That quotation comes from a young George Lucas, the creative visionary behind Star Wars. To make Star Wars so successful George Lucas realised that spaceships, aliens and explosions weren’t the key to success, it was making original stories, characters and settings. Of course, Star Wars’ visuals are iconic and contribute hugely to its mythos, so obviously effects and filming techniques are also important.

What needs to be done to get a stylish video right is work out exactly how your visuals will emphasize a particular story; how will that cool effect allow the audience to see a character’s motivation in a unique way? What is the best visual trick to use to express this person’s feeling at this time? Furthermore, if it is a promotional piece, you additionally have to think, how can I tie my brand into this video in a seamless, effective and non-obtrusive manner?

Answering those questions can be tricky, but when addressed the results are often amazing. Advertising is really taking this message on board, and over the last few years there’s been an explosion of original stories in commercials that use both stylish visuals, interesting characters and on point branding to get their message across.

There’s no one way of achieving this; interesting synchronisation of style and substance can take many different forms. So, to help, here are some different examples of what people have done to meld stories with interesting visual effects.

For Your Next Step – Lloyds Bank

This advert really connects its brand into the story. Not only is Lloyds’ iconic black horse literally in the centre of events; it’s used to push the story forward, being a device to go from one interesting scenario to the next.

Its premise is noncomplex. The Lloyds horse gallops through slow motion scenes, where several characters are at a turning point in their lives. People are becoming parents, people are proposing, people attend a funeral, a man drops his child off at her first day of school, a new couple kiss at a funfair. These are all basically snapshots of some of the most important developmental experiences someone goes through.

So, this video has used these scenarios that relate to everyone and sells banking an incredibly stylish way, by suggesting that Lloyds will be there to help throughout, showing its horse galloping through moments in peoples’ lives.

 Dogs Trust- Special Someone

This advert, which we also discussed in last week’s blog, uses a stylish storytelling element called a repeated visual motif to bridge its story to its audience. The repeated visual motif in this instance is the little puppet friend of the dog. As well as being cute, this little puppet character acts as a symbol of what the dog wants and that s/he is missing something  in his/her life. The puppet accompanies the dog to all its activities, being company, but it is not the same as human companionship. The visual motif is carried on when the dog finds an owner; low and behold, he looks just like the puppet!

It’s interesting to consider how important the puppet’s role is in getting emotion across, as the video is accomplished and uses strong camerawork throughout; however, the producers of this video knew that that alone was not enough. Something needs to be present as a symbol of the dog’s emotion.

It’s also fun to see the female puppet at the end of the video. An interpretation of this is that the dog’s new owner needs to get a girlfriend. This is a blink and you’ll miss it visual, but they included it for a reason.

Nike- The Jogger

This next commercial will not be too familiar to UK audiences; however, its impact around other parts of the world was huge.

This advert is good to consider, because it shows that to create a stylish advert, and to make an interesting story doesn’t require a huge budget, lots of special effects and a complete branding overhaul. It just needs to make something look distinctive, and do something different than the norm.

This advert is one continuous backwards tracking shot. It begins with someone jogging in the distance. A voiceover talks about how greatness is not just for athletes, prodigies or superstars, but something we’re all capable of. It becomes obvious, as the jogger comes into focus, that the person that has been getting closer is in actual fact an overweight child. This is completely atypical in terms of advertising casting; but it really works in this instance.

Thanks to the way the advert was presented and its timing (it was released during the 2012 Olympics) the video has seen massive impact and as the last link demonstrated, garnered a huge reaction. It managed this through its stylish presentation and its feel good story of optimistically making non athletes the focus of attention.

So, in conclusion, the key to making successful adverts isn’t just in showing off a product and how great it is; it’s through using style and substance, creating something that stands out for its story as much as its visuals. There are many ways to do this and each brand will need to do this slightly differently; just always remember, absolutely go for the most impressive visuals you can think of, but the real trick is using the visuals to showcase the story it’s telling!

Please note, we didn’t make any of the above videos, we do think they’re great however!

The post Style and Substance: Getting Good Stories from Visuals appeared first on LoveLove Films.

We’re not just talking about the programming. Even advertising is now trying to prey on viewers’ heartstrings by crafting mini narratives that, instead of showing the direct application of the product or service they’re pushing, focus on getting the audience to connect to a character and experience their story.

In the past it was all about the hard sell and getting the audience to buy, buy, buy!  There were exceptions, such as the famous Ridley Scott Hovis advert, which showed restraint on pushing the product in favour of creating something atmospheric, but on the whole it was straightforward product, price, buy, style stories.

Not so long ago…

The advertising landscape of 2016 is very different from even that of just six years ago. If we look at a list of the top adverts of 2010 the changes are obvious. The linked list rightly puts the Meerkats advert on the top spot, but below this are a group of largely forgettable promotions. A Magners advert that shows a cricket team catching apples, two girls prop their sleeping boyfriends together so that they can eat Maltesers and Santander makes a giant Lego road in the countryside.

There’s nothing wrong with these adverts, but there is a distinct sense of something missing from the list, a particular genre that has since emerged. All the adverts are hard selling their product (even the Meerkats ad, which mentions or shows Compare the Market and car insurance 7 times in 30 seconds), they are using very obvious visual gimmicks, or hilarious concepts to push their product to as many punters as possible.

The present day is a very different story.

Now

2015’s top advertising list stands in stark contrast. Most of the videos chosen focus on one or a series of characters, and make interesting attempts at connecting with them, showing who they are and what they care about.

The top video on the list, John Lewis’ insurance advert that features a child dancing enthusiastically to Tiny Dancer, perfectly shows this. It’s about home insurance, but doesn’t reveal this until the last seven seconds of a 1:30 minute advert. Instead it goads the audience into appreciating the girl’s enthusiastic attempts at dancing. At the end the audience appreciates that really, the point of the advert is also to focus on the calamity that the girl could have caused. It’s relatable to anyone in the advert’s market, as most homeowners have children and will have seen them recklessly run around their home, and achieved with such emotional gusto that it can’t fail to deliver.

Other adverts in the list clearly show a preference for emotion over hard selling. From the Thai advert that paints a child as a hero by helping his mother, to the Dove campaign that asks women to walk through a door that represents how they describe themselves, emotion is given preferential treatment like never before!

Dog’s Trust Now and Then

A particularly good example of how a company has rejigged its approach to TV advertising through a touching story is Dog’s Trust. It’s interesting, as charity advertising has always attempted to have emotion in their adverts, but they are usually still geared towards the hard sell.

As recently as December 2015 a Dog’s trust advert looked like this:

It’s a well-worn, and predictable approach to pushing donations. Here’s a shocking image, here’s what Dog’s Trust can do to help, here’s the recovery, donate for as little as this much a month. Also, the logo is ever present making sure that people never forget what it is they’re donating to.

However, Dog’s Trust has hugely rethought their approach with their latest advert.

This advert, on paper, isn’t very different to their December advert, but its execution delivers much more of an impact.

Instead of making something that is explaining to the viewer right away who they are, they leave it, and focus more on making the dog character a figure to identify with. Dog’s Trust logos and brand colours are hidden throughout the advert, if you look closely, but on TV most viewers wouldn’t immediately recognise which organisation the advert was about. Like the John Lewis ballerina advert, the audience is given time to connect to the dog character and his mascot. It is only in the last 7 seconds of the advert, after the story of the dog is resolved with finding an owner, is it made explicitly clear that it is for Dog’s Trust.

That’s a wrap!

So really, that’s how you do it! Spend less time on hard selling, more on creating a unique character and story that represents your brand in a subtle way and you’re halfway towards making an advert that not only sells you, but engages with people on a deeper level.

Of course, one thing that’s also evident in almost all the adverts is that they are stylish. Thinking up the best style for your advert is important, so how do we achieve this? How to make style work with substance is answered in another blog post coming soon…

Please note, we didn’t make any of the videos mentioned. We do think they’re great examples however.

Sources:

The golden age of TV: How we got here and why there’s no bubble to burst

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrMD_z_FnNk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mq59ykPnAE

http://www.theguardian.com/media/organgrinder/2010/dec/17/adverts-top-ten-2010

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/dec/04/best-ads-advertising-2015-favourite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gqPM_GT8Qw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QHeXTQxo_Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrJhlVODG3w

The post How Advertising uses Touching Storytelling appeared first on LoveLove Films.

One of the key ways it has managed this is through telling pitch perfect stories, and using well thought out and executed storytelling techniques in its videos. Time and time again it has been able to grip its audience through personal accounts, metaphors, interesting reveals, and a plethora of other poignant practices.

In the end the effectiveness of Cancer Research’s storytelling cannot be put down to one particular aspect, but is the combination of several key things. Very often the things that Cancer Research gets right are exactly what many other charities and brands miss out on in including in their own media. These are things that are not expensive, are not missed out on due to a lack of budget, but are more missing due to rushed campaigns that put too much emphasis on straightforward promotion, and not enough in making the media effective and unique, things that must be thought of in the conceptual stage, and cherished throughout the production and campaign execution.

Here are some of the ways Cancer Research makes it work:

Balanced Optimism

Using emotion is now ubiquitous with advertising and promotion. However, Cancer Research has a potentially difficult hurdle to surpass to do this.

Cancer is an incredibly serious subject. It is something that people generally don’t want to think about during their day to day activities. Furthermore, it can be incredibly grim. However, none of Cancer Research’s stories are wholly grim.

The subject matter in their videos varies in tone; but they are never unremittingly bleak, and even in the saddest of stories a silver lining is sought.

Balancing optimism happens in different ways depending on the story being told. In an overall optimistic testimonial video the difficulties are always discussed. For example in Amy’s Story, an account of surviving cancer and being able to get back to living life, a point is made of showing the struggle of this process; talking about the anxiety after the all clear at 30 seconds into the video and upset at taking hormone replacements at 1:17 are two clear examples of this. Conversely, a bleaker video, such as Roger’s Story ends with the contributor expressing hope for others.

However, Cancer Research’s most effective use of optimism balance to date has been their recent Right Now campaign. This campaign was spearheaded by a TV advert that was released on Christmas Eve 2015. This advert is essentially a montage of footage of real life people with cancer, showing medical professionals interacting with them, and doing their best to help them. Some of the shots in the advert are harrowing; however a life affirming message prevails, with good news being delivered to patients, and with people getting through their illnesses.

The Right Now campaign is expanded online, with Cancer Research’s YouTube channel hosting an expanded playlist of cancer patients’ experiences being shown in different ways. These videos all fit in with the theme of showing optimism to greater and lesser extents in their subject matter. That this balanced optimism is integral to Cancer Research is backed up by statements made by Cancer Research’s Marketing and Communication’s Director Anthony Newman to Marketing Week. “What we want is people feeling hopeful and optimistic about the future and we expect to see people feeling sad as well. We are judging the work by whether it elicits a powerful emotional response that touches the heart first, then the head, then the hand.”

Active Questions

Active questions are a key tool that is used by novelists and screenwriters to keep a viewer hooked, and to build tension. They work by keeping the viewer asking questions about what they see and hear on screen. For example “Will they get away with it?”, “What is it that this character is so scared of?”, “How did they get into this situation?” are oft used active questions. The book or film’s following plot will spend its duration answering these questions. Cancer Research also uses active questions to great effect.

In this Cancer Research video the active question is “what are these children talking about?” Wide arrays of children discuss an unseen thing. All their comments make this thing seem really appealing to them. Viewers will try to guess what they are referring to; the obvious answer would be a new toy or children’s product. Exactly halfway through the video the tables are turned and the active question is answered. The children are talking about cigarette packaging.  It is a shocking answer, and one that is delivered with a huge impact, all because of the way that the active question was set up and then answered. The result is so impactful that only a tobacco company would seek to criticize the way it was presented.

Furthermore, that campaign achieved results. In May 2016 standardised packaging shall be implemented onto tobacco products in the UK; in no small part due to that remarkably effective video.

Cancer Research also masterfully mixes active questions with metaphor. An example of this is their Advertising Campaign called The Lump. At first the video appears to be completely unrelated to cancer. It is real life footage of pedestrians walking down a street. A small bump in the pavement appears. As days pass it gets larger. Pedestrians continue to ignore its presence as it grows larger. By the end of the video the lump has grown into an incredibly large bulge, yet people still ignore it and avoid it. Throughout this time the active question “What is this bulge?” is raised. The end screen states “It’s easy to ignore something, especially when we’re busy. But spotting cancer sooner could save your life.” It becomes obvious to the viewer that the answer to the question is that the lump in the ground is a metaphor for a cancerous growth that could easily be ignored until it has blown out of proportion.

Brevity

The vast majority of Cancer Research’s online videos are shorter than three minutes in length. In fact, the top twenty most viewed videos on their YouTube channel are all shorter than two minutes in length, with the most viewed video of all time only being 30 seconds long.

The reason why Cancer Research tends to produce shorter videos is because they know a universal truth with online video promotion; that attention spans are short. This means that Cancer Research must tell stories in the quickest timeframe possible.

Take their most successful video, Alfie’s Bath as an example. It is part of their new Right Now campaign, which aims to show how Cancer Research is tackling cases of cancer right now. There is no expository dialogue, the story is told visually.

At first it seems that Alfie’s Bath is a simple video, but on a closer inspection it is anything but. It uses both balanced optimism and active questions. The opening shot looks out of a window, with a drip being visible. A female voice sings “row row row your boat”. The audience is left wondering what is happening in this scene. The camera pans down to reveal a very young child that is being bathed by a medical worker, which answers the active question. Subsequent shots focus on the equipment being used on the child during the bath. The subject of the video could be depressing, but by establishing that the child is being cared for, is happy, and is receiving treatment; it is positive and motivating as well.

This video, in terms of views, has had the largest impact for Cancer Research.

Not all stories can be told this quickly, but all are told in as succinct a manner as possible.

Relatability

Cancer Research’s videos are filled with relatable touches that make the stories more real for their viewers. Like optimism balance, relatability manifests itself in different ways depending on the tone and implementation of the video.

The most obvious example of this is in the testimonial videos. Going back to Amy’s Story, there are many things that are done to make the viewer connect to the person on screen. Footage is shown of Amy in Scarborough where she lives, enjoying time on the beach with her father; and in the final third of the video much of the footage is made up of showing the viewer pictures of Amy’s wedding day, showing the positive result of the cancer survival in an event that most people can relate to, as most people aspire to marry, or have at least attended weddings.

Relatability is also present in all other videos discussed. In Alfie’s Story everyone can relate to entertaining a young infant, and singing to cheer them up; in The Lump everyone can relate to seeing but ignoring strange occurrences in public settings; in the standardised packaging campaign everyone can relate to kids enthusiastically talking about things they are presented with; and the Right Now advert is filled with relatable scenes, such as children sitting and drawing at desks, people reading magazines in waiting rooms, people being happy when they hear good news.

These techniques are very clever, and take lots of thought and attention to detail to get right, but on the whole they are not outlandishly expensive or difficult to organize. They are a great example of how well thought out promotion can lead to huge successes.

Sources:

http://logok.org/cancer-research-uk-logo/cancer-research-uk-logo-logotype/

https://www.youtube.com/user/cancerresearchuk/videos

http://www.shots.net/news/article/89086/new-approach-for-cancer-research-uk-campaign

Please Note: We had no involvement in the Cancer Research UK campaigns or videos in this blog post, we just LoveLove love them!

The post How Cancer Research UK uses Impactful Storytelling appeared first on LoveLove Films.

With some of the largest retailers vying for their ad to be the one that we are all discussing over our gingerbread lattes this festive season, this years crop is possibly the best yet. There are certainly some original and interesting narratives for us to indulge ourselves on as we gear up for a Christmas to remember.

Of course, you cannot mention the words Christmas advert without discussing the latest showing from the proverbial kings of Christmas advertising, John Lewis. Their Man on the Moon video, which premiered during last weeks episode of Gogglebox, has staggeringly been viewed over 12 million times on YouTube in its first week of release. Opting to take a much different approach to last years heart-warming Monty the Penguin campaign (which according to the Financial Times cost £6.9 million and saw a 4.8% rise in year-on-year sales), they have now teamed up with Age UK to bring us a timely reminder that nobody should be lonely at Christmas.

However, hot off the press and with over one million online views in 15 hours, Sainsburys’ “Mog’s Christmas Calamity” is a great example of how to effectively combine live-action, high-quality animation and bundles of emotion to make an advert with the potential to dethrone their high street rivals. Written by author Judith Kerr and produced by Abott Mead Vickers, the ad has certainly got those on social media purring!

Whilst there are those who question what a fluffy cat or even a man living on the moon have to do with selling groceries and fashion accessories, here at LoveLove we are just glad to see growing numbers of companies utilising the power of digital storytelling to create powerful and unique video content. More and more, we are now seeing the importance placed on narrative in advertising; without a good story an advert just gets lost in amongst the over-saturated pool of promotion that consumers simply ignore.

Storytelling is an innate part of the human psyche and the most successful advertisers are the ones who have embraced this fact; as Adweek Magazine’s Jon Hamm highlights, “the most powerful stories happen in the mind of the audience… and this presents marketers with an amazing opportunity, as the most powerful way to persuade someone of your idea is by uniting the idea with an emotion. It’s indisputable that the best way to do that is by telling a compelling story.”

Because of this, audiences want adverts to engage them, to invoke emotion and to take them on a journey; and as this years ads have shown, there is more than one way to do that.

Lidl’s “School of Christmas” puts a uniquely comical twist on the preparation we all go through for the big day, whilst watching Jeff Goldblum take his role of housewife to the extreme in Curry’s “Acting Grateful” had us snorting out our mid-morning coffee. The latest offerings from TKMaxx and Coca-Cola have that classical feel-good factor that we all love this time of year; and as nothing quite says Christmas like lorry loads of chocolate, Cadbury’s “Lorry Advent Calendar” has got us stocking up on selection boxes and its not even December yet!

Even though we now live in a digital age, television advertising has been, and remains, one of the most effective means of getting your brand message out there; and now with the invention of Sky AdSmart it is easier (and cheaper) than ever before for local and regional businesses to use TV as a means to showcase their own great video content.

And it’s easier than you might think! You don’t need the six-figure budget of John Lewis to create a powerful advert that will resonate with your audience.

So if you want to create your own original and memorable video, then the team here at LoveLove are well equipped and ready to help you take the next step on your journey.

Sources:
Why Agencies and Brands Need to Embrace True Storytelling
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/why-agencies-and-brands-need-embrace-true-storytelling-152534

Please Note: We did not make any of the Christmas campaigns or videos in this blog post, we just LoveLove love them!

The post T’is the season to be Moggy – Brands launch Christmas adverts appeared first on LoveLove Films.

However, the launch of Sky’s AdSmart is set to revolutionize the way in which viewers consume advertising and how businesses interact with their audiences. This innovative platform uses information provided by Sky users, such as postcode, gender & life-stage, and allows brands to target particular advertising campaigns at their target audiences, tailored specifically for them.
This allows the same brand to target neighbouring households, based on the demographic information provided, with different products, despite watching the same television show.

This is great news for businesses and brands, particularly smaller businesses, as it’s a cost effective way to target advertisements locally at a target demographic, yet still keeping in touch with programme genre. Rather than limiting advertising to local radio and Internet services, Sky AdSmart allows smaller businesses televisual airtime, allowing a direct connection to a precise & pertinent target audience within the of 10.5 million active Sky TV subscribers. Sky AdSmart can also be used by larger businesses to target specific viewers, for instance; a new shop launch in a specific location.

A major advantage to Sky AdSmart is there is no wastage with advertisements, meaning that the potential viewer’s Sky Box needs to be on and the viewer needs to be interacting with the Sky Box for the advertisement to be played. Businesses can determine when viewers see the advertisement, and how many times they see it, with Sky AdSmart tracking the campaign performance.

With Sky AdSmart being used by many major companies, such as Tesco, RBS & Audi, it seems like a great landmark in televisual advertising, helping expand the customer base of local businesses and allowing audience’s to access smaller, local brands. With Sky reporting that 25% of the brands signed up for the service are either new to television advertising, or have previously left the market, it seems like a great new juncture in the future of advertising. Here at LoveLove, we’re currently working on a number of Sky AdSmart television advertisements, so feel free to drop us a line on info@lovelovefilms.com or call now on 01202 557858 to see how we can create your new television advert!

For further information watch the Sky AdSmart Case Study Video here: http://www.skymedia.co.uk/Microsites/sky-adsmart-case-study-video.aspx

Sources:

http://corporate.sky.com/media/key_facts_and_figures

http://corporate.sky.com/media/press_releases/2014/sky_adsmart_launch

The post THE POWER OF SKY ADSMART – AND WHY YOU SHOULD BE USING IT FOR YOUR BUSINESS OR BRAND appeared first on LoveLove Films.

The post 23.5 Degrees – Starbucks animated Christmas thank you! appeared first on LoveLove Films.

The popularity of social media has undoubtedly increased this practice, which means our daily lives are filled by these stories now more than ever. In one-way or another, we are constantly telling stories. The impulse to tell them is universal: whether you are telling your friend about what you did last weekend or maybe recalling something you saw on TV this morning, you are unknowingly already building a narrative.

Think of it like this: your weekend affairs most likely involved a bunch of mundane, boring deeds too, yet to your friend you are probably only narrating the most interesting bits. You crop, edit and, without even realising, you have created a narrative structure devised to keep your friend’s interest and attention by carefully selecting what to leave out and what to keep in.

This happens more often than we think, and even the way we tell these stories varies depending on who’s listening. You probably won’t tell your boss about how crazy your Saturday night was, but instead might tone it down a bit to a more appropriate level. My point is: we are all experienced storytellers to some degree.

The reason we convey information like this is because that is how we help make sense of the world. Storytelling is one of the most fundamental communication methods; it helps maintain interest by both involved and makes social interactions more exciting. This means its engaging and exciting nature makes us more likely to listen and, more importantly, remember what we are being told.

But why is that relevant? Well, if that is our method of choice to transmit information to one another, it only makes sense to make use of it when we want someone to listen to what we have to say.

Marketing experts have made use of this trick endlessly with their advertising campaigns. There are many ways to tell a story, and they all come in different shapes and forms. Some brands use real life stories to accompany their products, which try to portray a message that the brand uses as its motto.

Sainsburys has done this throughout its new Advert campaign, producing an ad that tells an incredible stories which can even manage to bring tears to your eyes.

Of course, not all the stories that appear on adverts are based on historical events, yet they can work as well if they manage to engage the audience. Stella Artois’ videos have a tendency to make you feel like you’re watching a very short film and not a TV advert. They build narratives that engage with the audience as much as films do, even providing a twist at the end of the short in this example:

Now taking it to the other extreme, the Old Spice adverts are a great example of stories that are clearly made up and don’t follow a conventional narrative structure. These adverts break the fourth wall and directly address the viewer, making it more engaging for audiences who have short attention spans and might not be paying much attention to the ad breaks. Its extremely impossible and unrealistic stories manage to keep the audience’s attention due its snappiness and humour.

Seasonally themed viral videos have sprung up extensively. Westjet’s Christmas viral “WestJet Christmas Miracle”, which in 10 days has managed to gain 30 million views around the globe.

The theme of the viral is simple, but highly accessible. Its title teases the viewer, with the promise of an old fashioned Christmas miracle, and the resulting viral does not let down. The content, a documentary of WestJet customers being asked what they want for Christmas by Santa before boarding a plane, and then receiving their wishes after landing, has managed to connect with a worldwide audience by spreading Christmas cheer.

It has at the very least managed to spread WestJet’s name around the world. WestJet have accumulated a significant following. Currently they have 27000 subscribers; something gained over time. To see the positive increase in viewership all that needs to be done is look at their videos over time. Their April Fools video from several years ago “WestJet introduces state of the art money saving feature” has managed 500,000 views. One year later their April Fools video WestJet introduces child free cabins managed to gain almost 1 million viewers. The Christmas miracle has managed 30 million. Their next viral video will almost definitely get viewers in the millions too now their name has been established like never before. And millions is the worst case scenario.

How to take advantage of it? Very simple: embrace it. If you want to stand out during a presentation and want to leave a mark on peoples memories, use storytelling to engage with your audience. Don’t be too formal and saturate people with facts and figures; tell a story people can relate to instead.

Keeping the attention of the audience is crucial; then once you lose it it’s gone forever. In order to make people remember you it is important to spark their curiosity, to build anticipation through compelling narratives that are changing constantly. Don’t give your audience the chance to tune off for even one second. Keep things moving; engage them.

Presentations, important meetings, interviews and especially advertising; these are all parts of professional life to which storytelling can become a great asset.

People nowadays have incredibly short attention spans, which makes attempting to keep their interest one of the toughest jobs out there. By making use of storytelling you can overcome this difficulty and not only reach the audience you want but also keep their most valued and precious attention.

The post Storytelling: A powerful business tool appeared first on LoveLove Films.

Viral marketing is becoming an increasingly established medium and is most definitely considered a buzzword at present. With the increasingly integrated place the Internet holds in our every day lives, the extent of what viral videos can achieve has been completely reassessed.

Social media now occupies a huge portion of people’s lives and viral videos have always been a large part of social media’s appeal; however, since 2010 viral marketing has developed in a vast and rapid way.

What is the top Viral Video of 2014

SPIDER DOG

How can this help my brand?

An increasing number of companies are turning towards viral marketing, with huge levels of success for their brand. Many of the top viral hits of 2014 were made exactly with this intention.

Examples of this are Budweiser’s recent advert ‘Puppy Love’ Superbowl commercial which gained 54 million views on YouTube and the clothing label Wren’s viral endeavor with ‘First Kiss’ which has a staggering 95 million views. Both of these videos play on the audiences’ emotional sensibilities. The Budweiser commercial featuring a golden Labrador retriever puppy that adorably strikes up an unlikely friendship with a shire horse, the advert comes prepped for consumption across social media with the hashtag #bestbuds. Watch it here and read our blog post on animals in advertising here.

Moreover, the Wren advertisement ‘First Kiss’, was perhaps one of the most talked about marketing stunts of 2014, most notably because people felt that they had been deceived when it emerged that it was in fact an advert. It documents twenty strangers who kiss for the first time, soundtracked by Soko’s ‘We Might Be Dead Tomorrow”… watch below:

Making a successful viral

But what is it that makes a good viral video great? There is a list of recurring factors that leads to success and now, more so than ever, many virals are professional productions.

Success factors are linked to high production values, feats, spectacular achievement, a humorous and heartwarming focus.

Where LoveLove Films comes in

LoveLove Films is an award winning multimedia production company that produces a diverse range of content, including Adverts, Documentaries, Music Videos, Animations, Motion Graphics, Promotional Videos, Corporate videos and games.

We work with a wide variety of brands and agencies, producing exciting and innovative content for any product. We’re passionate about making the most out of any project. Recent successes include producing a series of Television adverts for major furniture companies, and making music videos for the international multi-platinum selling musician Joss Stone.

The LoveLove team love producing innovative and different media and can create viral campaigns with the same precision and success for your brand.

Contact us now at info@lovelovefilms.com or 01202537858.

The post Taking another look at VIRAL advertising in the year of 2014 appeared first on LoveLove Films.

Today’s society is becoming increasingly mobile-centric, looking to their phones for entertainment and to stay connected with the rest of the world. Brand’s have become aware of this and are looking to capitalise on the situation through mobile advertising. Mobile advertising is a contemporary way of promoting a brand to their target market through various apps and social networking sites, using sponsored images, posts and videos.

Short video ads are extremely important on the mobile platform, simple and punchy videos that stimulate and engage the user. After months of testing, Instagram, who are owned by Facebook, have deals for 15-second auto play slots for Activision, Banana Republic, CW, Disney and Lancôme that will appear over the next few coming weeks. For instance, Activision are promoting the next instalment to the video game franchise Call of Duty. Auto play is a feature used on Instagram in which when the user scrolls over a video, it will begin to play automatically, this is also featured on the Facebook website in the news feed section. This removes the users decision as to whether they want to view the video or not, although they can simply just keep scrolling downwards to stop the video.

Popular mobile messaging app and mobile advertising rival Snapchat put forth their first mobile advert this week, with a deal with Universal Pictures to promote their movie ‘Ouija’. The ad was featured in their recent updates section and appeared in the same way as which a users ‘story’ is displayed. This gave the users a choice as to whether they wished to watch the advertisement or not, if they decided against viewing it then the ad would disappear from their recent updates within 24 hours. The company are seeing the addition of ads to their app as not a big deal due to this option to view; “No biggie” as the company said in its recent blog.

Some users may find it intrusive to suddenly have adverts on a, so far, commercial free app. Instagram’s auto play feature could potentially cause issues and negative comments from users as it risks the feeling of the ad being forced upon them, where as Snapchat are still giving the option to its user’s they are less likely to receive complaints or negative feedback.

Instagram has been particularly hands on with the brands in regards to their static image ads, which were launched last year, and they have been the same when it comes to the videos. They review all clips to ensure they contain fresh new content that will fit in with their platform, not just repurposed TV or web commercials.

“Instagram is almost a magazine, and it wants its ads like in a magazine, to be just as compelling as content” – James Borow, CEO of Digital Marketing Platform ‘Shift.’

Instagram have so far been very selective about who’s ads will feature on their app and the content that will be within them, but with the demand for mobile advertising becoming increasingly popular, how long will it be before they drop their standards and allow for self-serve advertising like many other social networking platforms offer.

Short form video media is an extremely useful tool for promoting your brand and accessing a wide audience. Although Instagram isn’t yet accessible for just anyone to create his or her own ads, a look to the future suggests this will not always be the case and there are many other platforms available to advertise on. So if you’re thinking about taking that next step and want to advertise your brand, there is definitely something we can do to help. From localised adverts centred on small regions to bigger national or international projects, we will do everything to help you reach out to the audience you want.

Get a further insight into what exactly we do at LoveLove by checking out our website at www.lovelovefilms.com

If you want to discuss how LoveLove Films can create some exciting and affordable TV commercials for your brand contact us now at: info@lovelovefillms.com or call 0044 (0)1202 537858

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We are delighted to announce that our partners at Sky AdSmart recently picked up the Media Innovation of the Year Award at the Media Week Awards.

Sky AdSmart is an innovative new approach to TV advertising that changes the way that people at home view adverts on Sky. Interest targeted advertisements online have been around on Google since 2003, with major success. By using the interests and Internet activity of Internet users, Google are able to target particular advertisements at particular audiences. Facebook followed the trend, using ‘likes’ on their social networking platform to target particular advertisements based on the interests of their users. However, in traditional broadcast media, such as national radio and television, advertisements have been general. Although companies attempt to focus particular advertisements based on the viewing habits of the audience, this may not accurately reflect the socioeconomic background of the viewers.

However, the launch of Sky’s AdSmart is set to revolutionise the way in which viewers consume advertising and how businesses interact with their audiences. This innovative platform uses information provided by Sky users, such as postcode, gender & life-stage, and allows brands to target particular advertising campaigns at their target audiences, tailored specifically for them.
This allows the same brand to target neighbouring households, based on the demographic information provided, with different products, despite watching the same television show.

This is great news for businesses and brands, particularly smaller businesses, as it’s a cost effective way to target advertisements locally at a target demographic, yet still keeping in touch with programme genre. Rather than limiting advertising to local radio and Internet services, Sky AdSmart allows smaller businesses televisual airtime, allowing a direct connection to a precise & pertinent target audience within the of 10.5 million active Sky TV subscribers. Sky AdSmart can also be used by larger businesses to target specific viewers, for instance; a new shop launch in a specific location.

A major advantage to Sky AdSmart is there is no wastage with advertisements, meaning that the potential viewer’s Sky Box needs to be on and the viewer needs to be interacting with the Sky Box for the advertisement to be played. Businesses can determine when viewers see the advertisement, and how many times they see it, with Sky AdSmart tracking the campaign performance.

With Sky AdSmart being used by many major companies, such as Tesco, RBS & Audi, it seems like a great landmark in televisual advertising, helping expand the customer base of local businesses and allowing audience’s to access smaller, local brands. With Sky reporting that 25% of the brands signed up for the service are either new to television advertising, or have previously left the market, it seems like a great new juncture in the future of advertising.

Again, a big congratulations to our friends at Sky AdSmart on their award. If you’d like to know more about how Sky AdSmart can help you really reach out to your target audiences contact us here at info@lovelovefilms.com.

For further information watch the Sky AdSmart Case Study Video here: http://www.skymedia.co.uk/Microsites/sky-adsmart-case-study-video.aspx

Sources:

http://corporate.sky.com/media/key_facts_and_figures

http://corporate.sky.com/media/press_releases/2014/sky_adsmart_launch

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