A testament to creativity on a budget.
Set Yourself Free has found viral success over the last few days on Youtube and has been featured on news sites around the world as a legitimate Public Service Announcement. The video got close to 7 million views over three days and at the time of writing this article Google Plus ripples showed 4986 public shares.
The Ad was made by local Perth filmmaker/comedians Aaron McCaan and Henry Englis. The duo have made paid viral promotions before. So when institutions such as the Fremantle Film and Television institute shared their latest clip people automatically thought it was legitimate public service announcement. The fake ad had such high production value that it’s validity wasn’t questioned by most viewers. So far the Perth film making duo haven't come clean and declared the ad a fake but a quick search of whoismydomain.com reveals that the learnforlifewa.org.au domain name belongs to L.Elliot (producer), H.C Inglis (Henry) and (Aaron) A.W McCaan.
After I shared the Ad to my GooglePlus business page I had a curious professional marketer ask the question “is it real”. At the time I wasn’t sure if it was real or not, but my post opened up a debate on the ability of film makers to create effective commercials without the guidance or collaboration of professional agencies.The question of whether Youtube was a valid Advertising medium also came up, which I naturally defended. Youtube is a Google product and as such it is the second the biggest search engine in the world after Google Search, so why wouldn't it be a valid advertising medium?
The point I would like to make is that this Ad was made on a shoestring budget by a group of film makers using loaned equipment and it won the internet as a legitimate commercial. This is where we are now in 2014 with video marketing!
A wise film lecturer once told me that “creativity flourishes within boundaries”.
Anybody with creative vision and access to the right filmmakers can create commercials that look and feel like big budget paid agency ads. Not only can trained filmmakers make great looking commercials with Hollywood style effects, they can broadcast them for free and get worldwide attention. Sadly not enough business owners are willing enough to push the boundaries and create content that is so out of the square it goes viral.
I can hear the Ad Agency Directors screaming at their Ipads and spilling their coffee right now as they read this “But film makers aren’t professional Marketers”. Maybe not, but as a business owner you know who your customers are and where they are. You don’t need to pay an agency a premium fee so they can source a screen content creator for you or to tell you who your customers are and how to reach them. A professional Youtube content creator can plan, shoot and broadcast your video content on Youtube as well as provide you with comprehensive analytics that will allow you to determine the return on your investment.
I hope this fake commercial lifts the standard both locally and internationally, allowing film makers and business owners alike to find the courage to think outside the box and to push the boundaries of creativity with there content creation. Congratulations Aaron and Henry, you... gentlemen... will be remembered as pioneers.
Image via Youtube by © Perfectly Adequate 2014
