By Chris Lee

Video is the new battleground in the online marketing sphere. As NMK reported recently, research group Forrester estimates that nearly two-thirds (60 per cent) of Web traffic involves online video, while network technology company Cisco believes this figure will rise to 90 per cent by 2013.

Convinced by the potential of online video, one leisure park in the Midlands decided to launch an online video campaign and shared its findings with NMK.

Located on the edge of Leicester city centre, Meridian Leisure Park provides a complete mix of leisure and entertainment venues, including a multiplex cinema, bowling centre, health and fitness club, restaurants and a day nursery. One of the seven sites owned by the Leisure Fund Limited Partnership and operated by Legal & General Investment Management, it provides over 153,000 square feet of entertainment and leisure space, located one mile from the M1 motorway.

Intelligent targeting

Meridian Leisure Park aims to attract young families, particularly at key periods such as half terms and school holidays. To raise its profile during the summer holidays it turned to online video advertising.

Meridian Leisure commissioned a video campaign through the news site of regional paper the Leicester Mercury, part of the Northcliffe Digital group. The ad campaign was delivered through Northcliffe’s partnership with geo-targeted online video advertising specialist Localstars, which aims to deliver cost-effective, regionally-targeted video advertising to businesses.

Ad-ding value

Localstars says it provides advertisers with a choice of production methods – either shooting bespoke adverts using its network of over 100 film-makers, or generating customised video ads via its automated online video ad builder system, which allows publishers’ sales teams to tailor and edit existing content from the company’s video library. Localstars told NMK this automated approach helps to bring online video advertising within the reach of all organisations, as well as allowing publishers to deliver the power of online video without major investment or risk.

Meridian Leisure commissioned a bespoke, 45-second advert because it wanted to demonstrate the full range of facilities at the park and ensure that all its tenants were featured. The advert took less than a day to shoot and, once signed off, the Leicester Mercury’s sales team used Localstars’ online platform to upload it and manage the campaign, publishing the ad within specific pages on the Leicester Mercury’s “This is Leicester” website to ensure targeted page impressions, views and responses.

The campaign ran in two individual weekly bursts between May and July 2010. Overall, nearly 40,000 people viewed the advert, which was played more than 65,000 times. During the campaign, Meridian’s website traffic increased by 10-15 per cent.

Video advertising also went down extremely well with tenants, who valued the promotion the park provided to their businesses at a key time of year. This momentum has continued with the advert now highlighted on the Meridian Leisure home page, uploaded to YouTube and featured on the park’s Facebook page, aiding site search engine optimisation (SEO) as well as helping to attract new visitors.

Future plans

Meridian was so pleased with the campaign that its sister site - Barbican Leisure Park in Plymouth - has also turned to the power of video advertising, running a week long promotion that delivered nearly 20,000 views on Northcliffe’s This is Plymouth website.

Matt Adams, account director, Cobb PR, which is retained by Legal and General to promote the Leisure Fund Limited Partnership, said: “Video advertising fits perfectly with our core audience and provided a powerful way of communicating at a key time of year. Working with Localstars and the Leicester Mercury was extremely straightforward and professional and the final advert has delivered real benefits to our tenants and the park, both at the time and on an ongoing basis.”