Every year, our single biggest time investment in creative content is the annual University of Iowa PSA that plays for free during halftime for the duration of our football season. Millions of people end up seeing this piece. This year, since COVID-19 turned the typical football season upside down, we shifted focus from the broadcast product to an array of digital creative that will be promoted across social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Tik Tok) and streaming platforms (Hulu and Prime). 

The advantage of promoting digital creative on platforms such as Tik Tok is that the audience is closer in age to our primary target audience of prospective students. On Tik Tok, currently 60% of users are between the ages of 16 and 24.  We therefore have the freedom to create products that might resonate a younger audience without alienating alumni who could find the approach unsavory. We loved being able to let Dana Telsrow unleash his quirky humor and unique editing style for concepts like 'Iowa.Seriously," as well as "Press Start" and "It's great to be a Hawkeye (2020)." 

Our digital creative journey began pretty much with the quarantine in mid-March. We cycled through different approaches, including  concepts that tried to riff on the, "In these difficult times..." approach. We were concerned that humor would come across as profane at a time when everyone is feeling the pain of the pandemic in one way or another. We decided to commit to humor because the the COVID-conscious approach was over-used. We got the sense that people's exhaustion with the trope of exploiting suffering to sell something would result in a rejection of this approach unless it was executed with extreme care and self-awareness. By using humor in our concepts, we hoped that at minimum, people would be entertained, and at best, we'd achieve the coveted "memorable brand impression." 

We still have a primary concept with a sincere, no-humor approach that will be broadcast during the abbreviated season, "Where great stories begin." Check out a selection of our creative below. Huge props to Matt Jansen, Dana Telsrow, and Kirk Murray for editing. Ben Hill, as always helped with executive production. A special shout-out to current Hawkeye Virginia Muturi, who did voice work for "It's great to be a Hawkeye (2020)" and has a cameo in "Where great stories begin." 

Sculpt, Iowa City's social media marketing agency, recently hosted a panel on video marketing for their Let's Get Digital podcast and panel series. The panel happens monthly in the MERGE co-working space and is preceded by an opportunity to mingle with Creative Cooridor content producers, marketing professionals, and business owners. The event draws a younger crowd and is an awesome opportunity to leverage the expertise available right here in our community. 

Here are Clarity's quick takeaways: 

• Watch Carmilla Series, a single-camera web series set at fictional Silas University in Styria, Austria and involving a perky journalist investigating mysterious student disappearances, a sulky lesbian vampire, and a destructive angler fish god. This series pairs good storytelling with much-needed positive queer representation and for its sponsor, Kotex, is a brilliant example of multi-platform marketing.
• Start every video with a plan. Before diving into a fun video project, create a project brief that answers the following questions: Why are we making this video? Who is it for? What do we want our audience to do or feel after watching the video? How will the video accomplish this? How will we deliver the video to our audience? How can we measure success for this project? If you get into the habit of knowing the purpose of your work, you'll always have a way of making the most of limited resources. 
• Meet your audience where they are, and more likely than not, that means a mobile-first strategy for video. Public Relations Today states that vertical videos have 90% higher completion rates on social media when compared to horizontal videos. It's hard to argue with a number like that. Check out this cool use of vertical real estate and start using IGTV if you're not already. 
• Hook your audience in the first 1-2 seconds. Social Media Today proposes that Facebook best practices mean capturing your user's attention in the first 3 seconds of a video. Some ways to do this include using a dynamic and concise text in the first second of video, reconsidering intros that don't provide necessary context to engage a viewer, and getting creative with using vertical real estate to fill a user's screen.  
• Keep videos very short for social media platforms, which means less than 1 minute for Facebook and even shorter for Twitter. For the University of Iowa, 3 of our top 5 video tweets for 2018 in terms of retention were 15 seconds or shorter. On YouTube, by contrast, content that retains an audience for longer is favored. For The University of Iowa, top-viewed videos include this lecture on ancient crocodiles (is this helping our brand?), and this 35-minute video breaking down the neuroscience of a Hawkeye play that seamlessly combines our strength in neuroanatomy with the appeal of a famous Hawkeye play. 
• Pay to boost video posts. Facebook knows video leads in terms of engagement and in the last year, it made an algorithm shift that resulted in brands having to pay for their videos to show up in feeds. Putting down $25-$100 to boost a post you've already invested time, energy, and money to produce just makes sense. You're not just paying for views, you are investing in high-value engagement like shares and comments. 
• Find out where your audience's interests and your brand's purpose overlap. Gone are the days when a brand can just talk about itself because people can choose to click away, keep scrolling, or remove ads. You'll have to find the natural places where the things your audience is invested in, the things that make them feel something like pride, inspiration, or hope, and your brand's purpose overlap. For the University of Iowa, two successful posts include any content about the end of first quarter wave to the UI Children's Hospital and a story about 67-year-old graduate Bernadine Franks who finally fulfilled a 50-year promise to her mother to graduate from college. 

What else can brands do to get video right? ​

A little over a month ago, my office accepted a project that was suggested by the UIowa Office of Advancement. The idea was to make a faux trailer that argued that the University of Iowa is a training ground for some of the most influential people in TV and Film in Hollywood. 

If I'm being entirely honest, my first impression was that the concept was a huge overreach. I went to high school in Hollywood and the feeder schools for The Industry are LA's dozens of exceptional institutions, including USC, UCLA, and various art and film-specific schools. If we set our sights outside of CA, NYU *might* come up. I imagined presenting this idea to cool TV execs to have them laugh out loud as much from the thought that Iowa-educated folks were influencing Hollywood as from the incongruence of thinking about Iowa for what might be the first time in their lives. 

Once I dug in to the evidence, however, for a relatively small place so far from "the Hollywood hills and bright lights of Broadway," it would seem that graduates of the University of Iowa have had outsized impact when it comes to innovative and exciting storytelling in TV and film. Check out the trailer and this article and see if you agree. 

This project was quite a challenge, bringing together various creative visions into one complete thought and attempting to live up to the bold claim we were making. It was fun being able to use over-the-top styles we usually try to avoid and working with voice over artist Ian Guerra. What would you say? Did we convince you that Iowa has forged influencers in TV and film? 

This fall The University of Iowa hired pilot Dan Augspuger, an intrepid person who had the patience to go through all the paper work necessary to be in compliance with university uncrewed aircraft policy to shoot video around campus. Here are some highlights of our shoots.  

I have chaperoned Dan on three multi-hour shoots on campus. He is a great pilot, very professional, and easy to direct to capture desired shots. He recently upgraded his camera and the 4K is sweet!

Initially, I felt like communicating what we had in mind for a shot was pretty challenging. In bright conditions, I really couldn't see the preview screen to know what the shot looked like, so I had to trust Dan's instincts. Dan has done a lot of real estate video, so one thing we worked on was focusing less on a particular building, and more on people flowing into the building or the building in the context of the campus and landscape, not just in isolation.

In terms of camera moves, our editing team found that the least-usable shots tended to be the "tripod in the air 360 degree shots," where the drone is flown to a particular sky-perch and panned. The coolest shots we found were when the drone would fly one way along a feature like a building or walkway and the camera would pivot with or against the movement, making a dynamic, sweeping shot. Dan has really mastered this move!

Drones have become integral tools in video projects, with audiences gravitating towards the aerial perspective of the uncrewed aircraft. You can see the positive influence of these shots in our new 2017 TV spot. 

Original composition and editing by Dana Telsrow.

When I first moved to Iowa City, I reached out to local alumni of Mount Holyoke College to begin to generate a community. One of of the amazing women I met was Ingrid Ukstins Peate, MHC'94. In 2013, we met for coffee at Java House and she told me about her trips to Chile and China to learn about their geology--particularly the impact of meteors and volcanos. Explosive geology!

Three years later, we collided during a University of Iowa orientation for honors students. She was making trash can volcanoes with science-track students and measuring the trajectories of different projectiles launched from the cans--tennis balls and ping pong balls among others.  

She and I recently connected to talk about her research in Iceland. The research is NASA-funded and aims to use the chemically similar sands and soils of Askja, Iceland to learn about Mars. Check out the video below. 

Here are some interesting tidbits you don't learn from the video: Ukstins Peate tried to "pack like a guy" in one small duffle and was freezing for most of the two weeks in the field in Iceland. She resorted to wearying every layer she brought each day. For her research in Chile, much of which is conducted above 15,000 feet, she has a specially-made sleeping bag rated to -20 degrees Fahrenheit. 

While I was producing video for Mount Holyoke, I covered a class by geology professor Mark McMenamin called "The Paleontology of Problematica." I learned recently that Ukstins Peate actually became a geology fanatic because of McMenamin. In the first-year seminar I shadowed, McMenamin had students questioning our understanding of the origins of life and evolutionary process based on the fossil record available. He was challenging students and inspiring them to learn the stories preserved in rock. 

Similarly, Ukstins Peate uses the story the sands tell in Askja, Iceland to help us understand the geology of Mars. Some of her questions are, "What are the processes at play in Askja? Are the clastic deposits wind-blown? Fluvial? What can this tell us about deposits on Mars?" Ukstins Peate works with another scientist who is angling at the life question more directly, "What is the successional process at the Askja sand sheet and how does this help us understand the presence of life on Mars?" 

When asked about life on Mars, Peate says that she cannot as a scientist say anything decisive, "All I can say is that there is evidence of water on Mars and that everywhere on Earth where water has been found, there is life."

Rising talent and wonderful brother Ian Guerra is now online at voices.com. Check out his demos here. Ian has been taking voiceover courses in Los Angeles and building a portfolio. His read of the University of Iowa "Go Hawks!" football halftime spot hit national air waves this fall. 

Ian and I are now collaborating on a promo piece for the upcoming I Am Fat enduro fatbike race here in Iowa City. I wanted to convey the unique adventure of exploring the beautiful and sometimes downright hostile Midwestern winter landscape by bike. How'd we do? 

I resoundingly recommend Ian for voiceover work, and I'm not just saying this because he's my brother. He is very professional in his correspondences and has access to superb recording gear. He has a year of voiceover curriculum under his belt and natural talent. He responds creatively to feedback and if you're in the position to hire voiceover talent, you better work with him now before you can't afford him anymore—that's how good he is!

I have the great privilege of supervising two incredibly talented University of Iowa students: Taylor Edelle Stuart '17 and Jasmine Putney '18. They are both double majors, pairing cinema with theatre and journalism and mass communication, respectively. 

As part of our Academic Panoramic edition in Iowa Now, each student independently developed a story package including video and text. For Clown, UI Strategic Communications photographer Justin Torner contributed photography. 

I am so proud of the work Jasmine and Taylor did. They brought to our attention courses that we would not have otherwise been aware of. They contributed their unique voices, insight, and perspective. They showed a high level of technical mastery in their pieces from shooting to interviewing to editing. 

Please see their pieces below.

Students in an advanced theatre course, "Styles in Movement: Clown," taught by Professor Paul Kalina "follow the nose." This process involves stripping away their egos to reveal their vulnerabilities and stepping into their unique clown characters. See Taylor's whole story here.

Controversy yields conversation. Conversation generates action. Action sculpts the future. The University of Iowa delves into these ideas with the fall 2015 course Race and Social Justice After Ferguson (HRTS:3905). See Jasmine's full story here.

I always thought when I left research science that I would eventually use communication (video, writing) to help scientists engage the public. This story I did for the University of Iowa, mainly involving an electrical engineer and a civil and environmental engineer who were trying to put electronics on freshwater mussels and release them back into the wild to help better understand nutrient cycling in rivers, was a perfect project to help me try "communicating about science in a fun way."  

You can see my video below and the write-up here. 

This article is the most challenging feature I've done so far for the university. I really struggled to walk that line between simplifying the science to make it understandable and not sacrificing the integrity of the information. I think the result was more accuracy and less fun. What do you think? 

"I just hope that people see the booth and see how amazing the University of Iowa is: how diverse our academic studies are and that what we have to offer is so much more than just Hawkeye football." ~ Sarah Gutowski, MFA candidate in 3D design

See the full story here.

I recently collaborated with Brittany Borghi to produce a video for the Iowa Flood Center promoting the services it has immediately available for free to the public. For this project, I got to travel to the NOAA National Weather Service office in Des Moines and to Elkader to learn about how the Iowa Flood Center's work is helping at the local and national scale. Here's the video.