Have you implemented a web series in your marketing strategy lately? If you haven’t, you may want to think about doing it. Creating a set of videos (a.k.a. web series) isn’t new to marketing communications, but for some reason they aren’t used as much as they could be. Big brands like IKEA implement web series in their communications and delight in 10 million views and counting. Think of what that’s doing for brand awareness and profits. Shouldn’t your brand have the same impact? If you’re unsure, the answer is yes. The reason being, a web series is a non-traditional way of expressing your brand and informing your audience of all things you visually, quickly, and accurately.
Does My Brand Need to Make a Web Series?
The question is easy to answer when you determine if you have anything to say. Truth of the matter is, if your brand has an audience, you have something to say. If you don’t have anything to say then you better find something, and soon. As a brand, the decision to make a web series is a smart one when you want to verbally convey a message, get people involved, present the content vividly, and share the videos easily. They’re great for showing the evolution of a product, the integration of a brand in consumers’ lives, or taking a less overt route to branding. “Web series are a great way for brands to build an audience around their products and services,” says Supercool’s Executive Creative Director David Murdico. “Just like with a TV series, the audience comes back eager to watch the next episode and tell their friends.” Every brand should want to build such engagement and excitement in its audience.
How to Make a Web Series
The common thought of web series is they are successful because they explode and go viral online—that’s only part of it. When we create web series, they become successful because they present subjects from interesting angles, they incorporate the right environment and people, they are well produced, and they get people talking. This means we do more than come up with a generic topic, set it in a hot city, and use a few fancy-smancy cameras. Actually, the cameras are pretty fancy-smancy and we communicate our clients’ messages in ways their audiences can appreciate. Making them humorous, thought provoking, or relatable is what we like to do, and it has worked. Take Dickies, for example.
Dickies 90 Years Strong
Somewhere between just the other day and not too long ago, we worked with Zeno Group for the Dickies 90 Years Strong Tour. For the tour, Dickies wanted to show their appreciation to the loyal American workers who have worn the apparel while at work or home. The idea was to give away Dickies merchandise and partner with food trucks in the nation’s biggest cities. The best way to deliver the story and the experience was with a web series. Out came five videos: New York City, Miami, Chicago, Daills-Fort Worth, Seattle, and Los Angeles. City workers in the major cities got Dickies gear, food, and answered a few questions about what makes their lives easier. Audiences followed the series eager to see the way Dickies gave back to the communities and see if they could get involved. In the end, the videos were shared ferociously throughout the web and loved for their authenticity.
A good web series can communicate with your audience and increase traction. As Murdico describes, “web series can be reactive to audience feedback where the fans get to have an influence over the content in each episode.” They’re cost effective, keep consumers coming back for more, and can be amplified throughout the web. If your brand isn’t engaging in web series then maybe your message isn’t strong enough to begin with.
Dickies 90 Year Strong Tour (Los Angeles)