1) With the growing interest and intrigue around VR content creation and it’s evolution towards narrative storytelling, the industry is buzzing about how to best use the technology and get brands on board. It’s an exciting prospect but there is still a gap between production and how it reaches the masses.
2) Election season always brings out thought provoking and responsive work. The Hilary Clinton Campaign work out of Droga5, “Role Models,” delivered an incredibly impactful message and a very well executed spot. As a producer and a mother, the work not only caught my attention but it really moved me. The execution was poetic and hard driving at the same time. The casting and performances made me unable to take my eyes off of it.
3) I am going to answer this in two parts choosing a piece of work from the community and one from another agency.
From the community, I loved the work we recently did for Verizon Prepaid. Our challenge was to showcase the current prepaid plan on Verizon’s network and highlight the benefits that Verizon Prepaid offers — control and freedom. The end result was a hilarious 90-second music video of our own that utilized Kelis’ 2003 hit, “Milkshake” as the centerpiece. The spot got over 5.5 million views on YouTube. This led to Verizon expanding the media buy and airing the 30-second version on TV as well.
From another agency I have to say I loved the Under Armour Michael Phelps spot from Droga5. Everything about it is amazing, the story, the pain, the loneliness, the focus—it all comes through in such an honest manner which is a testament to how the spot is shot. And of course all of it ladders up perfectly to showing just how much hard work and sacrifice goes into being an Olympic champion and leaves the viewer with an overwhelming mix of emotions.
4) From Chewbacca Mom to Live Q&A’s with athletes and celebrities, I believe more and more brands will continue to jump on the opportunity to reach this mobile-first generation right where they are consuming media on a day-to-day basis. Whether its Facebook Live, Periscope or Snapchat, these opportunities will continue to push agencies and brands to think “live first” as audiences want the opportunity to be right there in the moment with the ability to engage in real-time. This trend will also create a next-level breed of “creators,” just as Instagram created a breed of “photographers,” and live-video is easily creating the next generation of “brand advocates.” Needless to say there are exciting times ahead.
