Digital Storytelling in the Modern Era: The Changing Landscape of Content

After Hannah shared some valuable insight into her career at Audi and what changes she’s noticed in storytelling, content production, and consumership, we opened the floor to questions:

At Audi we start planning a year ahead of time.  So, right now we are looking at our marketing and content strategies for 2020 even though we just started 2019.  We look to see what models are launching, updates being made to current models, and the changing values of our target markets. We also evaluate our product intake forms to see what we can improve upon, where we were successful, and what needs improvement.

Do you find that the more successful videos are those that don’t try to directly sell your product--like the videos that feel more heartwarming and natural?

Yes!  Consumers are getting smart.  In 2025, 75% of the marketplace will be made up of millenials. Content is shifting from typical advertisements to more testimonials and simulations.  We have the cars in our videos, but they aren’t the message or main point. Our videos tell a larger story and paint a picture of the Audi brand; the car is just a character or an element that the consumer can use to symbolize this attitude.

When one brand works with multiple agencies, do those various agencies have to work with each other to push out content? Or are their jobs too different that they can run the brand solo?

At Audi, we have a very structured relationship with agencies to ensure continuity across the brand.  Our agencies work together to create a cohesive brand image. We have a main creative agency that creates a strategy and overarching goal for each vehicle.  These strategies and goals are then the focus point for the satellite agencies to work off of. In the marketing department alone, there are 6 agencies that interact with each other to make sure there is clear brand messaging.  It’s important to have agencies work together to make sure all of our advertisements are saying the same thing in a different structure -- print piece, video, still image, etc. We don’t want to confuse consumers with an inconsistent message. 

I think having some sort of traditional agency experience in the department you want to work for is important. For example, if you want to go into creative strategy, you should try it out at a traditional agency before moving into a singular company. You can even gain experience from freelance work, but you need some sort of work to backup your craft.  A traditional agency will somewhat prepare you for how fast pace it is at an organization. An inhouse agency is 10x faster than a traditional agency, and you produce so much more content. At a traditional agency you might be working on multiple accounts, but at an in-house agency you’re probably working on tens of projects. You need an extreme attention to detail, ability to multitask, solid mastery in your skills, and confidence in yourself.

We focus on short term content for paid placement, like when you watch a Youtube video and get an advertisement before it.  Long term content works better when it’s being displayed directly on a brand’s website. If a consumer is voluntarily going to the branded website, then they are more likely to be engaged, therefore we can focus on lengthier pieces because they most likely won’t lose interest.  Long term content tends to be more organic overall too. Even though a 60 second video had 6 million views, if a lot of the viewers clicked off after 15 seconds, then the video wasn't very successful; however, if a five minute video had half a million views and most of the consumers watched until about 3 minutes in, then the engagement is a lot more successful.  Views are shallow metrics -- it’s more about interaction and engagement rather than overall viewership. Consider your end goal and where the content is going to be displayed, then determine which type is better.

At Audi, I’m an account manager and content producer.  I have a pulse on every piece of content across the organization.  I have to know what footage and shots we have stored/coming up and then spread it out across the company when they want to make content.  I work closely with all different departments to ensure the unity of our brand’s image. Overall, I make sure all of the the logistics work out.  I manage the timeliness of shoots and if cars get there on time, the shots taken at the shoot, personnel hired, where people are, all of the plans in place for content production, and then after the shoots, I have to make sure everything is being routed correctly.  The content we get from a shoot gets spread out across the organization -- to legal, marketing, creative, etc., my job is to to ask the question: is this doing what we need it do? I wouldn’t be able to do my job if I wasn’t able to multitask and pay attention to details because I’m managing multiple projects at once. 

Germany, not America, is the lead market for Audi, and they [Germany] have their own way of marketing. Germany and America are very different markets.  As a brand, we work to make sure our messaging and strategies align, but the content utilized is very different. Even some of our cars look different in the various countries.  Overall, American produced content works in other markets, but other market’s content doesn’t work in America. Germany, Mexico, or Spain will pick up our content and run with it in their market and still have a successful campaign, but we can’t do the same with their content.  I think this is because our stuff is so on brand in America that we are able to exceed the standards for all markets, including the international ones.