September 9, 2025 | by David Summerall
the Packaging Formula 🧩
Every successful video follows this sequence:
Thumbnail: Clear Subject + Emotion + Curiosity Gap
Title: Promise + Intrigue + Proven Title Framework
Hook: Deliver on the Thumbnail’s Promise in the first 3 Seconds
Here’s the truth: packaging shapes the content, not the other way around.
You can make the best video ever… but if you have a bad thumbnail, nobody clicks.
Your Thumbnail is a Highway Billboard 🚗
Think of your Thumbnail like a Highway Billboard
When you’re driving 70mph, you only get ~2 seconds to read a billboard before it’s gone.
Good Billboards = big text, clear image, one simple message.
Bad Billboards = too much info, too hard to read, instantly forgotten.
Your thumbnail works the exact same way. Viewers are scrolling their feed at “70mph.”
They are not stopping to study your Thumbnail, they’re at most glancing at it.
If your thumbnail isn’t clear at a glance, you lose the click and the view.
the 3-Second Thumbnail Test ⏱
Here’s a Micro-Framework that separates Pro-Thumbnails from Amateurs:
Show your thumbnail to someone for 3 seconds, then ask:
What’s this video about?
Who is the main subject?
What emotion did you feel?
If they can’t answer all three → your thumbnail fails.
Title Structures That Work 📝
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel with your tiles. Use proven title frameworks that consistently drive clicks
Examples:
🔍 Curiosity: “The [Thing] No One Talks About”
🔢 List/Number: “5 [Things] That [Result]”
🛠 How-To: “How to [Desired Outcome] in [Time Frame]”
⚔️ Versus: “[Thing A] vs [Thing B]: Which is Better?”
🙋 Personal: “Why I [Bold Decision/Action]”
🔄 Transformation: “From [Before State] to [After State] in [Time]”
🤫 Secrets: “[Number] [Authority Figure] Secrets That [Result]”
Great titles create intrigue but also set a clear expectation. Misleading titles may boost clicks in the short term, but they destroy trust and watch time, which in the long term will kill your video getting pushed to more viewers.
Hook and Deliver on the Promise 🎣
Once a viewer clicks, the first 3 seconds are everything. Your hook should:
Immediately connect to the thumbnail and title
State or show the value quickly
Build curiosity to keep people watching
If your hook doesn’t match your packaging, viewers will bounce instantly.
Final Takeaway.
If you’re designing thumbnails or thinking about your title after filming → stop immediately. ❌
Thumbnails and Titles should exist before you turn on the camera.
Why? The Thumbnail and Title shape what you film, not the other way around.