Using slo-mo in your video ad increases the viewer’s attention, evokes positive emotions and (weirdly enough) gives the perception that time is flying.
It’s one of those techniques that directors use in popular television series’ to hook their audience and that video marketers—especially those who are focusing on brand awareness—are starting to capitalize on too.
BCBGMaxAzria is using slo-mo in their video creative.
BCBGMaxAzria has recently promoted a gorgeous video ad showcasing their new fall/winter collection.
Their video includes day-to-day scenes in a woman’s life. She’s doing things like walking up the steps, taking something out of her purse, looking at her watch and chatting—but there’s something else impressive about the video aside from the exquisite fashion: a luxurious and almost emotional feel.
This feeling happens because a large percentage of the video is in slow motion.
Slow motion is an easy technique that can be applied to most video creatives.
For the best effect, test slow motion in scenes that are most crucial for you in your video, like right as your product appears on screen, or in a scene where you want consumers to pay extra attention.
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Bumble uses slo-mo in their Super Bowl ad.
Bumble’s Superbowl ad is another great example of slo-mo usage. In the 60 second video, Serena Williams discusses powerful women. Slo-mo dramatizes the message even more.
More consumer attention means more brand awareness.
A series of eye tracking studies analyzed how participants responded when watching a slow motion video. They also measured the same video in natural speed, and found evidence that participants watching the slow motion version attended to more details—this was even stronger when combined with music.
The study was specifically focused on the effect of music. In BCBG’s video for example, music adds to the success they’ve found with their campaigns.
In a world where marketers are in a constant battle for consumer attention—especially when the devil is in the details—adding this technique to your video ads can go a long way.
Not only does slow motion improve brand awareness, it incites positive emotion when used right.
The slower the motion, the more positive emotion.
To explore what else is being impacted by slow motion, those same researchers decided to ask the participants questions after they viewed the videos. Participants felt more positive after watching in slow motion as opposed to natural speed. Not only did participants feel more positive, but they felt like less time had passed.
When asked how long they thought they were watching the videos, they underestimated by over 4X.
Time really does fly when you’re having fun, or apparently when you’re watching slow motion videos.
Marketers are using this tool to discover other video trends
In addition to exploring video strategies like slo-mo, and in an effort to support video marketers with creating powerful videos that will resonate with their audiences, we recently added video trends to our trends website.
This tool analyzes all of our network’s most recent videos and looks to identify common trending action types, like eating, stretching and driving. It also determines trending video characteristics like black & white vs. color, man vs. woman, and animal vs. no animal.
When a brand’s main goal is to create positive micro-branding memories, a positive association with video ads is crucial.
Marketers who want consumers to associate positive feelings with their brand are integrating slow motion scenes into their videos.