A report on how the AARP Studios team scored their first viral video, a story featuring an AARP member who owns and flies a private squadron of harrier jets.

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EXECUTIVE
SUM MARY
AARP STUDIOS
HARRIER JET
VIDEO REPORT C O N T E N T S
I . Strategy
I . AARP Studios created the Harrier Jet Video (HJV) in order to test principles
of niche content development aimed at smaller communities but with the
potential for broader appeal in order to increase organic viewership and
drive social sharing of digital video.
I I . Publication to owned channels (YouTube and Facebook) enabled multi-media
producer TJ Cooney to leverage personal contacts at a military aviation blog to
publish the video to their audience. These initial placements accelerated the
social sharing of the HJV and drove significant viewership across multiple
digital and traditional publications, including the Gawker Network.
E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y
I I I . Within 10 days after publication, the HJV received over 1.6 million views,
with over 95% of those views being organic. Reaching Reddit’s front
page secured additional shared media placements on many influential
websites including Playboy.com and syndication by UPI and Scripps.
I V. The opportunity exists to refine internal AARP strategies, tactics and skills
to accommodate digital-first content in order to broaden the appeal of
AARP to currently active and untapped communities and demographics.
I I . Media Distribution
I I I . Video Metrics
I V. Learnings
V. Contacts
June 1, 2015

2. ST RATEGY
AARP STUDIOS
HARRIER JET
VIDEO PERFORMANCE S T R AT E G Y
I . AARP Studios created the Harrier Jet Video (HJV) as
a means of testing the potential of niche content
development by creating a piece of content that placed
an in-depth focus on the relationship between Lt. Col. Art
Nalls (Ret) and the airplane that he spent the majority of
his career flying.
I I I . The seven minute storyline focuses on the challenges faced by Nalls as he
located, transported, restored, and ultimately re-learned to fly the Sea Harrier
FA2. The video purposely appealed not only to the hardcore military aviation
community, but also serves as the personal testament to the AARP
principles of Real Possibilities—demonstrating how an older Americans
need not slow down - both literally and figuratively - in their retirement.
I V. Distribution of the HJV would be driven initially by TJ’s personal relationship
with a journalist as a military aviation blog. This initial push, combined with
a modest but highly targeted paid-media support on Facebook, would get the
video to the targeted niche community. From there, it was theorized that the
video would gain additional distribution do to the socially-optimized narrative
structure of the video.
I I . As this was the first AARP Studios piece of content to be originated within the
department, the narrative structure of the HJV was fully socially optimized
in order to quickly capture viewers and hold their attention through-
out the full length of the video. From a visual aesthetic, story-telling
structure, and auditory cue standpoint, the video was crafted to capture
attention, create intrigue, and demonstrate value throughout the entire piece.
R E D D I T
To o k m e 6 m i n u t e s t o
n o t i c e t h i s w a s a n A A R P
v i d e o , looking forward
to old a g e a little bit
m o r e n o w !”
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3. MEDIA
DIS TRIBUTION
O R G A N I C M E D I A C O V E R A G E
+45 Forum
Communities
300+ Local News outlets
Owned
Earned
Shared
AARP STUDIOS
HARRIER JET
VIDEO REPORT
B R O B I B L E
O f a l l p l a c e s t h i s v i d e o
c a m e f r o m t h e ‘ A A R P ’
Yo u Tu b e c h a n n e l . I f
y o u ’ r e n o t f a m i l i a r w i t h
t h e a c r o n y m A A R P i t
s t a n d s f o r ‘ A m e r i c a n
A s s o c i a t i o n o f R e t i r e d
P e r s o n s ’ . S o i t ’s p r e t t y
d a m n r e m a r k a b l e t h a t a n
o r g a n i z a t i o n s u c h a s t h e
A A R P c o u l d t r a c k d o w n
a n d p r o d u c e a s t o r y s o
a w e s o m e i t t r a n s c e n d s
g e n e r a t i o n a l b o u n d a r i e s .
Yo u ’ d t h i n k t h a t a l l o f
t h e i r c o n t e n t w o u l d b e
g e a r e d t o w a r d s t h e
g e r i a t r i c f o l k , b u t t h a t ’s
n o t t h e c a s e w i t h t h i s
v i d e o . ”
I I . Strong organic sharing of the HJV within niche communities meant that the
view-thru rate of 39% exceeded the the industry average by 2.6X on
YouTube.
I . Initial publication within owned channels enabled earned placements which
resulted in significant social socially sharing from both individuals and larger
digital media outlets.
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4. METRICS
May 21 - June 1
AARP STUDIOS
HARRIER JET
VIDEO REPORT
AGG REGATE VIDEO VIEWS
1,650,122
AGG REGATE SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS
57,151
P L AY B O Y
T h a t v i d e o m a k e s m e
want to join t h e A A R P. ”
33,257
Likes
4,467
Comments
8,910
Shares
VIDEO VIEWS
832,586
VIDEO VIEWS
817,536
REACH
IMPRESSIONS
1,827,840
3,686,563
3,155
Li kes
272
Com ments
912
Shares
95% Male 5% Female
Viewers
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS
7,130
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5. LE ARNINGS
AARP STUDIOS
HARRIER JET
VIDEO PERFORMANCE C O N C L U S I O N S
I . The HJV proved that niche content with a potential for broader appeal
presents a significant opportunity to reach large audiences via digital
distribution.
I . The modest success of the HJV highlights the opportunity to integrate and
leverage AARP internal resources, including media relations,
membership, and the publications content teams.
O P P O R T U N I T I E S
I I . Facebook continues to offer unparalleled performance in paid media targeting,
exponentially increasing the organic sharing and distribution of the video with
modest content promotion. This should become a standard practice when
producing socially optimized content.
I I . The tipping point occurred when the video was posted to Reddit, a
community-curated website with nearly 170 million global unique monthly
visitors. At it’s peak, it earned approximately 70,000 video views per hour.
J A L O P N I K
T h i s i s h o w I w a n t t o l i v e
m y l i f e . ”
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6. QUESTIONS?
C O N TA C T
A N D R E W B AT E S
A N A LY T I C S A D V I S O R
A B AT E S @ A A R P. O R G
T J C O O N E Y
M U LT I - M E D I A P R O D U C E R
T C O O N E Y@ A A R P. O R G
TA M M Y G O R D O N
V I C E P R E S I D E N T
T G O R D O N @ A A R P. O R G
AARP STUDIOS
HARRIER JET
VIDEO REPORT
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