Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, Volume 496 Proceedings of the 2020 3rd International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2020) Analysis on Vlog Story-telling Techniques and Advertisement Hanshi Zhang Roycemore School, 1200 Davis St. Evanston, IL 60201 *Corresponding author. Email:[email protected] ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to analyze the success of vlogs from its story-telling perspective, and to see what can be applied to the future advertising. A case study of vlog advertising is analyzed in this article, and the author finds that great content, story-telling aesthetics, and influencer choice all contribute to the success of vlog advertising. From this case study, this study makes several predictions of the future advertising trends, which includes the transformation in shooting patterns, advertising perspectives, and distribution platforms. And it will keep developing the brand's own unique aesthetic image and making use of the celebrity effect as a way of marketing strategy. Keywords: Vlog, advertising trends, storytelling techniques, brand marketing insights and practical ideas for the marketers in terms of advertising strategy. 1. INTRODUCTION In today’s internet era, people can no longer clearly 2. LITERATURE REVIEW distinguish advertising from other forms of media. But this is not a bad thing, because it shows a sign of the growth Vlog, short for video blog, is a rising form of digital video and transformation of the advertising industry: the ads can that caught up people’s attention in recent years. People be entertaining and enjoyable to watch too. With the vlog as a way to record and share their lives with others, development of technology and the revolution of mass and the contents range from daily life vlog to travel vlog to media, the way people get information and communicate beauty vlog and so on. While there are earlier accounts, has shifted from traditional text to a more modernized vlog was first known by people around 2004, and with the form of video, and short video apps like TikTok have launch of YouTube, the world’s biggest UGC (user- become one of the most popular domestic consumption generated content) video sharing platform, vlog started to around the world. Therefore many companies and brands show an explosive growth in its popularity. Also the notice the prosperous development of the short video popularization of mobile phones and the advanced industry, and started to implant advertisements and technology of phone cameras made vlogging easier for promote their products in these short videos as their people and accelerated the development of the vlog marketing strategy, which is a huge transformation from industry. Till 2012, vlog became one of the most popular traditional advertising. Among all the new types of video types of digital video in western countries, and gained advertising, vlog is the most promising form that has the attention from the people in china during 2016. According potential to be the main advertising stream, and it offers to iiMedia Research, the number of vlog users in China many techniques that brands can apply to the future reached 249 million in 2019, and the market size of the advertising. However, existing research on vlog in general vlog industry will maintain a steady growth trend in the focused on why vlog gets popular and issues of the future. Vlog is praised to be the next “window” in the relationship between the brands, influencers and the short video era, and it is no longer limited as a way to keep audiences, while vlog itself has more to offer other than people’s life stories, but a big business. Vlog’s popularity just entertainment. In fact, marketers can learn and benefit and its power to draw in audiences make it an attractive from the success of vlog, and apply to the future option for marketers to use it as an advertising. Not only advertising. So, this article will essentially focus on does vlogging represent one of the most popular types of analyzing the storytelling techniques of vlog that make it video content, but top vloggers offer unique advertising popular, which can be applied to future advertising. And opportunities as brands continue to see influencer through a case study, this article will show how vlog’s marketing as a way to break through the ad clutter [1]. characteristics contribute to make it a successful advertising form, especially when compared to other forms of advertising. Vlog as a new rising form of video will definitely bring more Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license -http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 68 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, Volume 496 3. ANALYSIS applying for a computer science major in the future, or people who are wondering what kind of student the vlogger is who can study at a prestigious university. The 3.1. Vlog’ Story-telling Techniques content of vlog offers an opportunity to explore the world through vlogger’s camera, but at the same time it can also Vlog, different from other forms of digital video, offers a serve as a way of communication and companionship new dimension in viewing experience for the audience. among the same group of people. When analyzing all the successful vlogs, it is easy to discover that they all share something in common in terms of the story-telling techniques: 3.1.4. Interaction The interaction between the vloggers and the audiences 3.1.1. Point-of-View shot may not be synchronous, but it is still a really effective way for building closer relationships with the audience. Point-of-view shot is a film angle that is commonly used The forms of interaction are not only limited in chatting in vlog shooting. It offers an unique first-person and answering questions from the audience, but have experience for the audience to experience what the evolved into many interesting new modes. Nana OuYang’s vloggers see and feel. As Marshall Mcluhan once said the vlog on Instagram Followers Control My Day is a good medium is “any extension of ourselves”[2], in this case, example. Throughout the day she filmed the vlog, she people extend their sensory experience as the vloggers go would post questions on Instagram like which restaurants through their journey. From the lenses of the camera, the to eat or where to shop, and let her followers make the audience can almost smell and taste the food the vlogger is decisions for her depending on the votes. This kind of eating, they can hear and know what is going on around interaction is a great way to fulfill the audience’s requests the vlogger. The advantage point-of-view shot brings is to and increase user engagement. The combination of make the audience feel they are experiencing the vlogger’s interactive vlogs and normal vlogs also fits into the life in person. And through point-of-view shots, the audience’s demands in both hot (low in participation) and audience can directly enter the visual world of the vlogger cold (high in participation) media, they have the choices to rather than being subjugated to being mere spectators. decide which kind of vlogs they want to watch. To sum up all these story-telling techniques listed above, the essence of vlog is that the vloggers sharing their 3.1.2. Creating an immersive experience lifestyles and life philosophies through these videos, and using these techniques to establish a closer relationship Creating an immersive experience is always a way to make with the audience and immerse them into the video and let people lose track of time enjoying their experiences. them feel they are engaging in vlogger’s life, which are Media is naturally invasive and immersive, so is the vlog. vital for a vlog to become popular. vloggers achieve that by including very detailed and minor things in the video. For example, there would be scenes like the alarm clock ringing, or the turning on the coffee 3.2. Research Methodology of Vlog maker. It is very naturally done, because the inchoate Advertisement purpose of vlogging is to record everyday life. And usually the vlogs show a complete day or event since there is no This research use case study to take a closer, in-depth, and time length limit, which also helps to immerse the detailed examination on a particular case, Casey Neistat’s audience into the video and helps them follow the lives of vlog on The $21,000 First Class Airplane Seat, which has vloggers. Therefore, it creates a sense of authenticity that more than 73 million views and 1 million likes on is really rare in today’s video age, which attracts many YouTube. Its exploding made this vlog go viral on the audiences who seek this kind of genuine video. internet, many famous news agencies reported and shared it. However, most people who watched the vlog did not know this is a marketing collaboration between Casey 3.1.3. Content Neistat and Emirates Airlines. So this case study will focus on analyzing the content, the shots, and Casey Neistat as The internet is a voyeuristic environment, and people like an influencer to show how brands use vlog as an to stalk others on the internet. Vlog then becomes a way to advertising to promote their images and products and why fulfill people’s curiosity about others' lives and it is successful compared to other forms of advertising. experiences. For instance, John Fish ’s vlog on A Day In First, people can all reach a consensus that not many The Life Of A Harvard Computer Science Student has people have the experience of taking the first class airplane gained over 11 million views and 300 thousand likes on seat before, and people are curious about and want to YouTube.