“The Drink Company”
I’m very proud of the work I’m doing with … “The Drink Company” but I have to call them “The Drink Company” because our work hasn’t officially been published. I can tell you about what we’re doing so you understand why I’m so excited. Let’s call them “TC” from here on.
HOW WE MET
Our connection began when a member of TC’s creative team sent me a message on Instagram. They’d come across my work and thought I’d be a good creative fit. Over a series of meetings I got to know other members of their creative and marketing team while learning more about the company’s goals.
We quickly realized that we were really interested in working together but but we weren’t settled on a project just yet. So we pitched few ideas ideas back and forth. We landed on a new 5 episode show that would be part of TC’s new Youtube channel strategy. Getting to know the brand has helped me create a distinct look and feel that makes our project stand apart from anything else either of us have done.
NOTE: It might seem odd at first that a company like TC would contract a 5 episode series like the one we’re currently making. Although I can’t speak concretely about the strategy because I don’t know work there, here’s what I think is happening. Many companies like Patagonia, Google, and Red Bull have created successful marketing strategies by developing the type of content that their audience likes to watch. These companies have effectively become media companies with high quality original content that allows their audience to engage with their brand in a completely different way. If the content they develop is good: if it’s entertaining, inspiring, funny, engaging or insightful, (in other words, if it’s sharable) it gets great reach. The best part about this strategy is that if your content is great, you almost never have to talk about the actual product. So why isn’t every company doing this? Because it’s hard to make great content. That’s where I come in.
FINDING A CREATIVE DIRECTION
Even though the show isn’t about TC’s product, it has to live in the brand’s world. There needed to be overlapping themes that could be loosely drawn to the brands function, focus, and values. As a result, we strategically selected the topics that highlighted themes that were important in TC’s world.
Once we agreed on the topic of each episode I researched, hired a fact checker, and started writing scripts.
NOTE: The most successful creative projects have a have strong direction, they feel bold, relevant, and engaging. Trying to nimbly maneuver through an impactful creative project with all of it’s learning and iteration while respecting a company’s hierarchy can be tricky. But I’m used to it. TC hired me because they trusted my creative instincts and execution and there always comes a moment in every project where I have to lean into my creative intuition and push things forward, even if forward is in a slightly different direction.
Everything made sense on paper. The episodes made sense, the scripts made sense, all the facts were in order … but the magic was missing. When I read the scripts to myself, I wasn’t truly entertained. It can be hard to pinpoint genuine entertainment since some people give positive reactions to content because they have some vested interest in the work (they could say it’s good because they like you or they like the idea of you or they simply want to support the platform etc…).
As nice as it is, it doesn’t actually help the cause because it makes it harder for you to figure out what actually works.
So I used the biggest strength I bring to any team. I obsessed over the scripts, figured out a creative solution and spoke up for the good of the project.
“Hey, I really want this to be great and when I read this script I’m drawn to X…that’s the most interesting part. When I think about why I’d watch one of these videos, this is the stuff I want to hear about. This is what keeps my attention. I think we should break this part into 5 episodes and here’s how we can adapt what we’ve already done.”
There’s an important difference between embracing the imperfection of the creative process and earnestly seeking the best product possible. I made a calculated decision shift the direction of the episodes after considering the ultimate goal of the project, which was to pack a punch right out of the gate.
This company is very large and requires a lot of approvals. People I’d never heard of jumped on to documents, made comments, and even edited portions. When I made the big suggestion, they were happy with the new direction, flexible and, untimely, very excited about the results. They trust me and allow my creative vision to guide the bulk of the implementation. We haven’t always agreed on everything and that’s ok. We’ve found collaborative and functional solutions to every creative puzzle we’ve encountered thus far. I trust them as well so I know when to give and when to insist. I know there are processes, research, and strategy outside of our team that makes up the context of our work.
PUTTING THE EPISODES TOGETHER
Once the new scripts were approved, I shot the talking head portion of each episode, scored it, and edited it together with placeholders for animation.
Once the A-Roll was approved we got to work on the animations.
Each episode features a large amount of custom animation. I guided the content of this animation by preparing detailed notes on what each scene should depict. Their team guided the look and feel of the animation taking notes from me about overall style and the execution of specific illustrations.
I’ve worked hand-in-hand with the animator (based in Amsterdam) to make iterative changes that bring each episode to life and utilize his beautiful work in the most impactful way possible.
My credit on the animated end card reads “Esther Ikoro: Writer, Host, Producer, editor” and I wouldn’t feel as proud as I do of those credits without the cooperative efforts of their in-house creative team.
