MIPTV is a global, multi-genre content market that takes place in Cannes, France every year. The event provides producers, content creators, distributors, and many others with the opportunity to discover exciting new content and trade rights on an international scale.

Pop Paper City is a vibrant 3D craft show with adventure. The series follows a group of unique paper characters as they get crafty and create adventures together in a captivating paper world. In each eleven-minute episode, the characters find new ways to have fun together by creating new parts of their already impressive world. The craft montages in the show – which mix live-action with 3D animation – inspire children to make their own paper creations, encouraging ‘doing as well as viewing.’

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, many of MipTV’s sessions were held virtually. This included the Kids Series Pitch, for which finalists had to submit an online pitch presentation for their projects. An esteemed panel of Jury Members from across the children’s TV landscape were in charge of assessing the pitches. The panel included the Senior Acquisitions Manager (Kids EMEA) for Warner Media, Zia Bales, the VP Animation for Nickelodeon International, Chris Rose, and Acquisitions Executive of YLE, Vicky Schroderus, just to name a few.

Pop Paper City’s success in the MipTV’s 2020 Kids Series Pitch follows a noteworthy development journey for the show. In 2019, Pop Paper City received development funding from the BFI’s Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF). The YACF supports the creation of distinctive, high quality content for audiences up to the age of 18. Using the development money, the LoveLove Films team developed a brand new teaser trailer for the show, along with various other development materials. Alongside LoveLove MD/Pop Paper City’s producer Georgina Hurcombe, the Aardman distribution team presented the new Pop Paper City teaser at MIPJr 2019, where the project became the 4^th most-viewed project at the event’s screening library. Aardman was appointed the distribution partner for the LoveLove Films property last year.

Commenting on Pop Paper City being selected for MIPTV’s Kids Series Pitch, Producer/LoveLove MD Georgina Hurcombe said:

“We are absolutely delighted that Pop Paper City has won the Kids Series Pitch. The Pitch is such a great way for upcoming producers to get their content out there, and it’s a wonderful showcase of all the innovative kids’ content in development right now. The whole team have worked so hard to develop Pop Paper City, and it’s really fantastic to get this prestigious industry recognition from MIPTV. We are thrilled to be the winning pitch.”

For more information about the BFI’s YACF Development Fund, visit: https://www.miptv.com/production/kids-pitch/

For more information about the Kids Series Pitch, visit:

https://www.miptv.com/programme/kids-live-action-pitch/

For more information on the distribution of Pop Paper City, please contact:

Alison Taylor, Aardman Alison.Taylor@aardman.com

The post POP PAPER CITY WINS MIPTV’S 2020 KIDS SERIES PITCH 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 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.

What did The Apprentice’s online video channel episode teach about making effective online media?

“The only way you lot are going viral is if you kiss someone with the bloody flu.”

This was Lord Alan Sugar’s response to the candidate’s viral video challenge on this week’s episode of BBC One’s The Apprentice. But what caused such a strong reaction on something that should be so easy?

The answer is, making a successful viral video is far from simple. The ease of making online video is a common misconception; in truth vast amounts of work goes into the research, conceptualisation, production and distribution of any successful professional online media, let alone something planned to go viral.

So how exactly do you go about creating a successful video? Let’s see where The Apprentice went right, and more importantly wrong..

“The overall vision is to get a balance between informative and entertainment.”

More than one billion unique users visit YouTube each month, so it’s no surprise that it’s the Internet’s major purveyor of viral videos. But, with over 100 hours of video uploaded every minute, viral videos desperately have to snap up the attention of their audiences, if they’re ever going to stand a chance of getting noticed.

The candidates, had the right idea choosing topics which are popularly searched, one group deciding on fitness and the other on food. However, selecting a target audience is important as it directly correlates to the number of views you can predict a video to get and sets the right tone for this audience. As the ‘Summit’ team discovered when they took their pitch to Buzzfeed, an internet news media company, their audience estimate of 18-30 year olds was completely wrong. In fact, the actual audience of their style of video would be closer to 8-10 year olds. The balance of tone was wrong for their audience; a cookery video for 18-30 year olds, and juvenile slapstick humour obviously didn’t mix.

A panellist on the aftershow ‘You’re Fired’ commented on this, saying ‘when they said 18 to 30 I thought they meant months’. Keeping to your audience, we see here, is key, especially to make a video viral a hit. ‘Summit’s choice to collaborate with Youtube star Ollie White was good, using his numbers to boost their own, which could have worked better had their demographic been the same.

“It was neither hilariously funny nor was it really instructive.”

A little does not go a long way with market research. The more you do, the more accurate and relevant your content will be to your audience. This was the main issue with team ‘Tenacity’, who lost the online video challenge with ‘Fat Daddy Fitness Hell’, a video channel about helping people lose weight that was meant to address issues in a light-hearted, comedic way.

The internet is filled with humorous videos of people trying to be funny through the way they try to go about a daily activity. There was nothing unique about their ‘Fat Daddy’ approach. That’s ultimately what contributed to their failure.

As well as this, there was the issue of it being very middle ground, explained by a team member who stated ‘it was neither hilariously funny nor was it really instructive’. Their downfall in this sense was trying to pack too much into one video, overloading their content and weakening it’s appeal.

Successful Videos Can Better Your Business

Despite the dramatic failure of the candidates, businesses with the right help can achieve successful videos that will promote their companies and increase their business growth.

LoveLove Films is an award winning multimedia production company that creates a diverse range of content including adverts, promotional videos, animations, corporate videos, motion graphics, viral videos and more.

We work with a variety of brands and agencies, producing exciting content for any product. Our team loves producing innovative and different media and can create viral campaigns with high quality precision and success for your brand.

To contact us at our Bournemouth studio, simply call 01202 537858 or email us at: info@lovelovefilms.com

The post Viral Video’s Success and Failure: You’re Fired!? appeared first on LoveLove Films.

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

The post Sky AdSmart soars at the Media Week Awards. appeared first on LoveLove Films.

Feline Favourites

On the other paw Coca Cola have very recently put out a new ad asking the question “What would life be like if it tasted as good as Diet Coke?” The ad features the pop star Taylor Swift playing with an extremely cute kitten in her lounge whilst drinking a diet coke. Every time she takes a sip more and more kittens appear until the room is filled with the furry felines and all can be seen of Taylor Swift is an outstretched arm brandishing an empty coke bottle. Within just a couple of days of being online the video had surpassed half a million views on YouTube. Coca Cola have recognised peoples’ infatuation with kittens and acted on it creating an advert that centres around them and how cute they are. That is all there is to this advert and its simplicity works, shown in the viewing figures.

A Dog’s Life

Clearly people have an affinity for cats and dogs, but why are they really so appealing on our screens and why do advertisers keep using them? In 2010 Sykes the Dog played the role of Harvey in the television ad “Every Home Needs A Harvey”. The advert featured Harvey showcasing his talents of ironing, mowing the lawn and chess, to name a few, to impress prospective adopters in an animal shelter. The advert has been viewed on YouTube over one and a half million times and was named “Advert of the Year” by ITV in 2010. The saying goes that a dog is a mans’ best friend and this ad takes that saying to the next level, and with a ridiculous ten thousand friends on a social networking site; Harvey is every dog owner’s pooch of their dreams.

Other Animals

One of the first adverts that jumps to my head when thinking about ads with animals would be Cadbury’s “Gorilla” advert made in 2007. The ad featured an actor in an extremely realistic looking gorilla suit play the drum section to Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight”. The ad has had over seven million views on YouTube.

People Love Different

Another extremely memorable advert featuring a creature of the feline variety is the O2 ad from 2013 “Be More Dog”. The advert features a cat speaking of how he used to act like a cat doing mundane cat activities until he decided to change his ways and be more dog. Soon the cat plays fetch, tears up newspapers and acts like a dog. Now people are still unsure to this day what the term “be more dog” means but its stuck in peoples’ heads. The ad has had a whopping three and a half million views on YouTube cementing the fact that people want to watch this ad for the sole fact that it is entertaining. It had literally nothing whatsoever to do with mobile phones or O2 but is still to date their most popular advert. The makers of the ad recognized the fact that people have an affinity for the way a cat looks, but think that they can tend to be aloof and unloving. As a result of this a cat was created with the likeability and personality of mans’ best friend. People love seeing the out of the ordinary, which is what made this ad such a success.

So be it a bunch of kittens, a house handy dog or a drumstick brandishing ape, it’s safe to say people love seeing animals in the media.

Please note we did not produce the above adverts – but they are smashing examples of how brands utilise animals!

The post What’s all the fluff about? – The use of animals within television adverts. appeared first on LoveLove Films.

On Wednesday the 9th of October the Horror Channel held a party to celebrate and announce the winners of its Shortcuts to Hell competition. All of the shortlisted filmmakers were invited to attend the event, being held at the Phoenix Artist Club in London. LoveLove Films’ scriptwriter Maxim Sorokopud and Blue Donut Studios’ Marcus Pullen were in attendance to enjoy the evening and support their shortlisted film The Last Dead End.

The evening was a highly enjoyable night, with a variety of the shortlisted films being screened in the venue. It was a brilliant experience for Maxim and Marcus to talk with all of the enthusiastic film entrants and broadcasters that attended.

The Last Dead End, along with all of the other shortlisted films, will be aired on the Horror Channel in October in the United Kingdom. The films were also recently distributed at the 2014 Frightfest Film Festival.

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When advertising these types of products the choice of imagery needs to be selected very carefully. You don’t want your audience to feel uncomfortable  or alienated even if the problem your product solves can be somewhat personal. Some topics are taboo or maybe just extremely personal, yet addressing them is no less important. Menstruation ads for example usually tend to use blue liquid to symbolise blood instead of red, as the latter would come across as too graphic!

Something many brands  attempt to ‘imply’ and ‘suggest’ rather than to address matters in a straight forward and clear manner. Sadly, sometimes these euphemisms can become too vague and therefore completely miss the point of advertising in the first place. Yes, if the consumer already knows the brand they will probably know what they’re advertising, but if the product is completely alien to them, then the advert becomes confusing.

Brands have now slowly started to take on different approaches when attempting to advertise this type of products. The continuous shattering of  taboos in Western culture has allowed advertisers to tackle  what were once embarrassing issues, straight on, becoming more straightforward and honest in their portrayals. Humor is a tool often used by these brave advertisers, who attempt to release the tension of the audience through laughter.

UK’s personal hygiene company Bodyform also decided to take on the comical approach by creating an ad that aimed to respond to a satirical customer’s Richards review on their Facebook page. The ad featured Bodyform’s CEO ‘coming clean’ about the misleading nature of menstruation adverts by apologizing to  Richard the customers review directly.

You can read Richards review on Bodyform’s Facebook page above.

Using animation on these type of adverts can be another solution. Since there are no ‘real’ people or ‘body parts’ that appear, but characters or text representing them instead the viewer feels more at ease. Many companies have already made use of this trick by showcasing their products through animation, that way making the audience forget the intimate nature of the product and view the solution/ product instead.

Vagisil’s ad is a great example. By using animation, women and men feel less uncomfortable viewing such product and the advert sits neatly within the advert breaks alongside more recognizable products.

So remember, here at LoveLove Films we are not scared of tackling these tricky subjects. Contact us at info@lovelovefillms.com or call 0044 (0)1202 537858 to discuss how we can help your brand get the exposure it needs.

The post Addressing uncomfortable topics with the help of video and animation appeared first on LoveLove Films.

Over the weekend the LoveLove Films team had the pleasure of recording the promo of the 2014 Southampton Boat Show’s highlights, with the intention of promoting future Boat Shows to a wide audience.

LoveLove Films was briefed to create an innovative promotional video, focusing on a particular family’s experience of this year’s event to highlight the fact that the show is full of fun and exciting activities for all ages. LoveLove Films were assigned the project days before the shooting began, exhibiting the company’s reliability for producing projects with a fast turnaround.

After the successes of our recent 3D animated television commercial for the Southampton Boat Show and previous advert for the London Boat Show, LoveLove Films was keen to create something just as visually exciting and widely appealing. We spent the weekend following a family’s fun filled exploits of the show, capturing them sailing, rock climbing, Ferris wheel riding, and generally having a great time.

The entire team loved shooting this year’s lively impressive event, and is incredibly excited to soon be debuting a slick video showcasing what the Southampton Boat Show has to offer.

The animated commercial for the 2014 Boat Show is currently airing on television and was broadcast last Saturday during a break in the TV show the X Factor, which regularly attracts over eight million viewers.

See our 2014 Southampton Boat Show advert here:

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Here at LoveLove we believe using animation can be a great solution when attempting to explain your services to new customers. Explainer videos are a great way to brighten up your company’s website or maybe advertise a new service online, so we want to show you how to make the most out of it.

Motion graphics is a great format to use when creating an explainer video. It is a form of 2D animation that can take on a variety of different styles. At LoveLove we realised that the best way to explain what motion graphics really is was to put together an explainer video that would do it for us, sort of like a motion graphics-ception.

LoveLove’s motion graphics explainer video

Animation is a great and unique way to reach your audience, which is why we have compiled a list of reasons why you should use this format when creating an explainer video:

1. Simplicity

The best way to make a potential customer understand exactly what it is you do when they’ve never heard of you before is to explain it in a clear, concise way. Through the use of motion graphics, you can do just that by creating a video that conveys your message in the simplest way possible without patronising your audience.

2. Endless possibilities

Since you’re not working with real people or shooting on location anymore, you have absolutely no boundaries when going about creating your video. There is no limit as to what you can achieve; animation makes everything possible.

Oh, so you want your newest services to be explained by a purple alien in a tutu? No problem; with motion graphics anything you can think of can materialise on screen thanks to the talent of computer animators.

3. Increased engagement

The use of animation works best to engage with audiences. It can attract more attention than regular videos due to its snappiness and the freshness of its format. Bright colours, simplicity, highlighted information; its direct approach works wonders to keep the viewer from tuning off.

4. Lower production costs

Due to the motion graphics being produced directly from a computer, you can avoid high production costs that come with shooting live action. Animation saves all that trouble and therefore saves you time and money, which is great if you’ve got a small budget or are running on a tight deadline.

5. Uniqueness

Animation is used in advertising often, yet it still holds that unique factor that audiences love. Using motion graphics will make you stand out from your competitors by reaching audiences in an interesting, unusual way. Animation can be formal yet it also screams modernity, which will make your company appear professional while at the same time keeping up to date with current marketing trends.

6. Audience adaptability

Due to the flexibility motion graphics provides, the video you want to create can be specifically tailored to the audience you want to reach. The tone and style of the videos can be modified to appeal to all audiences thanks to animation’s incredible adaptability.

7. To the point

When creating an animated video, you ensure only the most important information is conveyed to the viewer. That way, all unnecessary ‘white noise’ is avoided and only the most essential information is transmitted. There’s so much going on in live action videos that sometimes the viewer can get distracted and forget what the message actually is. Animated explainer videos ensure your point gets across by focusing on the main message and avoiding saturating your audience with too much information.

Video we produced for  Aspin UK

Video Produced for ISEB

The post 7 reasons why motion graphics works best when explaining your services appeared first on LoveLove Films.