Take a look at the YouTube UK Homepage today, for More Th>n's 'More Than Freeman' campaign - proof that you can make a splash with insurance!

Their Click-to-Play masthead plays a short clip from the 'rooftile' home insurance ad and then leads through More Th>n's branded YouTube channel for more TV ads, a 'making of the ads' film, and other features such as links through to follow on Twitter and Facebook.

For more information about YouTube and the opportunities for your brand, just get in touch with your Google contacts :)

Today, a great example of a UK financial services company using the YouTube homepage takeover masthead ad format to gain brand visibility. Visa are running a 'Pay with Visa' competition and driving traffic to their own competition site through the YouTube masthead.

• The YouTube homepage delivers ~9,500,000 daily impressions in the UK
• 54% of YouTube users in the UK are aged 35+

(Source: Nielsen Sep 2010)

For more examples of finance (and other) brands using YouTube please visit our YouTube Creative Hub

We're excited to announce the launch of Ad of the Year, an award hosted by YouTube in partnership with Campaign. Check out the YouTube channel, youtube.com/iloveads, where agencies and advertisers can upload your best and most creative ads of the last 18 months. All video ads that ran online or on television are eligible to enter and the aim is to find the most creative and entertaining ads. The ad that captures the imagination of the nation!




How it works
An expert panel will review submissions and shortlist 28 ads, which will be put forward for the public vote. The winner will be announced and celebrated at the Campaign Media Awards on 17 November and receive a homepage takeover on YouTube, worth £75,000 and approximately 11 million views. Entry is free, all entrants need to do is upload the ad. No forms, no formalities!

Timelines
Deadline for entries: 23 September 2010
Shortlist chosen by expert panel: 1 October-14 October 2010
Public vote: 15 October – 3 November 2010
Winner announced : Campaign Media Awards, 17 November 2010

Future Plans
After the awards, we plan to make the iloveads channel a hub for great ads on YouTube.

We hope you're excited by ads too, and will submit your entries via youtube.com/iloveads!

Cross Post from Google Barometer Blog, by Christoffer Klemming and Robin Morgan, UK B2B Marketing

YouTube has long been a place to come to look for information and to connect with other people with similar interests. In the spirit of this, we are proud to launch think with Google - our new platform for sharing business insights and viewpoints delivered in bit-sized, inspiring and actionable videos.

The channel has some of UKs leading thinkers offering their insights on creativity, marketing, business strategy, trends, consumer insights and more; helping you navigate in our dynamic business landscape. Contributors already include Amazon’s Marketing Director Brian McBride, Confused.com’s creative CEO Carlton Hood, innovative author and speaker Don Tapscott and London Mayor Boris Johnsson.

As always, viewers will be able to rate videos, leave comments, subscribe and offer up video responses. The hope is that this will become a thriving business community in the spirit of YouTube – so head to the channel, listen to the thinkers and feel free to make your voice heard.

Cross Post from Google Barometer Blog, by Selina Rennie, Agency Team

Our new YouTube channel, Bubble, showcases the best and brightest YouTube executions to date, be it a cool new viral or a stunning masthead.

The site is easy to navigate. It allows you to browse content by ads, check out the latest YouTube news or take a look at past viral advertising campaigns that have run on YouTube.

If you are looking for some inspiration, take a look at our most popular Bubbles as voted by subscribers of the channel each month.

If you are interested in learning about the benefits of advertising on YouTube, head to the 'How To' section. Here, you can also learn about the advertising formats that are available and how advertising analytics and insights can be utilised to optimise YouTube campaigns.

On Bubble, you will also find some useful videos on how YouTube impacts brand metrics. Here is a taster:




For all of this and much more, visit Bubble today.