Three Lessons from Gus Johnson’s Takedown of Video Sponsors
Uncharacteristically biting video from comedy creator will teach any sponsor how to be better at what they do.
One of the primary reasons brands and developers focus on streamers, content creators, and other ‘influencers’ when they’re marketing their product or experience is that traditional advertising has lost so much of its power. It’s been decades since you could have a celebrity look directly into the camera and sell, sell, sell expecting an audience to buy into it. When it comes to advertising and marketing, everyone has their blinders up, with most tuning it all out.
That’s what makes sponsorship of content creators so appealing. Managed correctly, relationships between creators and brands or developers organically embed the product within a conversation to which the audience is actually paying attention, featuring a personality to which they feel close and trust. That being said, working with creators is no quick fix, and it’s easy to do it the wrong way.
Gus Johnson is a rising star on YouTube during an era when most on the platform are struggling to grow. His bite-sized comedy videos have proven perfect for the Reddit-driven feedback loops that seem, today, to lie at the center of video virality, but also have proven a detriment when it comes to making real money on a site that increasingly favors longer videos in both discovery and monetization. As such, like many others, Johnson has often relied on sponsorships to generate reliable income, and he has some… observations he felt he needed to get off his chest.
While framed as a discussion, in particular, about mobile games advertising on YouTube, Johnson’s video also speaks to issues at the heart of many creator-brand relationships, and anyone looking to work with streamers or YouTubers could learn a great deal from it. Here are just three of the lessons gleaned from Johnson’s enlightening discussion:
Less is More
The most entertaining part of the conversation, for me, is Johnson’s spot-on interpretation of the sorts of contrived, transparent introductions creators have been forced to tack onto the beginning of each piece of content to adhere to the guidelines of their sponsorship agreements. The reason you keep seeing the same structure, over and over again, that Johnson so effectively parodies is that sponsors demand such long, obtrusive, rigidly timed pitches from their participating creators; it’s a contractual requirement. Johnson points out that, for him, this has been an issue with mobile games in particular.
These canned intros and outros completely miss the point of partnering with content creators. Consumers tune out commercials because it’s easy. They’re long, they’re clearly defined, and they’re annoying. Instead of taking advantage of an audience that’s paying attention, organically associating themselves with quality content without overstaying their welcome, they force a traditional commercial into a non-traditional space. All this does is help your advertisement, because at that point that’s all it is, get ignored.
In addition, the length of these requirements present a particular issue for Johnson and creators like him, which brings us to our next lesson…
Know the Creator’s Content
Johnson has made a name for himself by focusing on short bits of content, often under 30 seconds in length. This has made sponsorships particularly vital to his channel; YouTube, over the past few years, has become a difficult place to survive for anyone who doesn’t create content favored by its mysterious algorithms, which favor longer videos.
That’s what makes it so insulting when a brand requires he open his video with a 90-second pitch for an unrelated product. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of unobtrusive ways to integrate promotion from unrelated brands, but to begin each upload with an advertisement that’s three times the length of the rest of the video demonstrates a complete disregard for what makes the creator appealing as a platform to begin with.
Having rigid requirements like this will dissuade any quality creator from working with you. Beyond that, you’ll end up only entering into partnerships with streamers or video producers who are willing to sacrifice the quality of their content, and, inevitably, that’s a relationship that yields no benefit. You have to remain flexible in what your partnership will functionally entail. Doing otherwise is how you end up with a partnered creator program that costs you much while giving you little, or nothing.
Most Important: Be a Good Partner
Things get particularly interesting towards the end of the video when Gus candidly discusses the brand with which he has most enjoyed working. It’s a web-based retailer of incense, which, frankly, has nothing to do with his content. Johnson loves working with them because they don’t put any restrictions on how he integrates his promotion… or really anything he does, at all. They simply do not care what he does, so long as he mentions that they’re a sponsor.
Now, is that the best way to treat your creator relationships? Probably not. Definitely not always. But, in this instance, it led to a fruitful partnership that Johnson really appreciated because it fit his brand, empowered him to create more content, and didn’t step on his toes, creatively. And, because of that, this video ended with a long, heartfelt pitch to which, I’m convinced, his audience actually listened. I, legit, bought some incense. The story Gus told made me appreciate the way they’ve treated him, and it made me want to patronize their store.
That’s the surprising power of a properly managed creator relationship. By emphasizing their partner’s creative freedom, they were able to forge a stronger connection that yielded a more effective promotion for their own brand. That’s not just lightning in a bottle: it’s the product of a program being run the right way.
Head on over to GameWisp Connect to find out more about the first discovery and management tools built specifically for working with gaming content creators, and be sure to follow us here and on Twitter for all the latest in influencer news and GameWisp updates.
