Emotional Storytelling & The Video Content Trend
The moving image trend has played an important role especially since Corona
The acceleration of digital trends throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has given video content an even more important role in digital marketing and brand building. Videos are the medium when it comes to storytelling and emotionalisation, because they have the power to strongly influence the customer’s purchase decision. Videos convey emotions more successfully than image-text combinations and, integrated into a suitable storytelling, make for an improved user experience.
At MAWA we use this trend to tell our customers about an everyday object: the clothes hanger, up close, full of emotion and as a lifestyle staple. To bring this story to life we teamed up with the advertising film production company Imbissfilm, an owner-managed advertising agency that has produced more than 400 films of all kinds in the last 20 years. Their focus is on the production of commercials.
"Working with MAWA is always fun because you have artistic freedom." Michael Stehle, Managing Director Imbissfilm
Our new moving image series was created specifically for social media with a focus on real and authentic content. In many cases, this authenticity is created by people. Previous MAWA content often exclusively showed clothes hangers, so we decided on a different approach this time: show the clothes hanger in action, but combined with a human factor for more authenticity.
This result is three short films that present our clothes hangers authentically and in action. The perfect combination of usability - people - and our MAWA clothes hangers.
Mr Stehle, how did you come up with the idea of the three video formats?
From my point of view, the requirement to produce for social media means conveying concentrated information and emotion in a short time. My first thoughts were high speed, lots of close-ups and aesthetic slow-motion, which perfectly presents the product. Because the MAWA Lifestyle covers different areas, I suggested a mini-series with three films. We also wanted to go against the cliché and not only show women, but also a man. A cross-section of customers with 3 protagonists was conceivable: a middle-aged lady with a business background, a young woman with an affinity for fashion and a man with a sense for products that retain their value. Most of the time only the hands or the body can be seen: everyday situations aesthetically staged on original wardrobes. At the end, the satisfied "MAWA customers" laugh into the camera. Only then do you see their faces clearly.
In addition, I can say that it was important to me to use a similar dramaturgical narrative pattern in all three spots. This should underline the serial character and turn the film series into a kind of mini-campaign. We always start the story with a setting in which the hangers are the focus. Then all three protagonists are on the move. This gives us the chance to show something of the region. MAWA advertises with Made in Germany and this can also be visualized. In the end we arrive at a second location in all three spots. This gives us the opportunity to show other products (home - hotel; shop - home; home - work).
And how would you describe the three videos in detail?
Shopping Queen
The first thing that came to mind for the Shopping Queen was browsing clothes in a store. Everything was staged in detail: hangers that are pushed aside, pulled out and rotated. Then the next consideration was in which situations the MAWA products can still be presented authentically, for example during fitting and at the checkout. The idea of equipping the protagonist with the MAWA Red was also present from the start, while the exact shots only emerged at the location. Here we were lucky that we found a perfect location with many lovingly designed details.
The Woman of the World
Incidentally, the trunk scene in the woman of the world is a film quote from Pulp Fiction. For the driving scene, it was important to me to show the Hallertau. In this spot, too, the color symbolism is a key element and therefore the suitcase had to be red, of course.
Handsome Business Man
For the Businessman, it quickly became clear that unusual products should also be on display here to show the diversity of the product range. The idea of attaching a photo to the Sweetheart accessory coat hanger with the MAWA clip came first. Then the story developed around it. The protagonist should have a serious side (wearing a tie) and a sporty side. Just showing sports clothes on hangers wasn't enough for me. This is how the idea for the throwing of the hanger came about. The touches of red here are the hangers themselves.”
Many thanks, Mr Stehle, for the many exciting and interesting insights into the creation of our three video formats: Shoppinq Queen, Woman of the World and Handsome Business Man!
The future trends in moving image content now include so-called "live videos", which are also becoming increasingly popular in Germany: Large companies such as Douglas and Media Markt have already discovered the trend for themselves and organize regular live sales broadcasts on their social platforms. Live shopping and the live video format are already being successfully implemented and executed by our partners in Asia. We look forward to the future and more great and emotional video content about our MAWA clothes hangers!