I found my self captivated by an ad for a beer that I don’t drink, featuring a rap artist I’d never heard of …and I don’t even like rap music.
There is a subtle revolution going on. I was intending to watch Kevin Spacey speaking at the Edinburgh Television Festival about the bigger revolution in the shift away from cable to Netflix – the only company that agreed to back him in the production of a “13-hour film” in House of Cards, without requiring a pilot.
Spacey says,”The audience has spoken. They want stories!”
And that’s why I stopped to watch the entire YouTube pre-roll commercial before watching Kevin Spacey, to learn the 1:51-minute story of a rapper named Ab-Soul.
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“You can skip to video in 5 seconds.”
That’s it! In YouTube’s skippable ad format, advertisers only have 5 seconds to win over my interest and I am impatiently counting… Using short-form documentary in black and white, Budweiser manages to do so, launching an engaging new concept with a collection of Pivotal Career Moments they call Turning Points. It’s just one of six parts of the Made for Music campaign that Bud launched with Vice and Facebook in July, 2013.
I am excited because Bud is confirming a personal artistic direction that I have been developing – one in which authentic story content is presented by a funding sponsor. As a marketing consultant and doc filmmaker, my earned media approach is demonstrated in the following video I just produced on the recent Baylake Tall Ship Festival, a project funded by Shipwrecked Brewery Pub & Restaurant in Egg Harbor.
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Meeting up with David HB Drake at the beer tasting tent was sheer luck, not to mention the fact that he was dressed in nautical attire and just happened to somewhat resemble the company’s iconic ship captain.
Jesse Horne, working the tent for Shipwrecked, was quick to improvise and I was fortunate to capture the moment, using their exchange as a tail to David’s performance of an original song he calls “The Lakes of Amerikey.” Here’s an opportunity for Shipwrecked to follow my lead and emulate Budweiser in building a campaign around the music of a talented musician and nautical historian that just happens to personify their brand.
Have you begun to use the power of video publishing? Michael Hyatt, author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World says, “The good news is that video is cheaper to produce than ever. You can get professional quality video produced for a fraction of what it used to cost.”
Check out the DesignWise Studios YouTube Video Channel to see how others are adding short-form video to their marketing campaigns. Then, contact me to plan your own video campaign – from channel design and distribution, to complete professional video editing and production – all at DesignWise Studios.
David HB Drake has written more than 200 songs, many of them sea shanties and songs of the Seven Seas and Great Lakes. He is the official chanteyman of Wisconsin’s flagship, the S/V Denis Sullivan and educator at Pier Wisconsin Maritime Center. Living his dream, David has also served as chanteyman on the movie tall ship “HMS Bounty.” You may find him at pirate festivals appearing as “Graybeard, The Ancient Mariner” and he authors “Graybeard’s Advice for Lubbers,” a column in Pirates Magazine.