Longstanding CEO of Publicis Groupe, Maurice Lévy, has made his annual Holiday Message an interactive experience capitalizing on the fact that many viewers of Youtube videos fiddle around with the controls rather than let the video play out.

The video reacts according to what the viewer does. Pause the message, and Levy looks bored waiting for you to return. Raise the volume, and Levy increases his voice. Go full screen, and see the ‘set’ for the production. Rewind or skip ahead and Levy goes through a stack of papers to ‘start again.’

The Christmas message, although clever in its own right, also shows marketers the creative applications of hosting a video on YouTube. It’s a great marketing tactic for Publicis but also a masterful display of Youtube’s rich media capabilities.

Publicis Groupe