Degree Men Deodorant Turns to Video Marketing DEGREE MEN, the deodorant by Unilever, is starting a video marketing campaign that aims to increase the brand's interaction with its core consumers by offering content tailored to social gaming sites. The brand is joining companies like Coca-Cola, Disney and Pinnacle Foods" Aunt Jemima Frozen Breakfast in trying what has become known as engagement marketing. Degree Men's video series, "Masters of Movement," features extreme-sports figures and allows social game players who view their two-minute videos to earn points and currency that can be used in the game they are playing. Some 95 percent of people who choose to view brand content will watch a video in its entirety and are more likely to take an action, like commenting or downloading information afterward, according to the Jun Group, a social video distribution company in New York. Social game players who watch a complete Degree Men video can also choose to go the Theadrenalist.com Web site to see additional extreme-sports videos. Digital distribution companies offer access to huge pools of potential customers. The Jun Group says it can reach 100 million users on 400 social games. Another company, SocialVibe, which works with Zynga and other social gaming companies, last year handled 500 opt-in engagement campaigns for more than 200 brands, including Pepsi, General Electric and Disney. SocialVibe released a study in February that found that combining brand messages and incentives increased viewer interaction by 91 percent, and brand perception by 48 percent, and improved viewer recall and intent to purchase. The study, done with independent research company KN Dimestore, surveyed 30,000 people in mid-2011. It found that while 48 percent of survey participants may initially engage with a brand to gain an incentive, they then stay and pay attention to the brand message. "Brand engagement tied to value-exchange leads to powerful lifts in recall, recognition, time-spent and purchase intent for brands," said Todd Tappin, the chief executive of SocialVibe, which is in Los Angeles. Degree Men's campaign for its Adrenaline deodorant line, which began last week, has adopted the engagement strategy "to evoke emotion from the consumer and create a conversation," said Cindy Gustafson, managing director at Mindshare, a GroupM company owned by WPP. Mindshare oversaw Unilever's online distribution and helped coordinate filming of the videos. The Master of Movement campaign's first week produced 9.1 million video views, of which 93 percent watched a video in its entirety - a retention rate that Ms. Gustafson described as "incredible." Degree Men's videos, produced by Mindshare Entertainment, seek to tie pulse-racing adventures to the deodorant line's new MotionSense technology that responds to wearer movement by releasing bursts of fragrance to fend off sweat and odor. "The motion sensor works when you work," said Aaron Callaway, senior brand manager for Degree Men, whose audience is 18- to 35-year-old males. Like other advertisers, Degree is noticing soaring views for social videos, which are defined as ads people choose to watch. In the first three months of this year, social video ads had 1.2 billion views, according to Visible Measures, an online video measurement company. There were 2.7 billion views for all of 2011, according to the company. A Jun Group study last year, which analyzed 7.9 million social video views for a variety of brands, found that Facebook page visits, at 62 percent, were by far the most popular postvideo view response. That was followed by brand-page visits and store location searches, which together accounted for 15 percent of postview actions. "Social games are changing the ad industry as advertisers are paying for tangible actions, like a video ad view," said Mitchell Reichgut, the Jun Group's chief executive. That was the case for Aunt Jemima's Frozen Breakfast products, which wanted to raise its profile despite a limited marketing budget. The company last year filmed workers making pancakes at its Jackson, Tenn., plant for its first social video, which drew 10.4 million views, largely by women, of which 99 percent watched the full 55-second video. More than 70 percent of viewers redeemed a coupon, said Brandi Unchester, Pinnacle's senior brand manager for frozen and refrigerated breakfasts. Ms. Gustafson of Mindshare said that, on average, 30 percent of a brand's advertising spending is allocated to digital, which includes online, social games and mobile. Last year, the company spent $30.6 million on overall advertising for Degree Men, down from $36 million in 2010, according to Kantar Media, part of WPP. Degree Men's adrenaline-pumping campaign showcases feats of adventure by extreme-sports figures like the climber Bear Grylls and Miles Daisher, a so-called BASE jumper, who parachutes from fixed objects like bridges and buildings. "We wanted to reflect some functionality of the product, to show that it lasts and performs persistently over time," said Greg DiNoto, chief creative officer for Deutsch N.Y., part of a division of the Interpublic Group, describing the strategy behind choosing Mr. Grylls. The star of Discovery Channel's "Man vs. Wild" show, Mr. Grylls was selected because "he has the physicality, humor and authenticity needed," said Mr. DiNoto. He instantly telegraphs our idea that the product lasts, and so do you, no matter what.