If I were you, high on my ‘To Do’ list for 2015 would be stepping up my game with respect to online video presentation of what my nonprofit is all about, who it is helping, the issues it is confronting … its compelling stories.

Recognizing that your resources don’t in most cases match those of your corporate marketing compatriots, you still might find some inspiration in 2014’s top ten marketing videos from the commercial world, as measured by views. The least viewed of these video campaigns received almost 48 million views!

Here, courtesy of Visible Measures, is the top ten of 2014 list:

1. Wren’s “First Kiss”: True Reach of 156,670,932 views
2. Nike’s “Risk Everything”: True Reach of 138,929,384 views
3. Nike’s “The Last Game”: True Reach of 122,249,570 views
4. Samsung’s “Galaxy 11 The Training”: True Reach of 78,130,824 views
5. Always’ “#LikeAGirl”: True Reach of 60,281,400 views
6. Turkish Airlines’ “#EpicFood”: True Reach of 59,549,152 views
7. Budweiser’s “Puppy Love”: True Reach of 59,074,980 views
8. Dove’s “Patches”: True Reach of 58,645,812 views
9. Samsung’s “Official Introduction”: True Reach of 52,692,263 views
10. adidas’ “The Dream”: True Reach of 47,828,815 views

And here from Online Video Critique is some commentary on each video, along with links for your viewing pleasure.

If there’s a common denominator, it’s emotion.

Interestingly, ‘female empowerment’ was another theme cited by Visible Measures:

“Female empowerment messages work for two key reasons: they elicit emotion from viewers, while stirring debate around timely issues both in the media and on social platforms … Emotion is what engages viewers and inspires them to share content with their friends, while debate is what generates media coverage, social buzz, and, ultimately, increased viewership.”

Nonprofits should be able to relate to that.

As we reported here, on very rare occasions — like KONY 2012, with over 100 million views in its first six weeks — advocacy-oriented video campaigns reach stratosphere numbers.

So nothing wrong with high aspirations.

Good luck with your online video fundraising and campaigning in 2015. If you do some video work you’re proud of, be sure to send it to The Agitator … we’ll be happy to applaud.

Tom