How 'Haul' Videos Can Support Brands

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Haul Videos

Haul videos are one of the ‘Top 10 Youtube’s Popular Videos’, and because we are seeing Haul videos increasing in importance for brand strategy, we are going to take a closer look at this particular type of video called the ‘Haul’ video!

The term ‘Haul video’ describes a new type of video that is recorded by an Internet influencer where they showcase recently acquired products, going into great detail and great lengths about its features and characteristics. While the product can be nearly anything, beauty and fashion-related products are where the Haul video gained traction. 

Back in 2006-’07, with the rising beauty vlogging community, Youtube began to see the first Haul videos being published by beauty and fashion fans excitedly talking about the products they just acquired. Today, Haul videos are created by Influencers on several platforms like Instagram (IGTV, Stories, Posts,...), TikTok and Snapchat and oftentimes, the items being featured are sponsored by a brand. 

Overall, products, rather than services, are most suitable for Hauls because they are tangible, easy to show in great detail or demonstrate features to try on. While unboxing videos usually focus on first impressions, unwrapping and highlights of a product, Haul videos usually include an ‘unboxing’ ritual within them.

If it features clothing, we’ll see the influencer try it on, and if the video features a gadget or some technology, we’ll see the influencer incorporate an element of ’how-to.’ Haul videos run anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes in length. The range of topics discussed includes;

• Brand, collection and unboxing
• Where they bought it and from which retailer (or if they received it as a gift)
• The reason why they made that purchase
• User opinion (Tend to be more positive than negative)
• Price

For brands, Haul videos can be a fascinating opportunity to advertise or launch a product. When brands collaborate with influencers, influencers might choose a product that they are more interested in but most often, a brand will simply mail products directly to the influencer to sample. The influencer will most likely incorporate the product into their video programming and share it with their audience.

Of course, whether or not the influencer acquired the item through a purchase, a gift from a friend or free in collaboration with a brand is not always made clear in Haul videos. This has some critics questioning the authenticity of the videos themselves, calling for advertising transparency.

It can be incredibly time-consuming for brands to scour thousands of videos and find the right influencer that aligns with their messaging. Our natural language and machine visioning technology quickly and thoroughly aggregate videos, so it's easy to search and sort to find the videos you are interested in using.

Vyrill data reports show exactly what’s being talked about inside of a video, making it easy for brands to collect and contact videos and influencers that are a great fit, all from the Vyrill dashboard. Let us know if you’d like to check it out for yourself! 

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About the Author

Katy boasts two decades in B2B technology & services, spearheading growth and brand evolution. A former Adobe marketing maven for 9 years, she’s since built growth teams for 5 tech startups that have all been acquired. With a stellar record in operational excellence and creating demand, she excels at leading successful cross-functional initiatives that enable companies to scale up.