Courageous Leaders: A Branded Series Created in 26 Days & a New Format in Video Marketing
Producing video content, whether in movies, advertising or otherwise, can cost millions of dollars and take years of planning. The growing demand and viability for video, however, is accelerating the need for efficiencies in cost, time and project management as more groups seek to leverage video's impactful storytelling capacity.
Created and produced for Hiscox Insurance, Courageous Leaders is a digital docuseries demonstrating a new model for video relevance. The format creates a complete package for online video—from production to distribution and promotion. To maximize efficiency, the process is helmed by one, multidimensional group that can coordinate with the client and other external groups to keep the development as consistent and clear. This closed-loop is a tighter pipeline for communication, which enhances the story and coordination by removing extra steps, costs and inefficiencies.
The following is a breakdown of how this model operates from concept to promotion.
Production:
For an agency to perform across disciplines, its people must be multidimensional. Prosek's head of digital, Wilson Cleveland, coordinated the video production, secured and scheduled on-camera interviews with all six interviewees across specific vertical industries. Key partnerships are also essential and Prosek enlisted video production experts Iris Mediaworks to assist with all aspects of the production—from concept to edit. In the end, because Cleveland was able to communicate with clients directly, and be on set to execute the vision, production efficiencies were achieved. Hundreds of hours of shooting and a synchronized strategic media plan can be completed in 26 days.
Paid Media:
The objective of the paid program is to engineer distribution (hosting and playing the videos online), and promotion (driving people to come watch). Vox Media was identified as distribution partner due to its audience of affluent, urban entrepreneurs across a network of content-specific properties, like Vox, The Verge, Curbed and SB Nation.
Social and Owned Media:
In addition to the owned sites that Vox developed to host the web series, custom Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin pages were developed to build the conversation. Having six successful entrepreneurs with their own social followings provided not only an extensive conversation, but also an opportunity to reach their audiences. Quotes, screengrabs, retweets, and favorites are used to expand coverage over the course of the two-month program. Lastly, re-posts of successful media placements further expanded the validated third-party conversation.
Earned Media:
Coverage in Adweek and The Wall Street Journal, among others provided millions of additional earned brand impressions and thousands of social shares. To-date, the program has earned 4.4M impressions for the program tagline #EncourageCourage, 1,500+ Facebook likes, and over 310,000 Facebook page impressions. 