Promotional Series or Evolution of Traditional Video Advertising
The marketing space has become oversaturated with generic video ads, making traditional advertising lose its relevance. It’s no longer enough to make a simple promo video to capture people’s hearts and minds and leave a lasting impression. Instead, companies should shift their focus toward more aesthetically pleasing, high-quality, cinematic videos that would tell a story and appeal to people’s feelings and emotions.
Even then, the sophisticated user might pay zero attention to expensive content. The question is how to change the game and create memorable ads that would spike consumer interest, make them crave more, and become a subject of their daily discussions.
These questions were a starting point for the pioneer of a revolutionary format, videographer, and content creator for social media and marketing agencies, Natalia Kleinotskaya. She was challenged with redefining not only the visual aspect or script but the very notion of creative advertising.
What is important to understand here is that viewers are only willing to watch what interests them, so why not turn this interesting content into advertisements? And what do most people bridge-watch their way through? The answer is obvious – a TV series! We have seen the film industry produce binge-worthy TV shows that have dominated everyone’s conversations everywhere.
A brand-new ad format emerged based on the success of TV shows. Promotional series is a type of advertising where traditional ads transform into the actual series made up of episodes, connected by a single script, cinematography, and a high level of artistic craftsmanship.
Promotional series allows companies to dedicate each episode to one aspect of the advertised products, which is the major benefit of the promotional series approach. One episode delivers one vision of the product. It fuels consumer interest and increases their emotional involvement.
The effects of this type of ad are similar to those of an actual film. Each episode brings the viewer closer to the characters, revealing more of their personalities, and the viewer begins associating themselves or their friends with them. The viewer builds some sort of personal connection to each of the characters. They take a liking to some of them and don’t click with the others.
This way, the author of a promotional film has the means to direct the viewer’s perception and introduce them to new ideas. Simultaneously the viewer’s attention is being directed at product benefits through the characters’ personality traits, allowing for new associations in the minds of consumers.
The promotional series created by Natalia Kleinotskaya has not solely stirred up the marketing world but spiked the interest among film industry professionals. It is hardly surprising as the advertising market became actively involved in producing short films, and the series format elevated this approach to a whole other level.
It is expected that 90% of advertising agencies will soon abandon traditional video ads with a fairly simple production in favor of more cinematic videos involving a larger-scale production. A significant portion of advertisers is also expected to settle on this format since it is much more cost-efficient in terms of cost forecasting.
The format of the series fosters creative experimentation in advertising. It is a brand new, extensive, and unorthodox video art movement that many are only starting to try out their hand at. The next possible stage in the advertising market evolution is a further blurring of the boundaries between film and advertisement and an even greater shift of promotional video content from the sector of commercial video production to the artistic one.
In this regard, the experience of advertising agencies and artists becomes essential. The market is oversaturated with traditional advertising, and today, it has become a dead paradigm. Agencies will tailor marketing objectives to suit the creative vision of a video artist. In turn, video directors will better understand brand values, crafting and maintaining brand reputation, and other marketing attributes. The future of the industry lies in this approach.
