“Overexposure of brands in a content piece leads to a drop in engagement & viewership”

There was a time when the only ways to promote films were press conferences, item songs, and PR manufactured controversies. But with the influx of OTTs, the content world has changed drastically, and there is a huge demand for promotional content that stands out, engages the audience, and is share worthy. Everyone is fighting to capture the attention of audiences and this bubble is not going to burst anytime soon.

What Works created some of the most impactful, exciting and attention-grabbing films to promote films. We love being in this space and have become the preferred agency for studios and platforms like YRF, Fox Star Studios, Sony Pictures, Amazon Prime, Disney+ Hotstar, Sony LIV and many more.

Also Read:  What Works bags the video content mandate for Kolkata Knight Riders

In conversation with Adgully, Imran Shamsi, Founder & Director, What Works, speaks about how creators need to have a deep understanding of the audience, their viewing habits, and the consumer connect with the brand, their strategy for next three years and much more. 

Content marketing has become a powerful communication tool with brands today. What is the role of content marketing in a brand’s journey today?

Content marketing is one of the most efficient ways to connect with consumers. It works because the content is relevant for the consumers as well as the brand. When you create content to inform/ entertain and embed it with a subtle brand plug, the engagement and conversion rates become much higher.

I think content marketing is extremely crucial for a brand’s journey today. Great content has the power to impact thinking, decision making and create brand recall. Some of the best brands are leveraging that, but very few do it better than Redbull. The brand has owned up the domain of extreme sports and has become synonymous with adventure, their efforts reflect in the exponential growth of the brand. Effective Content Marketing helps brands stay relevant by joining conversations that consumers are already having. It’s a fantastic way to build long term brand affinity and drive immediate conversions.

We did a content piece for the men’s grooming start-up, The Man Company, titled “Gentleman Kisse Kehte Hain”. It was a powerful narrative where Ayushmann Khurrana redefines what it takes to be a ‘gentleman’. The video dealt with some hard-hitting gender stereotypes and went viral within hours of its release clocking more than 15 million views across social media. The most surprising thing was that around International Men’s day 2020, a year after the video’s release, the video started trending again and clocked over 5 million additional views. But what cannot be measured is the love that poured in for The Man Company after the campaign. In advertising, brands tell you how you’re not good enough if you don’t use a particular product, but here is a brand that tells them that it’s okay to be who they are. What only matters is if you are a gentleman from inside. We had to stay honest with the thought and that’s why you wouldn’t see any product placement in the creative.

Gentleman Kise Kehte Hain? - The Man Company

Generating fresh content and keeping the momentum is a challenge. How has What Works managed to continuously create new content to engage with the audience of several brands?

To generate fresh content that works, creators need to have a deep understanding of the audience, their viewing habits, and the consumer connect with the brand. Our team loves creating such kind of content because there is more room to experiment, innovate, and push the limits of creativity. We keep a constant tab on what’s being talked about on social media, the latest video trends, memes that can be leveraged, and topical content possibilities. But the most important aspect is forethought. We’re able to deliver quality content at scale by planning shoots and post-production well in advance. That way, we’re able to amortise the costs over a number of video units and deliver TVC like production quality at a fraction of the budgets.

That’s exactly what we did for the Kolkata Knight Riders. What Works ideated and executed IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders’ video content strategy across platforms, in line with its other marketing plans. We deployed video producers, cinematographers, editors, and a full backend team with edit setups including graphics and animation support to execute over 300 video content pieces during the IPL seasons. The content strategy evolved over seasons as we kept a tab on what worked and what didn’t. We realised that while reach and views are important, it’s also crucial to build long term brand loyalty. That’s when we brought storytelling into sports content and most of our videos started focussing heavily on the emotions that the players and fans of KKR go through. As a result, our videos generated over 30 million views across KKR’s digital platforms.

KKR Campaign by What Works

Technology is a great enabler when it comes to content. How have creators effectively used technology to drive content?

If content is king, technology is the throne. Tech innovations are happening at a breakneck pace making it easier to create, distribute, and consume content. At every stage, technology is playing a crucial part. It has become infinitely easy to shoot high-quality videos from mobile phones and has resulted in the democratisation of content creation. This is also the golden phase of content distribution. Never before in history did creators have so many platform choices when it came to deploying and distributing their content. With broadband penetration and influx of smart devices, consumption of content has become miraculously simple and immersive.

We filmed a campaign for the upcoming movie ‘Brahmastra’, where over 150 drones were used to create the logo of the film in the night sky of the Kumbh Mela. This technological marvel went viral and generated millions of views across social.

Brahmastra - Drone Logo Formation - Campaign by What Works

However, the most significant role that technology has played lately was during the pandemic. Creators around the world started making content within the confines of their homes, remote shoots became a thing, and editors finally got a life outside the post-production studio. Now creators don’t necessarily have to look for creative talent in their vicinity when they can scout for it anywhere in the world. There are platforms like Fiverr that are marketplaces for creative work, you just have to select a suitable freelancer for your project and your work will be done remotely at competitive rates. So, technology has absolutely changed the creative world and there hasn’t been a better, more exciting time to be a creative professional. 

Any interesting campaign that you have created during the pandemic? Please share some good examples of the same.

The lockdown forced us to come out of our comfort zones and unlearn a lot of things about content creation. We started off with a lot of home shoots and self-shot videos that were edited by our editors at their homes. Many of our content pieces started relying heavily on motion graphics and stock footage instead of live-action shoots. Like something we did for Amazon Prime’s ‘Shakuntala Devi’. The actors had shot their portions at home and our team got all the material together and added graphics and animation to make it look appealing.

Shakuntala Devi - Maths Hai Horror - Amazon Prime Video

The most interesting piece we did during the pandemic was for Disney+ Hotstar. It was an AFP called ‘Champions of the Hour’ for Total Oil that celebrated ordinary people who did extraordinary things to help fellow Indians during the pandemic. While the cause and intent behind the initiative were serious, our efforts were to ensure that it does not get preachy or boring.

Champions of the Hour - Disney + Hotstar

We shot this with a minimal crew and after following all COVID related protocol. Tests were done prior to shoots and travelling was kept to a minimum. Due to the limited number of shooting personnel, the crew members had to double up their responsibilities and multitask to achieve the kind of results that we did. I’m grateful to the entire What Works team who acted like Champions of the Hour while executing this project. 

When it comes to content marketing the focus is with the consumer. How do you collaborate with brands to understand their needs and deliver the end objectives and what is the process you follow?

Thankfully most of the new age brands understand that the focus should be the consumer. Over branding or overexposure of brands in a content piece leads to a drop in engagement and viewership. Our clients know that consumer engagement is paramount, but they still have marketing goals that need to be fulfilled. So, it’s a little tricky to strike the right balance between what the audiences want to watch and what works for the brand. The key is to find the sweet spot between audience preferences and brand objectives. 

The digital landscape is dynamic and innovative. How do you keep re-inventing yourself and differentiate your unique and core offerings to stay head of your competition?

We keep a track of Industry developments. We also at times take a step back and introspect about our future. It helps us in realigning our strategy. Like lately we have realized that most of our work is for young passionate start-ups, new-age companies that are challenging traditional brands, like Raw Pressery, upGrad, The Man Company, and Nush. We are very passionate about these start-ups and felt a sense of ownership and responsibility when we worked with them. Based on this observation, we have chalked out our strategy for the next 3 years where we will aggressively target start-ups and help them grab the eyeballs that they need to scale their business. It is our area of focus that differentiates us from agencies and production houses. 

Globally content marketing is accelerating with continuous innovations. Are there any learnings that you have found useful for the India market and have you adopted any?

We keep getting inspired by all the great things happening around the world. One thing we have observed is that a lot of brands are becoming more human, keener to experiment, and hence prone to making mistakes. This approach of not taking themselves seriously makes them authentic, vulnerable, yet acceptable. We feel this is a great change and definitely lifts the brand in the eyes of its consumers. They can identify more with the imperfections of the brand than the old grandstanding of ‘we can do no wrong’.

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