The documentary as an advertising form

[naveak99]

As part of its Innovation campaign, IBM makes short 5-6 minute films which showcase their work for their clients, using a documentary format. These films are webcast on their website, and a shorter 2 min version is broadcast.

We produced one such film for them, the only one so far made in India. You can view it here.
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/ ... /20080714/

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Creative Directors: Peter Jacobsen, Nicholas Turner, Deepak Joshi
Production House: Floating Weeds
Director: Kaevan Umrigar

[Ek Kanya]

hey i just saw that one very well made. so you are a film maker who also does/did advertising in Sri Lanka?


good work. would love to see other work from you

[naveak99]

I'm a copywriter-turned-filmmaker-turned-copywriter-turned-filmmaker-turned-copywriter.
More films here:
http://fiveparsifilms.blogspot.com

[Payal]

hey, i saw that IBM film. it's very nice. very nice indeed...

[jungle ki raani]

nice IBM film. havent see your blog yet. loosk liek you had a ball shooting it in various places all over the country. are you based out of mumbai?

[vikas]

using documentary as a n advertising form is a very efficient way of getting people to believe and watch your communication. its somehow sounds more credible. I wish more clients were doing this. I am not sure if I can think of examples if this has been done before (if you have please tell me), but I think its a really effective medium.

Somethimes i think we adveryisng types always tend to make the 'idea' the hero of our communication and thusly lose the product/brand/proposition etc.

Example: the new Honda Jazz commercial. I havent ben able to understand the idea and that leaves me with a weird feeling about the product. I test drove the Jazz, and thank god its a great product and Honda HAS a good image. So not much lost...

I hope more and more clients use these alternative (read: documentary) kind of formats to communicate their message.

[Paramvir]

naveak99, try this link

CoBrandit

coBRANDiT provides video production, distribution and consulting services to brand marketers, agencies, and organizations of all sizes. We develop and execute social media video projects that involve & engage enthusiast communities...locally, and worldwide

This may ineterest you as it does me

their case studies are here

[naveak99]

We work out of Mumbai and Bangalore. Got work for us?

[Krish]

nice work, naveak99. Floating Weeds, you said? What other films has your production house made?

[naveak99]

The IBM film is our only production as yet. You can read about how we started here:
http://twofloatingweeds.blogspot.com/20 ... atari.html

[Saumya]

i saw the work. very nice documentary. I see a lot more such work happening in advertising as brands try to cut the clutter by adverttising in ways they hadn't earlier.

[Allen Mathews]

Hi naveak99. Hitachi had made something like this, under a program called True Stories.

True Stories
Hitachi's True Stories campaign was created to broadly communicate and showcase Hitachi's diverse technologies. Set in real-life towns with real people from across North America, Hitachi True Stories consist of a series of online documentary short films.

In fact, Hitachi's technologies can be found in many unique places within The United States.
These technologies were created with the primary goal of improving life for the next generations to come. The two documentary films highlighted below exemplify Hitachi's ambition in doing just that.

COAL'S COMEBACK : Clean Power in Council Bluffs
MidAmerica Energy Company is successfully controlling air emissions that meet or exceed environmental standards. This is made possible through Hitachi's supercritical coal-fired technology.

you can watch the two documentaries here