Fueld by New Blood
Anoticeable crowd gathered around one vendor in particular during Glenwood, Minnesota-based American Solutions for Business’s national sales conference—held Feb. 28 through March 4 at the Minneapolis Hilton Hotel—and an excited buzz filled the air. Fueld Films, Parker, Colo., was busy introducing distributors to the next generation of creative solutions. Attendees were mesmerized as they watched a series of 30-second video ads, each custom designed for a variety of markets.
“With the advent of new online video services like YouTube, and the introduction of interactive marketing campaigns, the face of advertising has changed forever,” explained Brady Anderton, a partner in Fueld Films with his brother, Jeff, and original founder and director Ben Hurst. “To stay relevant, you ... need to have your hand in video, whether as an educational or [a] brand-building medium.”
As Anderton sees it, the fundamental commitment of promotional marketing is brand-building, and the level of creativity brought to bear on a project determines the rate of success. Fueld Films’ unique approach involves creating, producing and deploying custom videos and films. Anderton favored a series of spots the company masterminded for the New Denver Colorado Advertising Club, featuring a comedic spoof on the club’s approval process. “The directors e-mailed it to the entire Denver Advertising Industry. People loved it ... it made them laugh and educated them,” he continued. As a result, more than 700 people turned out for an opening event that was expected to draw approximately 250 attendees.
In With the New
“Fueld Films intends to partner with select distributors to launch a powerful new category in the promotional industry aimed at democratizing the creative process,” explained Anderton. “By combining emerging multimedia portals with the proven strength of the promotional market, this concept ... empowers those with genius creative who lack a platform to use it.” He explained that Fueld Films provides an opportunity to marry the two concepts and provide a one-stop creative shop for all of a client’s branding objectives.
“The timing could not have been better,” continued Anderton. “Due to the advent of digital technologies, the landscape of traditional marketing is changing rapidly (think YouTube, social networking, viral video, cable TV, Google and podcasting). There is no better time than now to be a part of this revolution. If [distributors] ‘get this,’ we want to work with [them]—together, we can be a force for change.”
Anderton stressed that the company’s capacity is limited, and thus it’s restricting its partnerships to those who recognize and understand the ramifications of such tools in the marketplace. “If I have to try to convince [someone of the benefits of] do[ing] TV or viral video, then [it] is probably not going to be a good fit,” he observed. Anderton went on to say that in addition to a professional production shop, Fueld Films offers digital libraries and media scheduling tools that make launching targeted TV spots affordable and efficient. This is combined with “cutting-edge ideas to leverage the exciting new arena of ‘emerging media’ that is turning the advertising world on its collective ear.”
The company invites distributors to become “protagonists of change” by offering a truly creative solution that will blow customers away. “The result will be an exponential increase in perceived value, credibility, relevance and a 360-degree differentiation from your competition. It will soon become understood that you now hold the future of their brand in the palm of your creative mind,” asserted Anderton [sic]. “And, that’s what it’s all about.”
Clients most inclined to go with this type of idea, noted Anderton, include anyone who has the budget and is already open to trying various media, such as radio and newspaper advertising. “All [distributors] need to know is what the final objective is, and the strengths and weaknesses of the brand or product, and we’ll take it from there,” he added. Anderton said that custom video ads can start at $20,000. “This is quite a bargain. In the old days—two years ago—you’d put $20,000 into the creative only to have to put another $100,000 into TV distribution,” he explained. “With avenues like
spotrunner.com (a company Fueld Films partners with for stock video ads) and online viral opportunities, you put the bulk of the budget into making better creative and save big on the deployment.”
Even as this exciting and innovative solution is being rolled out to the independent supply channel, Anderton and his partners are already anticipating changes and new opportunities the future is certain to bring. “Tools are changing rapidly. We’re positioned to be a portal for the tools, rather than the developer[s],” he reflected. “We make the creative and use new tools to help deploy them as they [be]come available. We have a couple [of] new ones up our sleeve[s] right now. But I can’t [mention] any specifics—my partners would kill me.”
- Companies:
- American Solutions for Business
- People:
- Ben Hurst
- Brady Anderton
- Jeff