Shaw Media and Smokebomb Entertainment, Shaftesbury’s digital studio, have partnered with brand agency shift2 and its client Schick Quattro for Women on a new multi-platform comedy series targeting female millennials.
Executive produced by Canadian fashion icon Jeanne Beker, MsLabelled consists of 20 four-minute episodes. The first six episodes are currently available on Vervegirl magazine’s YouTube channel Vervegirl TV and on Slice.ca, with new episodes released on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The Quattro for Women brand is also appearing in branded content featuring the MsLabelled cast.
The series is also being extended through Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter, where the lead character, Ella, will showcase her personal take on fashion with the goal of interacting with real-life bloggers.
The online episodes will also be repackaged into 30-minute episodes that will air on the Shaw Media specialty channel Slice.
The partnership represents the Quattro for Women brand’s first foray into YouTube content, with brand manager Jennifer Carnevale saying it is perfectly aligned with the product’s core user – young women who are fun and flirty, and love both fashion and YouTube.
The show follows Ella, a new assistant at the fictional fashion magazine Label Magazine, who is challenged by the magazine’s editor-at-large (Beker) to bring the magazine up to speed in the social world by launching her own blog, all while fighting off sabotage attempts by the industry gossip rag Mirror Mirror.
Christina Jennings, chairman and CEO of Shaftesbury/Smokebomb and chairman of shift2, said in a release there is a strong future in bringing brands and broadcasters together in what she called a “lasercast” model, combining scripted YouTube content creation with social engagement.
Vervegirl TV is also home to another series from Smokebomb and shift2 called Carmilla. Sponsored by Kimberley-Clark’s U by Kotex brand, the show about a young female vampire has amassed 13.4 million views to date, with a second season launching this spring.
