Ads or content: Marketing with a branded web series

A few weeks ago I came across a web show called Critics, where two experienced film professionals discuss and critique videos found on Vimeo.com. The show is beautifully shot, the banter witty and the videos well curated. Immediately I wanted to see more episodes and see what else this company was producing. It turns out they also produce a show called FilmFellas, which is probably one of the most authentic and entertaining talk shows about indie film and video production I have ever seen. I was a bit surprised to find out that the company behind these shows is not a television network, but a camera accessory brand! And it is just as entertaining and informative as anything I would expect to see on TV or Hulu.

So why are companies creating this type of content? And how does this help their business? The answer lies in another question: How important is it to get targeted visitors returning to your website week after week?

How important is it to get targeted visitors returning to your website week after week?

If your answer is: very important, then you’ve got a few options: spend your budget on online ads about your products/services/website or spend your budget on content. Now, pretend you are a consumer of your product/service. What would you prefer? A barrage of ads about a company and it’s supposedly fantastic products (alongside ads from other companies saying how great their products are), or an entertaining and compelling tv show, movie or documentary?

This is the question that Steve Weiss and Jens Bogehegn posed to themselves when they were considering new marketing options for their company: Zacuto, a camera rental house and accessory manufacturer. They decided to try something new and produce their own web shows; but instead of talking about their products or pitching their services, they created shows that were compelling to their target audience: filmmakers, photographers and video producers. “We do not promote our products at all on our shows.  We don’t even mention our name Zacuto.  That’s a big no no.” says Steve, who believes that if they start promoting their own products in the shows, they will loose credibility.

So how does it help? Well, the shows do have a ‘Zacuto Production’ tag in the credits, but more importantly they are located on the Zacuto website. So, if you’re watching the show, you’re already on the company’s site and that much closer to exploring their products. Or, if the show happens to be on Vimeo or another video sharing site, there’s a link to the show page on Zacuto.com where you can catch more episodes. If you like what you see you’ll keep coming back to their website and probably sign up to be informed when new episodes are released.

The most important elements of the success of FilmFellas and Critics is the quality of the production and relevance of the content. “…we talk about things that people in the indie film scene talk about everyday.  I hear this from viewers all of the time, and many learn from our interesting guests.” and Steve’s right, as a filmmaker myself, that is exactly what drew me to the shows. They are authentic, entertaining and even inspiring.

Producing great shows is one thing, but even Lost and 24 need some promotion and so now we’re back to creating ads. For Zacuto it means putting select ads in American Cinematographer and HDvideoPro, working with social networking and relying heavily on word-of-mouth. “Actually we sometimes direct people to our shows over actually sending them to see our product line.” and that makes sense, would you click on an ad for a show about your industry or for a lens thingamajig? Now you are advertising great content and indirectly your great products/service to an audience that is already pre-qualified to have a strong interest.

It’s the future.  Get with it.

When I asked Steve if he had any advice for companies thinking about branded content, he said it best: “Do it.  There are many many ways this can help you.  Brand recognition, top of mind for when [customers] are ready to buy, educate customers, entertain customers, compete with TV for eyeballs (if you run television commercials you are trying to direct eyeballs to your website, if you have your own programming on your site, they are already at the place where you want to them to buy products)  Which makes more sense. How else can you get someone to come to your website week after week.  If you think it’s because your company is so great and bla, bla, bla, you are kidding yourself.  Compelling webisodic content or entertaining content will do it.  It’s the future.  Get with it.”

Steve and the Zacuto team aren’t the only ones who have caught on to this, recently IKEA released a comedic web series called “Easy to Assemble“, and other brands are considering this approach as well. Personally, I’m with Steve, it IS the future and the sooner brands realize this, the more they will stand out from the crowded online marketing landscape.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to examine the costs and developments in branded web content. Stay tuned… to our RSS feed, Twitter and of course you can contact me at Postcard Films.

Related:

• Getting Around: European Delivery, a web travel series
• Digital cinema new wave: HD capable DSLRs – part 1

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