There has been a ton of innovation in the advertising business over the past couple of decades as targeting, particularly across social media platforms, has become increasingly sophisticated. Marketers now have the ability to easily reach specific niche audiences across many types of of digital and social media platforms. 

The challenge, however, is that effectively engaging these specific audiences requires a great deal of customized creative, and for many brands, especially emerging, founder-led CPG companies with limited resources, it can be difficult to execute on this at scale. This is especially true when it comes to video, which happens to be the format that generates the most engagement.

“One of the biggest hurdles marketers are up against is being able to create many videos across many platforms and languages,” says Jonny Hendriksen, Founder and CEO of Shuttlerock. “We know that video is incredibly important and delivers the best results in terms of engagement. However, traditional video production methods have really been an inhibitor to being able to create at that kind of scale.”

Shuttlerock is a provider of mobile-first creative solutions that leverages a proprietary platform and a team of designers to create high-performing video creative at scale. It uses a unique approach in that all it requires are still images, such as product shots and logos, to quickly create dynamic video content for brands formatted for all social media platforms. 

The challenge of traditional video
Traditional video production requires a lot of time and resources. These videos are typically filmed on set or at a location, involve specialized equipment and staff, and then must be edited, all of which can be very time consuming. While the investment and time and resources may be worth it for a TV commercial that will run for a long duration of time, it’s not well-suited for social media ads which are consumed quickly and run their course in a short time span.

"The lifetime value of video is a lot shorter now,” says Hendriksen. “Videos on social media are snackable, and may only last for a couple of weeks. There is a lot of work that goes into traditional video production, and it ay not be worth the investment for that output. Plus, it’s very difficult to create a lot of different formats and storytelling for each using traditional video footage. You can’t easily take a 60-second video and condense it for an Instagram story ad; you need to format it for the platform, with the logo in at a certain point, make sure it has a call to action, and that it engages the users on that platform in a way that they have come to expect being engaged.”

Emerging brands typically don’t have the type of resources needed to create traditional video content, especially at the scale they need for social media, and aren’t likely to make that kind of investment for the short lifespan of todays videos. Shuttlerock, however, enables them to use existing creative assets such as product shots, label images and logos, and leverage its technology and 100+ person in-house design team to create dynamic videos tailored specifically to their social media platforms of choice, with minimal investment of time and money.

The Shuttlerock Process
The goal of Shuttlerock is to make the creative process for brands simple with little time requirement. Following an initial kickoff call during which the designers are assigned, the brand uploads their existing assets (such as product images, logos, video snippets, etc.) to the Shuttlerock cloud, along with a very quick brief describing which text should accommodate which images, whether or not they need a voiceover, and any brand guidelines that need to be followed. They also indicate what kind of outputs are needed and the social media platforms in which they will run.

From there, it goes through the company’s production process. “We have a proprietary process that involves 39 steps using our in-house designers and production technology,” says Hendriksen. “Then it goes through several quality assurance steps to ensure that when we are producing these ads, they are all within brand guidelines and within the best practices of the media, making sure the images are the right resolution, for example.”

The design team will then post the video draft on the Shuttlerock cloud and the brand can indicate any revisions that need to be made, and repeats this process until final approval of the assets. The entire process from initial meeting to final product can be as quick as one week, which is much faster than traditional video production. “To build a really high-quality TV commercial can take two to three months including shooting, editing, and postproduction work,” says Hendriksen. “The Shuttlerock process is quick and we handle the bulk of the work. Plus, what we have found over time is that the longer brands work with us, the better we get to know the brand and the quicker this process becomes.  

To better accommodate the brand’s ability to produce many videos at scale, Shuttlerock has a subscription pricing model. “It gives the brand a kind of certainty in costs, and the flexibility to continue to make creative throughout the month,” says Hendriksen. “The only restriction is that you can have one project going at a time, and then once that project is finished, you can keep ordering.”

Arguably the greatest benefit of the Shuttlerock process and platform is that the person ordering the creative doesn't have to have strong creative skills themselves. They just let the design team know what they are looking to achieve, and then Shuttlerock takes it from there. In essence, Shuttlerock's team of in-house design experts become an extension of the brand's marketing team, one that can pump out a steady stream of creative as often as the marketer needs it.

ECRM x Shuttlerock
We at ECRM had the opportunity to work with Shuttlerock to produce two videos for our Global Market: Fall Experience. One was a 15-second video overview of the Global Market, and the other was a 30-second highlight of some of the keynote speakers who will be presenting during that week. 

We followed the process above with the Shuttlerock design team, uploading the images and various assets to the cloud, along with a brief that included text and brand guidelines. The entire process involved two meetings, each less than an hour, with the rest of the communication conducted digitally via the Shuttlerock cloud. From first meeting to final revision both videos were completed in just over one week. The videos are below, and the results speak for themselves! 

Editor's note: Brands can meet with Shuttlerock during ECRM's Global Market: Fall Experience, or email Jeffrey Friedman, EVP of Shuttlerock at jeff.friedman@shuttlerock.com

Full video interview with Shuttlerock's Jonny Hendriksen