In the last few years, marketers have increasingly turned to visual storytelling through online video platforms, like Vimeo and YouTube, to get their brand's message across to consumers. As a result, the competitive landscape for online video went into overdrive in 2012. And these players are offering features that marketers can tap into - data analysis, call-to-action overlays and automatic video sitemaps.

Vimeo CEO, Kerry Trainor, is taking these new-comers on by focusing on generating revenue for the user. Trainor tells Fox Business, "It's always been part of the vision to not just provide that great environment to showcase this content, but to start to empower these creators as they build businesses."

Last fall, Vimeo launched a new feature, a virtual "tip jar." At the click of a button, viewers who like a video can show their admiration by tipping the video content creator. When you consider the fact that Vimeo attracts about 41 million unique viewers each month, that's a tremendous audience to potentially reach.

Trainor alludes to an option down the road where content developers and brands will be able to bypass cable companies and offer their unique video content directly to their audiences on their own terms and pricing. 

Regardless of how the fast-moving video industry continues to evolve, Trainor is confident that bolstering Vimeo’s top-line is the best course of action in the short-term – perhaps to seed future innovations in features and usability.

REGISTER NOW to hear Kerry Trainor speak about the changing role of online video in brand strategies at the BRITE '13 Conference (March 4-5).

To read more on Kerry Trainor's efforts to stay ahead of the video curve, visit The Center's blog.

In his book, The Power of Habit, author Charles Duhigg shows readers that understanding how habits work can be the key to customer conversion and millions – even billions – of dollars in sales. In an excerpt of the book that ran in The New York Times in 2012, Duhigg provided a number of examples breaking down the behavior pattern that forms a habit – the "cue-routine-reward loop" – including case studies of how corporations have exploited predictive analytics to boost revenues.

One example revolved around the market launch of the now-popular household product, Febreze. The freshening spray was designed and marketed as a traditional cleaning product, but it brought virtually no money in for parent company P&G at first. After using habit insights to recalibrate and tailor its marketing, P&G repositioned Febreze as the reward in the habit loop, versus an all new cleaning activity altogether. Febreze quickly became one of P&G's biggest revenue generators. 

Habit-driven analytics are not without risks, however. Given the sometimes sensitive nature of the information researchers are attempting to suss out, any indication that a customer's privacy has been breached could lead to a full scale public relations nightmare in a matter of hours. One particularly eye-popping example from the excerpt in the Times follows the research of Target marketing executive, Andrew Pole, who had been tapped by the company to determine the best possible windows in which to convert customers, usually in connection with a life event, like pregnancy. Pole pinpointed roughly 25 purchase patterns that indicated when a consumer was pregnant so that Target could customize discount mailers. When an enraged father stormed into his neighborhood store demanding why his teenage daughter was receiving coupons intended for expecting mothers, Target quickly scaled back on how aggressively and obviously they applied their analytics to their marketing.

To hear Charles Duhigg speak about the power of habit at the BRITE '13 Conference (March 4-5), REGISTER NOW.

What do the above articles lead up to? You guessed it!

We're mere weeks away from Columbia Business School's
BRITE '13 conference!

Register now to take advantage of our EARLY BIRD PRICE offer through Feb. 18th!

In addition to Kerry Trainor and Charles Duhigg, our line-up includes:

• Shiv Singh, Global Head of Digital, PepsiCo Beverages
• Liz Schimel, Chief Digital Officer, Meredith National Media Group
• Michael Hagan, Chief Operating Officer, LevelUp
• Jean Brandolini-Lamb, Vice President, Global Branding, SAP

Take a gander at our agenda for more information.

BRITE '13 conference
Date: March 4-5, 2013
Location: Columbia University, NYC

BRITE '13 will bring together leaders from business, marketing, and media to discuss how digital technologies and innovation are transforming the ways that companies build and sustain great brands.

What comes to mind when you hear the brand name "Converse?" You’re likely to think "sneakers," "Chuck Taylors," "basketball," and even "Nike." But for many, the word "music" isn't necessarily top-of-mind. So why would the sneaker brand invest in creating Rubber Tracks, a 5,200 square foot, state-of-the-art recording studio with award-winning engineers, and offer recording time to aspiring musicians. . . free of charge?

In a recent episode of PJA Radio's The Unconventionals, Converse CMO Geoff Cottrill explains, "Most brands borrow equity from a musician. . . to make their brand look a certain way to a certain demographic. . . to look cool." Instead, Converse found greater value in celebrating its core consumer—creative individuals—rather than celebrating itself.

The return? "Virtually everyone that's come in… is posting on Instagram, on Facebook, talking to their social media network, their fan base, about this great experience that they've had," explains Cottrill. According to him, Converse's Facebook page has grown tremendously over the past few years. "We couldn't be any more pleased with the results. . . . . I go back to the relationships that we're creating there."

Read more about Converse's strategy behind the music.

Had enough reading? Listen to Cottrill's full interview with PJA Radio at The Unconventionals

The Center on Global Brand Leadership is proud to support The Unconventionals.

Subscribe on iTunes for more "unconventional" podcasts such as Relay Rides, Big Ass Fans, IdeaPaint, & Dollar Shave Club.