Video and Branded Content: Lessons from Brandon Mercer

Ten years ago, Brandon Mercer posted a video from his laptop on the way to the airport. By the time his hour-long flight landed, it had 100,000 views. It went on to hit 182 million. Mercer, now vice president of Fish & Chips Media, spent 20 years in TV news and most recently served as vice president of integrated solutions at Hearst. Here’s what he’s learned about using video to grow branded content revenue.

1. Capture attention immediately

“If you’re making a video, the first 3 seconds is critical, especially in social media, where people are scrolling with their thumbs,” Mercer said. His rule for editing: “put your best stuff first.”

Great results don’t depend on budget. A tamale shop ad “got 22 million views in just a few weeks,” and “It took 10 minutes to produce” using simple editing tools. The lesson: “know the audience, and think a little bit differently.”  Meanwhile, investments in cinematic content can also pay off. That viral video was a branded partnership between SFGATE and the Humane Society of Silicon Valley, about a man and the shelter dog who saved his life. It also “delivered 400,000 more Facebook followers for SFGATE, and continued to resonate across the nation.” 

2. Video is where the audience and the money are

“Consumers prefer to learn from video,” Mercer said. According to Wyzowl’s research, 63% of consumers would rather learn about a product through video, compared with 12% who prefer text.

Ad dollars are following. Linear TV ad spend is down 3%, while OTT is up 17%, with $12 billion spent in the U.S. from January to July.

Every video produced can also yield audio for podcasts, radio and audio articles. “You know what digital audio is? It’s video without the pictures,” he said, adding that high-quality, clear audio without background noise or echos should be your number one priority when you produce a video.

3. Use video to extend a client’s buy

When a client buys branded content, video becomes an asset they can use on your site, their site and social media, plus a 30-second cut for OTT and pre-roll. “You’ve now given them the opportunity to run on all these other platforms that you can control and monetize.”

4. Go cinematic or go raw, never in between

“Cinematic works very well. But also what works really well in the world we’re in now is raw and real,” Mercer said. “Where video struggles is in the in-between.”

5. Live events create the most content for the effort

“It’s 3 things at once. You get a video, you can get a podcast, and you can get a live event,” Mercer said of live streaming.

Events also build relationships that publishers own. “You can’t depend on Google, you can’t depend on social media, you need to depend on things you can control. What do you control? You control email, text messaging, and events.”

He pointed to Semafor’s invite-only events as a model. Two hours with three sponsors and six editorial interviews produced a podcast, mini-podcasts for each sponsor, a livestream, three articles, video and sales leads. “That’s a lot of journalism, that’s a lot of sales, that’s a lot of connection, all from one event.”

6. Pick a production model that fits your budget

Hiring a videographer runs $1,800 or more for an eight-hour day, or $800 to $1,200 for a four-hour shoot. Editing adds about $600. Shooting and editing yourself in Canva or Descript is cheapest, but “you’re the producer for it, so you have to be comfortable with that.”

Mercer recommends a middle path. “Having an editor on retainer that can do things for you at a reasonable cost that you work with and know and trust is great. Some of them are working for under $100 an hour.” Pair that with client assets and licensed stock footage.

7. Affordable tools do most of the work

• Descript ($25 a month) lets you edit video by editing the transcript. “Editing work that would take maybe an hour or two, the AI can do instantly.”

• Canva works well for social video.

• Flixier (about $14 a month) is a low-cost alternative to Adobe Premiere.

• Waymark builds complete ads with AI. “You can give it a website, and it will build you an ad.”

• HeyGen and Veed create AI avatars. “What I think is a really safe place is when you do something with an on-camera avatar that is obviously not a human, such as an animation or a Pixar-style cartoon.”

• Dropbox Replay lets clients comment at exact moments in a video for revisions, saving editors time and being precise about changes.

  
  

8. Know the rules on licensing and AI

“Any use of an image requires a license unless you own the image, or have a blanket license,” Mercer said. Photos on a client’s website aren’t automatically licensed for video. “You want to make sure the client is responsible for securing the copyright of those images.”

California and New York now have AI disclosure laws, and Mercer suggests following IAB guidelines elsewhere. His rule of thumb: “You do not need a disclosure if the AI does not materially impact the concept.” AI voiceovers, scenic B-roll and graphics are generally fine. Synthetic people or scenes that didn’t happen are not. “If you have humans in that B-roll, that’s where mandatory disclosure is generally triggered.”

9. Help people look and sound good on camera

• Wardrobe: Skip black, white and tight patterns. “Stripes, tight patterns, look really awful.”

• Makeup: Keep blotting sheets and powder on hand. “Makeup is definitely a normal thing for men to wear on camera, and it should be considered.”

• Sight lines: “Look slightly off-camera if you’re being interviewed, look into the camera if you’re the expert, this depends on the type of video being produced.”

• Teleprompters: Ditch them. “Professional anchors struggle after 10,000 hours of practice, it’s still bad.” Use bullet points and record one line at a time instead.  Use talking points if you are doing this live. Don’t read from a prompter.

  
  

10. Shoot better B-roll and voiceovers

Follow the 10-10-10 rule: 10 seconds wide, 10 seconds medium and 10 seconds tight. “Tight should be far tighter than anything you imagine.”  Many videographers say Wide, Medium, Tight, Tighter, Tightest as the rule.

For voiceovers, record somewhere that absorbs echo, like a parked car, a carpeted closet or even under the covers. Hold the phone to your ear like a call and use the voice recorder. “Speak naturally.”

For nervous talent: “Project. Be really loud. Talk about the video in an excited, enthusiastic way, and that energy will come across in your loud voice.”

11. Pitching video to a new client

“I would say the first thing is, what are you selling the most of?” Mercer said. Start there. A 30-second spot works almost everywhere, from OTT and pre-roll to TV and banners. Shoot in 4K so you can crop a vertical version for social in full HD. And “sell a product to a client with one revision,” so feedback comes in all at once.

12. Gear is cheaper than ever

“The cost of video production is so incredibly low,” Mercer said. A Rode wireless kit with two mics costs $260, and it also records a backup on the mic. “When I was buying wireless mics in the TV world, they were $3,000 each.” His tripod costs $40 and has lasted 20 years. A dimmable LED light with adjustable color temperature runs about $30. A newsroom can get set up for live streaming for under $2,000.

“It opens up this whole new world of live streaming, audio, video, video production, social, social streaming, editorial videos, everything. One camera.”

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The Branded Content Project is designed through a strategic partnership between Local Media Association and the Local Media Consortium, with funding from Knight Foundation, to help facilitate additional growth, engagement, and revenue success for more publishers of all shapes and sizes.