Universal takeover YouTube UK for Despicable Me release

In a blow to the newly active Chairman and Chief Executive of ITV, the Competition
Commission have this morning definitively ruled that the CRR remedy, (which allows buyers
of advertising airtime to renew their existing contracts with ITV, with investment adjusted to
reflect the change in ITV1’s audience share), will be maintained for the foreseeable future.
The only concession that the Commission has made to ITV’s extensive lobbying is an
amendment to include viewers delivered by the ITV1+1 and ITV1HD channels.

Universal Pictures International are to take over YouTube’s home page on 14th October to promote the cinema release of their latest family blockbuster Despicable Me.

As part of an international deal secured by Universal’s media agency, MediaCom, YouTube UK’s home page will be taken over by Minions, the characters from Despicable Me and viewers will be able to link directly to an interactive custom channel page created by Feref. Due to the volume of content promoted, MediaMind have been appointed to ad serve the bespoke YouTube channel.

Universal Pictures International further supported the campaign in the UK with early activity on Spil Games and Miniclip, with both online gaming sites given access to interactive Despicable Me games, and branded activity was used on Habbo Hotel and Neopets to engage with kids and teens. There will also be a major multi-media launch campaign implemented locally by MediaCom UK which will concentrate on taking over both parent and child medias by unleashing Minion Mayhem, with stand-out cross media promotions on Cartoon Network, Disney XD and Nickelodeon.

“YouTube is the home of Universal’s core audience and through our close partnership we have been enjoying an even closer relationship with our key consumers. We believe that YouTube provides an unmatched platform for dialogue with our core consumers and we want to deliver the richest and most rewarding experience for our visitors and subscribers.  Using a blend of homepage events and rigorously targeted search campaigns we are enjoying engagement levels well beyond industry averages” says Neil Wirasinha, Vice President International Media at Universal.

Mariama Jelman, Associated Director, MediaCom said of the campaign “This is an exceptionally exciting campaign to have been involved in as the collaboration between the media, creative and technology elements makes for an impactful and engaging execution.”

One of the UK’s leading integrated communications agency, Feref was commissioned to create the home page takeover and custom channel creative. “Universal challenged Feref to craft a highly innovative and engaging digital campaign. We pride ourselves on our ability to deliver highly creative and strategic campaigns and we are confident that the UK roll out will follow the success we have witnessed in other territories” said Andrew Warren, MD of Feref Digital.

By serving the ad on YouTube via MediaMind, Universal have been able to track the ad’s performance with advanced monitoring and reporting. "This campaign serves as a case study on how technology can be used to communicate directly with individual fans in an engaging, and broad-reaching fashion" said Gal Trifon, CEO and co-Founder at MediaMind.  “Initial measurements of viewer acceptance, measured in Dwell Time, have been very positive."