Social Doesn’t Sleep and Neither Should Your Production Model

Image credit: Prateek Katyal via Unsplash​

Back in the noughties, you’d be in your big monthly marketing catch-up, having just found out which hero product needs to make a splash. Cue an almighty brainstorm: ideas are volleyed around, heads nod in unison and you’d throw celebrity names around like it was the guest list to China White’s (RIP).

The end result: you’ve got the framework for a promo…that might go live months later…if you’re lucky.

Many are still working this way. Not at Coolr though. For us, agility is just as essential as air and water. It is the lifeblood of our agency, informing our every move - from building our teams to hiring content creators.

That’s because the world we live in is defined by speed. Algorithms are tweaked on what feels like a daily basis, trends come and go faster than you can say “Labubu” and conversations change faster than a Labour u-turn.

And this problem isn’t going to suddenly vanish. More than 70% of marketers expect content demand to grow fivefold by 2027. When this happens, social teams can’t spend weeks booking studio time, fine-tuning every frame and over-editing assets to death, only to sit idly by waiting for sign-off.

Putting all your eggs in the “hero basket” is no longer a strategy; it’s a surefire way to miss the moment. The pursuit of perfection should still be the driver - but it’s time to acknowledge that agility is the new ultimate differentiation.

(And I’m 200 words in, and I’m yet to mention the letters ‘A’ and ‘I’).

From side dish to main course

Without wanting to sound like a distorted Spotify song (today’s version of a broken record), everyone should know by now that social has graduated from bolt-on to blockbuster. If you need any further proof, check out Deloitte’s latest research.

It found that social is one of the dominant forces in media and entertainment, with consumers spending just shy of an hour per day on social media - which rises to 1.4 hours for gen z. Staying on the shoppers of tomorrow, gen z are influenced more by ads and product reviews on social media than they are by ads on streaming services.

In short, social ticks every box. It’s where people discover, debate and decide. It’s why TikTok Shop is becoming increasingly popular. To stay front of mind in this environment, your reaction time will need to rival that of a Lando Norris pole start.

Rewriting the production script

Throwing out your old production model doesn’t mean going rogue - but it does mean being flexible, while ensuring all the correct procedures, licenses and insurances are still in place.

Don’t let your shoots be one-and-done. Build an extensive content library. This not only gives you reusable in-house assets, but also enables creators to remix and reimagine them. Bonus: repeatable formats create economies of scale (and who doesn’t love saving money?). It’s not unusual for the team to shoot six or more pieces of content in a day.

Agility also hinges on being able to escape the paperwork trap. Obsessing over project portfolio management (PPM) may appear the most efficient way to keep tabs on your production’s process, but it will kill momentum faster than you can say “sign-off loop”. One-pagers and trust between makers and clients are more important than ever.

There’s a healthy balance to be struck between polishing your idea and bringing it to life. It’s possible for a picture to be “too perfect” and a video “too realistic”. Authenticity and timing are king on social. Audiences will forgive a few jump cuts and blurry shots, provided the foundation is solid and the idea is original.

And remember: you don’t have to go it alone. No one embodies the speed of social quite like content creators. Take Brandon B, the visual effects (VFX) YouTuber turned founder of his own production studio.

Brandon’s success doesn’t just stem from his ability to keep his finger on the social pulse and create eye-catching videos. He believes that the narrative has to align with his own values - something which also applies to collaborations. “Even if and when we’ve had incredible opportunities to work with my favourite brands growing up, if the story or the idea doesn’t feel right, we unfortunately pull away”.

The importance of genuineness can also be seen in the way that user-generated content (UGC) resonates. In the US, more than 28% of ecommerce marketers believe that it’s the visual content format that impacts purchase decisions most - while a quarter think it generates the most trust. Empowering your audience to be the stars of your show isn’t just cost-effective; it’s culture-effective. Anyone who doubts this need only look at the way Spotify Wrapped takes over Instagram every year.

We feel the need for speed - do you?

It wouldn’t be a future-gazing blog without giving a quick nod to AI - the harbinger of the latest technological revolution.

Fact: AI’s influence on the production process is only going to grow. At Coolr, we’ve already embraced an experiential mindset. Generative AI is being deployed across the agency - from using DALL-E and Midjourney for storyboarding to more advanced tools like Veo 3 to create short-form videos.

Staying ahead of the curve means being open-minded about what AI can offer. Because as these tools continue to evolve and become ingrained in the content creation process, speed won’t be a nice-to-have. It will be the key to survival.

The days of over-processed, over-engineered content are numbered. Moving forward, the winning brands won’t be polishing their campaigns weeks after the moment - they’ll have already moved on to the next trend.

Read more from Coolr here.