Star Wars uses landcape video on Instagram

Star Wars is (I think) the first user to use landscape video on Instagram (as opposed to square video).

There has been an awakening... #StarWars #TheForceAwakens

A video posted by Star Wars (@starwars) on Aug 27, 2015 at 10:00am PDT

It's part of Instagram's new (possibly controversial) support for full screen, portrait and landscape pictures.

More examples here


Instagram Video in Landscape - Examples from Instagram on Vimeo.

Follow that, Vine!

In praise of cheap content

Apropos of my post last week about the genius of BuzzFeed's cheap videos - Americans Watch Geordie Shore For The First Time and more - and how they wouldn't have been a great deal better if a lot of money were spent on them, comes this animated gif.

His reaction when he finally breaks the glass is brilliant... pic.twitter.com/FT0pfHiJLM

— LOL_Express (@LOL_Express) August 16, 2015

Yes, there's a place for expensive ads like the one John Lewis just produced, but there's always going to be a place for things like this too.

'Americans Watch Father Ted for the First Time'

Apparently BuzzFeed produces about 75 video clips a week.  It's clearly a bit of a scattergun approach, but it means that they produce things that will resonate with lots of different people in different ways, and also that they understand that with content there is a point of diminishing marginal returns in production cost.

(Diminishing marginal returns is an economics phrase that essentially means that after a certain point the amount by which you enjoy something, or something gets better, starts to decline at a certain point.  My economics teacher at school taught it by telling us to imagine eating chocolate bars - first one great, second one great, 3rd one great, 4th one - good, 5th one - you're starting to get a bit sick of eating chocolate, and so on)

It looks like BuzzFeed made this video pretty cheaply.  3 couples, one laptop, one camera, no script, some clips of the show probably free under 'fair usage' rules, and a bit of editing.  They could have used multiple cameras, a nicer set and so on, but it wouldn't have made it a great deal better.  The idea was great, it was well presented, didn't last too long, and has had over 600,000 views in a couple of days.  They just did it and got it out there.

They can also replicate it very cheaply with Mrs Brown's Boys, Only Fools & Horses, One Foot In The Grave, Phoenix Nights, Dick Emery...  (They've actually done one for Geordie Shore...)  Or show Brits lots of shows that didn't make it over here on a large channel.

(In fact they now have 114 videos called For the First Time including Moms Play Minecraft For The First Time, and Indians Try Baseball For The First Time)

I think BuzzFeed are going to do quite well at this whole viral video thing.

Realtor's Partnership with Airbnb

Realtor, the US estate agent, has partnered with Airbnb to let people try an area before they commit to buying there.

When you find a property on Realtor.com you can easily see nearby Airbnb properties that you could rent for a few nights to see if you like the area to live in.

Yes, it's a bit of a stunt (how many people actually do this?) but it's a good differentiator for Realator, and it emphasises that with Airbnb you are 'belonging' anywhere.

More here

Man from UNCLE's 'Invisible Ink' Instagram

This is a good, unofficial use of Instagram -

Warner Brothers UK has posted the picture below.  If you regram (hence sharing the pic to your own friends) with a certain filter you can see a hidden word in the background, and this could win you a Jorg Gray watch.

Calling all secret agents. 💣 Regram this post and apply a special filter to uncover the secret hashtag. Put this hashtag in the caption of your post to be in with a shot of winning a @JorgGray watch ⌚️ Time is running out. ⏳#ManFromUNCLE #GuyRitchie T&C's http://po.st/IGTMFU

A photo posted by Warner Bros. UK (@warnerbrosuk) on Aug 14, 2015 at 7:28am PDT

This what it looks like with the filter applied:

More here

Update - as one of my colleagues has pointed out, Ted Baker did something similar in March

Very's Shoppable YouTube Ad

A good example of a shoppable YouTube ad, and apparently the first time this has been done for a UK brand - a 4 minute film of Rizzle Kicks performing Summertime:



You can't actually click on the products in the video, but a steams opens (I'm guessing it's a 'card') on the right hand side after 15 seconds or so.

En case it doesn't work embedded you can see it here

Old Spice's Choose Your Own Adventure Game on Instagram

A while ago Instagram started letting you click through to other accounts by tagging other users, and now people are starting to use this in creative ways, for example this Choose Your Own Adventure game from Old Spice.

(I've loved Choose Your Own Adventure books since I was a kid, including the later 'Dungeons & Dragons' infludenced ones like The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (which according to Wikipedia sold *2 Million" copies...) so I'm the perfect target audience for this.  They were kind of the pre-cursor to video games, but clearly with far fewer options.  I suspect no one under the age of 30 would have any time for them)

Old Spice's version starts at this picture, and each choice you make (typically 2 options per picture) takes you to a new account for that choice with only one picture on it, and then you get more hoices and so on.

It's best played in Instagram, but now you can play on the web too.  Just click on a pic to see the options.