In one episode of The Brief, the web series from Elemental that skewers life in an ad agency, a fictitious account team leader and “feedback sadist” reviews some of his colleagues’ creative work as follows:
“Get rid of this entirely. I’m not sure what that is or why you put it there — no, no, I know what you’re going to say — I don’t get it.”
Hopefully things will run a bit smoother at Original, a spinoff firm Elemental will publicly announce Wednesday with a mission to “clear the fog surrounding content marketing.” The company, which will be known officially as Original, An Elemental Company, will offer a range of storytelling services that could include everything from scripted series to animated GIFs, event videography and more.
Original Promo Vid from Elemental TO on Vimeo.
“The new consumer wants to connect with brands, and they expect the brands to connect with them,” Dustin Brown, Original’s managing director. “We want our clients to see beyond ‘viral’ and move towards building solid bonds with their customers.”
In some respects, The Brief, which got close to five million media impression and 200,000 views, was an extended teaser trailer for Original, offering a four-part humorous look at the characters who tend to populate more traditional agencies. Matt Sadowski, Original’s head of development, suggested the new shop’s mandate is to ensure it goes beyond the kinds of approaches seen in the series.
“Our goal is to get people to hook into stories rather than commercials,” Sadowski said in a release. “It’s the difference between branded content and content sponsored by brands. The hunger to be entertained rather than sold, is getting bigger and bigger.”
