID. Like Mondelez - Cadbury in India, marketers should explore the interplay between culture and technology to find new opportunities to reinvent rituals in a way that enriches audiences.

2. Take a new approach to building fame

Online personalities and creators who are committed to building and strengthening the relationship with their audiences create opportunities for impactful brand collaborations. Finding original, transparent and relatable ways to collaborate authentically with content creators is key, especially with Gen Z audiences (example: Bear Brand ImmD in Thailand).

Brands can leverage this insight and weave it intentionally into their brand building efforts; 27% of the winning case studies that used online video were able to evoke consumer participation. Listening to fans and reacting quickly to current events and topics dominating conversations online can also be a powerful way of amplifying a brand’s message. 

3. Activate purpose through community

A recent Kantar study showed that 31% of Asian consumers put a company’s positive impact on the community among the top five most important brand attributes, whilst in WARC’s Marketer’s Toolkit 2021, 60% of marketers in Asia agree that brands need to take a stand on social issues. 

For businesses, supporting the community and having a clearly articulated purpose are now critical to success, and these often require navigating local complexities and nuances.

Like Nike in Japan and Rexona (Unilever) in Indonesia, strong storytelling via online video can help marketers bring their brand purpose to life, promote inclusive activities, and cultivate positive habits. 

The whitepaper includes full chapter analysis, WARC Best Practice, YouTube Works jury views and case study examples.