To tell an impactful story, work backward from a singular goal. When your audience is done reading or watching your story, what should be the first thing they think or do? When you understand that, we can develop a story, storyline, multiple storylines or an entire campaign around that singular goal.
What IS Branded Storytelling?
A recurring question I receive is "What IS Branded Storytelling?" Is it just a commercial but more cinematic? Does it mean I don't talk about my brand directly?
Branded storytelling is all about making a connection to your potential customer. It's usually a long game, you don't make one video, tell one story and magically you've connected to an entirely new audience. One story might get that initial interest, but a body of stories can form an emotional connection to your brand and your product. Multiple storylines can attract multiple demographics.
To Build A Network; Give, Give, Give.
The Power of Networking in one photo. With Jesse Averna, Tej Babra and Monica Daniel.
Nobody and I mean nobody, is safe from elimination at any company. No matter how valuable you may consider yourself, situations change daily and if required, positions will be eliminated for the greater good of the company. The sooner you understand and accept that, the easier it is to prepare yourself for that eventuality. Preparing yourself includes building a strong and respectful professional network.
Branded Storytelling: Setting Up Your Creative Infrastructure
One of the most confusing and vexing areas for any company starting up an internal creative team is knowing what equipment to purchase. There are thousands of pieces of equipment and hundreds of recommendations on ‘what you need to buy.’ While every situation is different, here’s a basic primer on the types of equipment and how much you might spend to set up a basic two-person internal team.
Branded Storytelling: Hiring Your First Creative Team
Branding today is all about storytelling. And there's no better way to tell your story than through video.
With social media, you want to be putting out content every single day. Especially if you're a consumer product. But if you've never built a Creative Team or an Internal Creative Agency and you're thinking about starting one, well where do you begin? You start with Two.
New Series of Video, Creative, Branding and Marketing Tutorials and Tips
It’s been a while since my last series of tutorials, tips and tricks but I’m happy to say, I’m getting back in front of the camera to share more knowledge and advice.
Bullies Do Not Own You
Enjoying life and career at 10,000 feet on Sandia Peak, Albuquerque
You sad little man...You are quite honestly not that important to me.”
Those words were directed at me by my former employer.
The words and the personal attack are supposed to hurt and humiliate me, but they simply sound like the taunts of a schoolyard bully. Words like those might have affected me when I was 10 or 11 years old on the playground, but as a 30 year veteran in the creative field, they strike me as sad.
It’s a fact that in your career you are likely to… no scratch that. You WILL interact with people who are self-important.
YouTube Abandons Challenge to Netflix and Amazon
Even Google's money could not overcome the wrong approach to take on Netflix and Amazon. (read Bloomberg article here)
YouTube is not and never will be 'destination viewing.'
Music Licensing and You.
My response to the Peloton Interactive lawsuit by the music industry has garnered a lot of interest with some of the responses mirroring what I've seen from creative clients. Basically "I understand going after the big companies, but why would they care about the little guys and small companies? What is that going to hurt?"
It could hurt the music industry dearly.
I'm not a lawyer and it would take pages and pages to explain all of the legalities, but here's a basic primer on what you need to know and understand about music licensing.
Branding Videos - Start with Audio.
Almost every time someone asks me for advice on getting started with video they always lead with 'what camera should I use?' or 'how do I make my smartphone camera look better.' Not one person has ever asked me how to make their audio sound better and that's honestly the most important aspect of creating good videos.
The "Right Tool" Might Be Your Brain, Not A Specific Camera
Filming “We Are: Brewton, Alabama” for Georgia-Pacific with dual Canon DSLRs and a super cheap Best Buy LED light. The high quality lenses are more important than the cameras themselves in making pretty picture.
Too often I hear from videographers and DPs that “the camera is just a tool, and if you want to shoot something correctly, you have to have the right tool for the job.” In some cases they are correct. When it comes to big budget episodic shows and films, bigger is often better.
But when it comes to digital storytelling and branding, it’s the creative use of the tools at hand that matter more than the ‘right tool.’
Building Your Brand Narrative: Just Start Writing
Building your brand narrative is not a ‘one size fits all’ type of deal. This article can’t tell you exactly what you need to do. What I CAN do is give you food for thought allowing you to find your own path to that brand narrative. “What’s your swim lane?” That’s a great question from Joe Mullings, CEO of The Mullings Group. In other words, what topic or topics can you offer value to your audience? What can you write about or speak on intelligently? What topics and areas are you comfortable engaging in discussion with others? That’s your swim lane. That’s your comfort zone where you can share quality knowledge and have an educated discussion with those who engage with you.
Branded Storytelling: Sell Without Selling
The power of digital media is that it opens up a direct pipeline between you, the brand and… well pretty much the entire world. If you’ve built your destination correctly as described in the previous three chapters and have begun thinking about edutainment as the driving model for your content, now it’s time to think about what does that content actually look like? How does edutainment apply to my brand?
Branded Storytelling: Inform, Educate and Entertain.
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to… I don’t even have to finish that sentence. Most of you already know how that sentence goes. I’m betting at this moment you’re thinking back to some of your favorite Sesame Street moments.
Branded Storytelling: Build Your Destination
Now that you’ve got their attention and they’ve stopped the car, the last thing you want to do is set up a tourist trap. Lots of color and flash, but no substance. Cheap, chintzy trinkets are fun for a few minutes and maybe some selfies to post to your friends, but not someplace you want to visit again. That’s going for the quick buck, not long-term audience engagement. You’ll need to continually lure a new audience to make the tourist trap work. To do that you need a connection.
Branded Storytelling: Social Media Is Like A Billboard.
“Selling” today and for the foreseeable future is about building a story. Actually many stories. Stories that entertain, stories that inform, stories that educate, stories that connect with the audience you are trying to reach.
Experimenting with Vertical Video and IGTV
I began experimenting pretty much immediately after IGTV was launched and it's turning out to be quite a lot of fun, and challenging. As I mentioned in my first post, one of the biggest challenges is the lack of horizontal space for graphics and to showcase elements in the scene.
IGTV Launches. All Vertical, All the Time
Yesterday Instagram launched their new IGTV service that will offer up to 1 hour videos available from any creator. The uniqueness of this launch is that it is targeted exclusively at mobile devices with a vertical only format for all videos. This presents both challenges and unique opportunities for the right brand applications.
Georgia-Pacific Storytelling Episode 2 - "We Are: Palatka, Florida"
Building on the first episode, "We Are: Brewton, Alabama," we've now launched the second episode coming from Palatka, Florida. This 'move the needle' campaign is traveling the country to showcase the employees who make up the GP Brand, one small town at a time. You'll notice we've done a little tweaking on the title graphics. We're liking this new, large direction. The main show was edited by Kim O'Neill then I tweaked it a bit and the show was finished by Editor Scott Franklin.
In this episode, we travel south to Palatka, Florida. Palatka was the largest town in Florida through the early 1900’s though it’s hard to believe it today as you drive through this beautiful small town. Home of the St. Johns River and it’s world-class fishing, Palatka is also the home of the Dallas Family. Beginning with Mom back in the 1960’s, the entire family has over 150 combined years working at the Georgia-Pacific mill. You’ll meet “The Inventor,” Wade Dallas who has three patents and is always tinkering with new ideas, along with his older sister Karen who is celebrating 42 years at the mill. Come along as we meet this amazing family, try out Florida’s oldest diner, relive high school football memories and enjoy the Florida Azalea Festival. We might also discover what’s in Wade’s “Super Chest.”
About the series: Georgia-Pacific is more than just a brand. We’re proud to be over 30,000 great people, making great products in communities all across this great land. Join us on “We Are” as we travel the highways and byways to introduce you some of these amazing people and their hometowns.
Workfront LEAP Conference - WOW!
Building on the launch of Workfront at Georgia-Pacific in January, I was fortunate to attend the annual Workfront LEAP Conference in Nashville this past week at the world famous Opryland Hotel. I simply knew Workfront as a job tracking system as it relates to creative production. A central job tracking system to hold all communications, notes, documents and centralized proofing of all work. So I was not prepared for just how extensive Workfront truly is.