[MUSIC PLAYING]
MADDIE BUXTON: Hi, my name is Maddie Buxton,
and I'm YouTube's culture and trends
manager for the US and Canada.
In my job, I track popular videos and study
what makes them stand out.
What this means is that I watch a lot of content.
One of my favorite trends over the past couple of months
has been the rise in viewership of the videos showing
how to give yourself or your significant other a haircut.
We've seen average daily views of videos
with "haircut" and "home" or "how to" in the title
increased by over 220% since March 15
compared to their prior daily average for the year.
As more people have looked to connect with others online,
we've also seen a huge spike in "with me" videos.
These are where YouTube creators invite
others to do things with them at home, from cooking to cleaning.
In just the past month and a half,
daily views of videos with "with me" in the title rose by 600%.
During this time, creators have adapted
to meet the changing needs and interests of their viewers.
At YouTube, we're always in awe of how much we can
learn from them as marketers.
So with that, I'm so excited to bring together
YouTube creator The Fitness Marshall
and Carat CEO Angela Steele to dive into things more.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ANGELA STEELE: Hello.
CALEB MARSHALL: Hello.
MADDIE BUXTON: Angela, can you share a little bit
about yourself and your background?
ANGELA STEELE: Yes, of course.
I am Angela Steele.
I am the CEO of Carat here in the US.
And we are an advertising media agency
with some of the world's largest brands.
We work with Procter & Gamble, General Motors,
Subway, to name just a few of our many clients.
And I think that I have one of the most fun jobs in the world
because I get to do things like this,
and my young children think I'm the coolest mom
in the world because I get to spend time
with people like Caleb.
CALEB MARSHALL: [LAUGHING]
MADDIE BUXTON: And with that, Caleb, what about you?
How would you describe your channel?
And how did you first get started on YouTube?
CALEB MARSHALL: I would describe it
as like a Richard Simmons VHS tape mixed with a Britney
Spears music video.
So I just want to give people a space
to feel confident and sexy and powerful in their own bodies.
And I think we've really kind of reshaped
what fitness means and have attracted
a lot of people who didn't see themselves onscreen before.
And that's kind of why I got into YouTube six years ago
is I didn't have that space.
And once I found that dance made me feel confident and made
me feel comfortable with who I was,
I was able to take that and put it on YouTube
and reach millions of people instantly,
which it's fun to talk about, but I feel like if I show you,
you'll just get it more.
All right, here we go.
Just a minute and a half of your time.
We have a party to plan, so we're
going to send out some invitations.
So we're going to step to the side.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[INAUDIBLE]
Oh, good, we've got company.
Pull out all your candles, Angela.
Woo!
Yes!
[LAUGHING]
ANGELA STEELE: Great, that I can't do.
CALEB MARSHALL: That was wonderful.
MADDIE BUXTON: Can you tell us a little bit
about who your audience is and how you engage with them?
Are there any fan moments that stand out?
CALEB MARSHALL: I feel like our audience is really
a wide spread of range.
We have all ages, all sizes, skin colors,
sexual orientations.
I feel like it's something that has really brought people
together.
And we do live events too, so I can see literally in a room
all of these different people who are loving the channel.
I think it's because everyone, no matter who you are,
feels like you have to fit in or meet a certain standard to make
it in this world.
And I think giving people that space
where they can just be silly and feel free is really powerful.
I think one of my favorite fan stories--
I'm going to try to catch my breath.
[LAUGHTER]
There was a moment where we were on tour,
and this little girl came to one of our shows.
And I love that people use the channel for way more than just
physical fitness.
And she gave me this booklet.
And I guess her mom said she really struggles with anxiety,
and so she does The Fitness Marshall to help her calm down.
And I'm open about my anxiety and things that I go through,
and so this little girl made me a whole booklet
on every little thing she does to find the joy in every day
and to feel a little less anxious.
And so I would take that booklet with me
when I would have to do things that would make me scared,
and I would read that.
So it's just so cool to see how YouTube
has been able to connect me to my fans,
not only on the internet but really, in real life.
MADDIE BUXTON: Yeah, that's incredible.
When did you become a full-time [? greeter, ?]
and what was the process like in terms
of figuring out really what your specific voice and niche were?
CALEB MARSHALL: There was a moment
where we had a video go viral.
It was a Meghan Trainor video, and it was really
the perfect storm, I would say, because everyone in the video
looked different.
I was being really silly.
And I don't think people had seen a fitness video that
truly included everyone and spoke
to a large group of people who weren't just the elite fit
people.
And that really took off and gave us the opportunity
to start touring because we before
had never made money from YouTube because we
used popular music.
So this allowed us to use our platform
and what YouTube has allowed us to build
to make it into a business and actually
translate it to touring and making
money for the first time.
MADDIE BUXTON: So you've really gone
through the whole journey of building
an entire brand for yourself.
Angela, based on your experience working
with brands, what strikes you the most in Caleb's story?
ANGELA STEELE: The thing that strikes me
the most about Caleb's story, it's
so core to what we tell brands to do when they're trying
to connect with audiences.
And that is to be authentic.
And when I hear Caleb talking about why he does what he does,
he says things like, it's to connect
to people of all backgrounds, of all ethnicities,
of all body shapes, and to break down
barriers that would allow them to do something
like this otherwise.
And Caleb has purpose, and he knows his purpose,
and he knows what he stands for.
And having that core purpose well defined then
allows him to do what he does.
And that's why he has the following that he does.
And that's the same essence of what we work with our clients
to achieve, is really understanding their purpose
and the value that they can bring to others and the world,
and using that as the basis for how
they behave in the marketplace, and in advertising,
and the messages that they put forth.
So I think there are direct parallels to Caleb
and what he does and how a brand should behave in general,
but also in social media.
MADDIE BUXTON: And for both of you,
how do viewer interests impact what you're creating
and how you're working with others?
ANGELA STEELE: I would imagine that Caleb's interests are
far more fascinating than mine.
But I have three small children.
Many of my interests and my viewing habits on YouTube
are closely related to what sparks to them and things
that I can do with them.
So there are YouTube channels like Crafty Girls
that I'm pretty sure we drive most
of the viewership from my single household.
So there are the things that they can learn,
that they can do together, that keep them active,
and really just things that we can
do as a household, especially in this time,
are really important.
And that's how our interests drive our engagement
with YouTube.
CALEB MARSHALL: YouTube allows us
to have users' comments on all our videos.
So I'm able to get immediate feedback.
And I noticed from the beginning when
I started listening to those people in those comments
and I started taking their suggestions,
people would notice.
And then they would comment on the next video and be like,
oh my gosh, Caleb listens.
He cares about what we think.
And they really felt more invested and involved
in the channel, and it wasn't just me giving them content.
It was them helping me create content.
And recently, I've gone so far as
to post multiple versions of choreography
and have fans vote on which one they want.
And then I choose the one that gets the most votes.
And it's really allowed them to be a part of this
and feel like we're partners and friends.
And it's so much more than just me giving them content.
MADDIE BUXTON: Yeah, I love that kind of interaction.
So now I want to talk a little bit about shifting
consumer behavior right now.
How has the current climate changed the way
that your teams are doing marketing for clients, Angela?
ANGELA STEELE: The mantra for marketing
has been the same for as long as marketing and advertising has
existed.
And that is follow the consumer and know
what the customer wants.
And this is a time where we have seen previous trends that
were already there accelerated.
And the thing that our clients need the most right now
is flexibility, and agility, and the right tone,
and the right way to connect with their customers.
So we are seeing an increased purpose and an increased
role for channels like YouTube because it offers the agility.
It offers the flexibility.
But it also offers that connection
with customers and that relationship building
in a way that might be hard for brands
to figure out what it is that they should be saying right now
or how they should be connecting with culture.
So there are some interesting shifts taking place
that I don't think are going to go away.
I think it's things that have existed,
that have been accelerated, that will persist beyond this time.
MADDIE BUXTON: Yeah, this is definitely something
that we've seen in terms of trends on YouTube
over the past couple months.
An easy example that comes to mind
is homework help videos, which this is something
that they've existed on YouTube forever,
but we've seen this huge, huge increase.
There've been over 340% increase in viewership
globally of homework help videos in mid-March
compared to the year so far.
So how about you, Caleb?
How has this new reality changed how
you're adapting the kind of content you're creating
and how you're engaging with your viewers?
CALEB MARSHALL: When this all started,
we kind of shot some videos in bulk
because we knew this might happen.
And we released a few of those videos.
But then we realized that what people really wanted to see
was real life right now.
Because everyone's feeling alone.
Everyone's feeling like they are separated from others
and that they may be having this experience that other people
aren't having.
And so we made the decision to offer
our weekly hour-long workouts that we give our YouTube
members.
We took that from a dance studio to doing it in my living room.
I mean, literally the background that you see,
this is our weekly dance studio.
And I was really nervous at first
to do that because production value is important.
And we've built a brand, and I don't
want to let them see behind the magic curtain
and let them see just my real house.
But when I did that, it made people latch onto it
so much more because they saw that even
their favorite YouTuber was also stuck at home doing
the same thing, working out in the same place
that they were working out.
So I think that it brought us even closer together.
And it's made the content that we create even more
powerful because it's real.
And that's what people desperately want right now,
is just for people to be themselves and be authentic
and make them feel less alone.
ANGELA STEELE: Caleb, some of the things that you're saying,
there are direct parallels to what we've
been doing with our clients and our brands
in that before all of this started, over a year ago,
we had started Project Green Screen, which
was an initiative that we have with YouTube across Dentsu
and Carat.
And the whole purpose of that is to learn
from creators like Caleb on what the best practices are around
creating content that builds that relationship
with customers and how to reveal more of their own authenticity,
as you are doing in your apartment.
Brands have to be a little bit vulnerable in terms
of what they're willing to share and who they're
willing to be in that social space
so that they can create that connection.
So I think there are so many parallels between what Caleb
is saying that he does as a creator
and also what brands need to do to be relevant in this space.
MADDIE BUXTON: Yeah, and I think, Caleb, also what
you're doing that we've seen play out in trends time
and time again is creating this shared experience with viewers.
That's what underlies the whole "with me"
trend and really creates that kind of relatable. content.
So now just from a personal standpoint, do both of you
have any recommendations for activities
to try on YouTube now?
CALEB MARSHALL: Ooh, I mean, you mentioned the haircuts,
and I think that is--
I tried it, and it didn't work out so well.
But I have more to learn, and that's
what I want to keep doing.
MADDIE BUXTON: I don't know.
It looks good.
You look good.
CALEB MARSHALL: Thank you.
Thank you.
And also I feel like the home workout thing,
I am really enjoying trying new home workouts
because this is a time where I can't go to the gym,
and so I'm experiencing other people's
stuff for the first time, which is really fun.
And it's a way to switch things up.
ANGELA STEELE: Yeah, and to echo that, home workouts is
a big thing.
And since we've been planning for today,
I've had many friends tune in to Caleb's channel.
And I have to give a plug to anyone who's watching this.
It is so much fun.
I can keep doing this for a couple of more months
because it's fun.
It's a great workout.
And it's something the whole family can do,
so I don't have to go lock myself in a room.
It's just a great, fun experience.
So thank you, Caleb.
It really is a lot of fun.
CALEB MARSHALL: Thank you.
That's so cool.
MADDIE BUXTON: Yeah, I fully agree with that, 100%.
Well, it's been so, so refreshing
and insightful to hear from both of you
and to get to talk with you.
Thank you so much for joining us today, and stay well
ANGELA STEELE: Yeah, thank you.
CALEB MARSHALL: Thank you.
ANGELA STEELE: Thank you, Caleb.
CALEB MARSHALL: Thank you guys.
[MUSIC PLAYING]