Complex Shares Their Secrets to Creating Viral Branded Videos

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It’s almost impossible to make branded videos go viral.

At Complex, it’s an artform.

The site has the mission of “Making Culture Pop!” and most of its content features celebrity news, buyers’ guides and interviews with pop culture notables. What differentiates it from similar publications, however, is the unbridled creativity that shapes its articles and videos.

One of their most original interview segments is called “Hot Ones” and is featured on First We Feast, Complex’s food site. In the segment, the host asks celebrity guests a series of questions about their latest projects while challenging them to eat progressively spicier hot wings.

“Hot Ones is an exceptionally simple show. 10 hot wings, 10 questions. Each [wing] gets hotter as the show progresses. The purpose is to get talent to lose their inhibitions because of the spice, and give us raw answers in the process,” explains Dana Droppo, Associate Director of Branded Content, Complex.

With this segment and others like it, Complex’s Branded Content team has mastered the art of producing exceptional interviews. To help other content creators produce more unique and exciting videos, we interviewed Dana (sans hot sauce) and asked her to share some advice.

The following interview contains excerpts from The Epic Guide To Branded Video – 50 pages of free advice from the experts at The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Mashable, American Express and more! 

Pressboard: What’s your role, your background and what first attracted you to content?

Dana: I head up the Branded Content team at Complex. My background is in music writing and event and video production. I started writing and producing in college in New York, where I edited an online magazine with a friend. At first, I was in it to get music and show tickets for free. Over time, writing and creating content became a way for me to process my perspective on the world and to better understand others’ perspectives.

How do branded videos fit into your organization’s larger advertising strategy? 

Branded content is a vital function of both our ad and content strategy. Our readers are razor sharp and they grew up online. A banner ad doesn’t even register for many of them. Thousands of hours filled with scrolling and clicking trained their eyes to skip over the content in the margins.

Fundamentally, Complex started as a buyer’s guide, highlighting the sneakers, clothing, albums and movies that we thought were worthy of spending hard-earned money on. Brands were always a part of the Complex world. Now, we partner with them to make incredible stuff, like we did with Beats By Dre for this Oral History of Hyphy, or McDonald’s for an episode of Sneaker Shopping with Gucci Mane.

In your experience, what’s the greatest challenge with creating video content?

The biggest challenge when it comes to creating video content is access to talent. Great videos require great access, even more so than photography. If the talent clicks, everything else falls into place. Shout out to our amazing producers and talent team for all that they do.

Interviews can be a tough format online because of viewers’ short attention spans. How can video creators produce interviews that compete with shorter formats?

Interview with purpose! You should be able to articulate why you want to have a conversation with your subject, even if the video is only five seconds long. That purpose should anchor everything from the questions, to the set, to the editing, music and title.

How do you measure the success of an interview?

Did the interview answer its purpose? If yes, it was a success.

What’s one habit that the best video storytellers have?

They tell stories with an arc, not just a theme. They set up the characters, present what is at stake, show the moment of conflict and then follow through with a resolution. This applies to any storytelling format at any point in history.

Pressboard would like to thank Dana Droppo and Complex for speaking with us and contributing to our latest eBook. You can find her on Twitter at @danadroppo.