Google unveiled the YouTube Brand Partner Program Certification, an educational program aimed at teaching agencies the fundamentals of video content strategy.
The program, announced at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France, and at VidCon in Anaheim, California, is based on the YouTube Brand Partner Program that was created three years ago and targeted to marketers.
The new online course – which is comprised of 80 minutes of video content, 20 lesson plans, test your knowledge questions and an exam – will be available in 22 languages to Google/YouTube agency partners.
“Our goal is to enable our agency partners to create more effective content, increase agility, and evangelize the need for innovation in the marketplace,” said Torrence Boone, VP of global agency sales and services at YouTube.
The curriculum will school agencies on how to partner with YouTube creators, publishing frameworks, creative treatments, video discovery and campaign optimization. YouTube stars, including MysteryGuitarMan, Veritasium, My Cupcake Addiction and Flavia Calina, will deliver some of the lessons.
MEC’s global content division Wavemaker is the launch partner for YouTube’s program, and has already has enrolled almost 200 employees from the U.S., U.K., Argentina, Australia, Germany, India, Mexico, Netherlands, UAE, Poland and Singapore. The agency has committed to certifying the entire Wavemaker staff globally over the coming weeks.
“With MEC Wavemaker we have a different kind of content offer, one that helps our clients see exactly what role content and platforms play in their customers’ lives and how that will directly impact their brand’s performance,” said Alastair Aird, global COO of MEC and global head of Wavemaker. “It’s different because we have the data to identify precisely what consumer behavior needs to change along the purchase journey and create content that’s specifically designed to make that change happen. Equipping our people with the necessary knowledge to design the most effective video content is key to our service to clients.”
