Remember Vine? The beautiful platform boasting six-second video clips for the ADD generation?
When Vine hit the scene in early 2013, there was an immense amount of buzz surrounding it. It seemed made for the short attention span of the web. It also appeared that the platform was really onto something, creating its own niche in the world of viral content.
Along Came Instagram Video
Vine got some serious competition in 2013 when Instagram allowed its users to post 15-second clips, as opposed to the six-second variety everyone had become accustomed to. Many declared Vine was as good as dead, but its general manager, Jason Toff, recently told Re/Code that the platform has 200-million monthly users and is still growing.
Did everyone dump Vine after Instagram rolled out 15-second videos? Not at all. In fact, just last week, First Lady Michelle Obama invited Vine “celebrities” to the White House to help her launch “Better Make Room,” a campaign that’s part of the Reach Higher initiative, which seeks to provide educational opportunities for students around the United States.
But the $64,000 question is this: Are any brands, outside of Vine personalities, still using Vine? Of course they are. The pattern seems to be that many brands at using Vine for product launches, events, and creating original content.
Here are five brands using Vine effectively and uniquely:
Lowe’s
Lowe’s was one of the first brands on Vine to provide real value to its followers. With a series of six-second home improvement tips, Lowe’s caught (and kept) the attention of thousands of Vine users right from the start. The home improvement retailer still posts fairly consistently compared to other brands. The most recent video, seen above, does a great job of showing how one of its tools can take your pumpkin carving from happy to scary. Lowe’s also has tips on catching dust when drilling, working with a stripped screw and keeping squirrels off of your flowers.
Dunkin’ Donuts
Remember this ad series from late 2013, early 2014? Dunkin’ Donuts was the first brand to use Vine for TV ad creation. The ads ran during ESPN’s SportsCenter. Sitting at 4.2 million loops, the brand has used Vine as a brilliant product selling tool, even using it to promote its pumpkin spiced iced coffee and sharing user-generated content promoting its new Reese’s Peanut Butter Square.
Puma
Puma is currently using Vine to show athletes training everywhere. The brand’s most recent athlete is professional soccer player Sergio Aguero, who’s shown in the street practicing his foot skills and in an office showing he works like everyone else. Puma is all about helping people reach their goals, and that’s what the brand shows on Vine. Puma has also used the platform to show its products in stop-motion as a selling tool. While the company doesn’t use Vine consistently, it’s effective when it does.
MTV
Since Vine was essentially made for the attention spans of the teen and ‘tween crowds, it only makes sense that MTV would be one of the most consistent brands on the platform. Posting multiple times a day, MTV uses Vine to show behind-the-scenes peeks at shows, along with celebrity cameos. In addition, the cable channel has been sharing immensely creative Halloween-themed posts. MTV gets it and has the nearly 650 million loops to prove it.
Mashable
Boasting 62.7 million loops, Mashable seems to be the champ on Vine when it comes to media brands. It has multiple profiles, as it does on other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. On Vine, it shares not only event coverage, but also product teasers for reviews on its website.
What do you think? Is Vine dead? Or has it simply matured?