The fourth production stage.

National Geographic Brain Games TV show print ad campaign

A common misconception is that there are three stages on any video production: pre-production, production, and post.

Marketing

I’d argue that there’s a fourth element, perhaps as important or even more so than the other three. I’m talking about marketing.

Marketing is something we should start thinking about as soon as we start working on a project. Who is going to be interested in this message? Why? On which platform are these people spending most of their time? How do we reach them? Which other projects are similar to ours? How are we going to differentiate ourselves?

Here’s a brilliant example:

In today’s tutorial I use a National Geographic TV show called “Brain Games” as an example of a marketing campaign that is very unique and effective. The premise of the “Brain Games” show is how easy it’s to fool our brains. To prove a point they fool the viewer THREE times within 30 seconds.

Most noteworthy is that National Geographic not only fooled us 3 times with the 30-second commercial. They do it again 37 more times with their print campaign!

National Geographic Brain Games TV show print ad campaign
National Geographic Brain Games TV show print ad campaign
Brilliant marketing campaign for a National Geographic show.
Brilliant marketing campaign for a National Geographic show.

Yes, Jason Silva, the show’s host is a master storyteller. And yes, National Geographic is a powerful global brand with over 10 million followers on YouTube alone. But even they are thinking different and trying new things to promote a show. So, why shouldn’t WE do our best to find different approaches to market our projects? Perhaps starting with a killer 30-second trailer is a good start.

Do you have other marketing campaigns new or old that you admire? If so, please share a link or two below.

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Why the Three-Act Structure is Obsolete.

The traditional three-act story structure is obsolete.

The traditional story structure taught in film schools is obsolete. We should be telling stories the same way we are consuming content, jumping from one story and/or platform to the next, almost never following a linear path.

The explosion of interactive video platforms is happening for a reason. And when you have not one but two 800-pound gorillas (Netflix with Black Mirror and HBO with Steven Soderbergh) competing to be “the leader” producing interactive stories, the writing is on the wall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0xWpBYlNM

When is comes to non-linear storytelling, the platform we chose to publish our stories should shape the content; so having a clear understanding of your target audience is key.

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