YouTube Annotations: 32 Ways to Bait a Bear (& Spark One Amazing Idea For Yourself)

Hey, it’s Friday. It’s the only day you can say to your boss, “all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy” and probably get away with it. At least, that’s what I plan to do…

So, hark back to the Tipp-Ex ad campaign on Youtube. Did you find all the variations? If not below are all the variants we found, published here for the benefit of those of you who have yet to check out our official Facebook page (or can’t access it for whatever reason).

Boss Decoy Paragraph (Some Sensible Information)
Just in case a superior is looking over your shoulder, I thought it would be expedient to include at least one piece of useful advice to justify the need to watch the next 30 ridiculous videos of bear baiting. And it is this:

You don’t need to have a monumental marketing budget to achieve the kind of interactivity that Tipp-Ex achieved. Neither do you need a Youtube account manager to set it all up for you. Instead, start experimenting with Youtube Annotations. Put simply, they allow you to create clickable boxes and animated buttons on your video which link to other videos on your channel. Whilst most users deploy annotations simply for irritating ‘subscribe to my channel’ messages or point viewers in the direction of a website, the real power of annotations is in their ability to link all the videos on your channel in innovative ways.

A little bit of forward planning, time, patience and some street smarts and you’ll be well positioned to achieve miraculous results on a low budget. You could weave alternative plot-lines and scenarios into your video ads, adding a new dimension of interactivity, exactly like the first Tipp-Ex Youtube Campaign video, which offers users the choice of ‘shoot the bear’ or ‘don’t shoot the bear’ simply via Youtube Annotations.

So far the Tipp-ex videos have got 8 million views (probably a lot more but there are no statistics on the variable endings), but just checkout the creativity of Youtube Streetfighter from Patrick Boivin from creative agency Woolf+Lapin. It’s earned him/them over 10 million views in total. Play it by selecting an opponent – it’s amazing.

With the cost of video production getting lower, there’s no excuse to not start experimenting with these powerful social features on Youtube. Except maybe that you have run out of ideas…. which brings me back to the bear baiting. To see the 32 possible endings, follow all the annotations and instructions on the video and then enter the keywords you see in the screenshots:

1. Bares All

2. Cold Calling

3. Do You Come Here Often

4. Rodeo

5. Simple Pleasures

6. Wassup

7. This Little Bear Had Roast Beef

8. How Do You Do

9. Smell Ya Later

10. School Sports Day

11. We’ll Have None Of That

12. A Rose By Any Other Name

13. Nessum Dorma

14. Wacko

15. La Lucha

16. Sweet Dreams

17. Fancy Another?

18. Competitive Discretion

19. Product Placement

20. Touch Down

21. Jacko

22. Adults Only

23. Life Swap

24. Double Rainbow

25. Watering the Garden

26. Goal

27. FTW

28. Old School

29. iPod Shuffle

30. Eye for an Eye

31. Nom Nom

32. Happily Ever After