As social media advertising accelerates, Sohonet looks at how leading creative studios such as Moving Picture Company (MPC) and Coffee & TV tackle the challenge of reviewing content designed for the small screen using remote collaboration technologies
According to a recent study by IDC Research, 80% of smartphone users check their devices within 15 minutes of waking up each morning. An average of 87 minutes is spent communicating and using social media Monday through Thursday, and more than 160 minutes Friday through Sunday. From the moment the alarm goes off to last thing at night, we’re scrolling through social media. The relationship we now share with our mobile devices has changed the way we view and interact with the world.
Having unlimited access to huge volumes of data through mobile search and the endless stream of social media updates has meant that consumers’ online habits have evolved. In response, brands and businesses have flocked to these platforms, installing ads in prime positions right in the middle of our news feeds and placing products into paid campaigns.
Social media advertising is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the industry, set to take over print ad spend for the first time. Not only does this platform offer a more targeted approach but the data collected can help businesses learn more about their consumers and what they’re looking for.
With the breakneck speed at which social content goes out, brands and businesses need to tighten up their workflow in order to keep up. With intense time pressure to get these ads out the door, it’s essential to have a quick review process between production and client. The ongoing challenge, however, is juggling busy schedules to get the right people in the same room to sign something off. And as disparate teams become the norm, this challenge only intensifies.
Creating content that will be viewed on the small screen brings about other hurdles. Seeing something on a big screen has an entirely different viewing experience to seeing the same content on a mobile or tablet. And although high-end computers and sleek Apple TVs are perfect for viewing work in great definition, the reality of creating content for social media means that it needs to have the same impact at a fraction of the size. Post teams need to ensure their client’s review and sign off on content as it will appear to the consumer — in order to manage expectations and avoid last-minute changes or disappointed customers.
The answer to both these challenges is for clients to be able to quickly and conveniently view and approve content in the same way that the end consumer will view it – on a phone screen – and they need to be able to do this without making the journey into the edit suite each time. But how do you stream live work in progress from your monitor, straight to a client’s phone securely?
How is Sohonet helping?
Sohonet’s real-time, remote review tool, ClearView Flex, has helped numerous post teams, creative agencies, and trailer houses stream live video feeds securely to their clients or remote team’s mobile devices. Benefitting from the flexibility to review content from anywhere in the world with a basic internet connection, clients are able to provide instant feedback to their production team.
There’s no longer any need to make multiple trips to the facility for review sessions or have the internet necessary to download huge files to review and then feedback changes. With ClearView Flex, this is all done in real-time, with changes being made and reviewed in the same instance, helping save precious time.
On top of this, being able to review the content in the same way that a consumer would see the finished product is key. What looks great on a big monitor may not render so well on a 4.7-inch screen. Viewing the content in this way early on helps set expectations and ensure changes are made quickly, speeding up the entire review process.
How does it work?
Suppose an editor is working on a piece of content for Facebook and needs some quick feedback from the client on design choices. Problem is, the client is currently in a taxi or on their way to another shoot.
With ClearView Flex, the editor is able to stream content directly to a client’s mobile device at the same broadcast quality supported by standard social media applications. Watching live on their phone, the client is able to provide instant feedback whilst on the call, as if they were right there in the room with the editor.
In action. How are MPC and Coffee & TV are using ClearView Flex to help solve this challenge?
Academy Award-winning global creative studio, Moving Picture Company (MPC), wanted their clients to review and approve content on the same platform as their consumers to view it. Already using ClearView Flex to solve other remote workflow challenges, they decided to utilise it to solve this problem too. They run CVF sessions, presented by the artists in the edit suite and stream the ads to their client’s for review on their mobile devices. The client can then watch the ad in real-time in the seat of their consumers and give editorial direction. As a result, the client’s expectations are set from an early stage negating the need for last-minute changes.
Top visual content studio, Coffee & TV, are using CVF for quick client reviews of Instagram material. Whilst they set the titles in Flame, their clients can view in real-time just how well these titles read on their phone and provide instant feedback which speeds up the review process. In addition to using the tool as a back-up for when clients and team members can’t make it into the suite in person, Coffee & TV have integrated it into their everyday workflow, especially when working on Instagram content – this has helped speed up and simplify the review and approval process for both themselves and their clients.
As the world continues to transform into a digital space, social media use is only set to rise. It’s the businesses that are open to shifting the way in which they approach advertising that will benefit the most by staying ahead of the trends. By embracing new technologies such as ClearView Flex, your business can adapt with the times and be a front runner in the highly innovative changing space of advertising.
