Can We Forge a New Way of Creating Content in 2014?

The year is over, and now we’ve scoffed the turkey and drunk Christmas dry, we have time to reflect. Ah yes, what would I like for 2014… 

I would like to talk about the creative dynamics of digital content creation and perhaps suggest that we can all take a step forward together to embrace new types of creative relationships. The way the production of online video content has developed, due to the amount of production, the tight turnaround, budget restrictions, and the interaction with an online audience, actually means that we have to leave behind the traditional modes of the TVC production process. Furthermore, the creative collaboration process between ad agencies and production companies has also evolved and morphed into something quite different. 

This year at Photoplay Films, we’ve had the opportunity to work on some exciting online and experiential campaigns that have seen our directors collaborating and developing scripts in ways that makes traditional TVC production look old-fashioned. 

As we move into 2014, I think we will see modes of collaboration change, as more directors take on writer/director roles; a trend we should embrace rather than ignore. Often the agency is providing us with a core campaign idea and strategy, and sometimes roughs script ideas; however, it is the director functioning as a writer/director (or should I say director/writer?) that really helps to bring these campaigns to life. I think we should acknowledge and embrace this type of collaboration.

A great example of this was our Sony ‘DSLR Gear No Idea’ campaign. We produced a series of online films in collaboration with Havas Worldwide, mocking clueless DSLR users with oversized lenses and accessories and showing consumers how the Sony NEX gives a great result without the pain of DSLRs. This truth struck home with the campaign going viral and reaching over three million hits under a week. The agency involved had a brilliant strategy and an idea based on a truth. However our director Scott Otto Anderson actually developed the character types and scripts in his pitch and this became the structure of the whole campaign – characters like the “Macro Freak”, “Lens Spotter” and “Foreign Correspondent” give you the idea. It was these character types and stories that struck a cord with the online audience – the result of scripts developed by a director/writer in collaboration with a supervising ad agency.

 

Photoplay also worked with Innocean Worldwide on an integrated campaign for Kia ‘Cerato’, which I think broke new ground. One of the aspects of the campaign was a staged stunt with actors in front of a football stadium of 30,000 fans. It required the director Tom Noakes to script and rehearse with the actors prior to the event, because when it went down it was seen as a ‘real event’ just picked off by the football cameras – as far as the audience was concerned anyway. 

 

The event featured a guy picking his nose embarrassed and caught out on camera right as the tagline came up, “Never an uncomfortable moment in the Kia Cerato”. This video then went on to become a viral sensation with 2.7 million views. I think if we need to stand up and lead the way in surprising experiential content, we should look for ways to present content in any format form or media. I would like production companies to be seen as collaborators for these types of experimental campaigns. We have the talent pool of director/writers to development and produce content ideas. The world is a stage and we are the storytellers.

My final example is the recent Doritos ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ competition. We decided to support and fund one of our directors, Tom Noakes, to write and direct a film entry. It was the first year the create-your-own ad contest has been open to global entries so we thought it was about time an Aussie won it. Tom Noakes’ wrote and directed the Doritos ‘Finger Cleaner’ spot based on the campaign idea ‘Be Bold’ coined by the ad agency in San Francisco. 

 

It immediately went viral with more than one million hits on YouTube in the first week, the most viewed in the whole competition, which received 5,500 entries. It’s now in the semi-finals and I suspect it will be one of the final 5 screening at the Super Bowl in New York in 2014. Now you might ask why I raise an example of a project self-funded by a production company… well my point is that production companies are content creators and I think we should be more involved in scripting and developing the idea that comes from ad agencies, especially in the ever-expanding world of digital content. We should also be originating our own ideas for TV series and films; however what I am discussing right now is based in the realm of commercial content.

In summary, what I wish for in 2014 is that we all leave behind the traditional roles of production companies and ad agencies and collaborate on digital content in ways that serve brilliant ideas the best. Directors working on digital content projects have become director/writers, let’s embrace this and open up the process. I’m excited about what 2014 will bring and I think this evolution will lead to even greater stories and ideas as we work together.