Sophisticated new broadcast TV for Bank Rhode Island.

PRESS RELEASE;

BURLINGTON, VT- Shark Communications, an award-winning brand, web, and digital marketing agency has launched a new TV spot for Bank Rhode Island. The 30-second ad highlights Bank Rhode Island's Commercial Banking services and its partnership in a variety of initiatives and projects around the state of Rhode Island. To address BankRI's management concerns that its name was largely invisible to the public while at the same time providing the key banking and financing solutions for many large scale commercial projects, Shark developed the theme "We don't make things. We make things happen." Edited in a sophisticated, quick-moving style, the television ad's evolving array of images depict both private and public initiatives in which Bank Rhode Island's Commercial Banking services play an important role. The "We Make It Happen," 30-second television ad, can be viewed at https://sharkcomm.com/bankri-tv

As Shark Creative Director and designer of the spot notes, " We Make Things Happen" is a theme that defines the energy and commitment of Bank Rhode Island's Commercial Banking team, and with the beautifully edited series of images and soundtrack, it sets an engaging and overall powerful tone for the bank. It's a strong positioning statement that Shark will also implement as an integrated marketing campaign across print, digital, web, and outdoor. "

Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, BankRI provides an array of personal, business, commercial and investment services. As a commercial bank, Bank Rhode Island delivers financial strength, Commercial Banking expertise, and a range of solutions to help corporate customers reach new goals. 

Shark Communications is a Burlington, Vermont-based, branding, web, SEO, and digital marketing agency founded by award-winning Creative Director, Peter Jacobs. Shark serves clients in a wide variety of industries with a strategically-planned mix of creative and digital marketing solutions. From award-winning work for the 1998 US Winter Olympic Trials to numerous creative, design and marketing awards for clients large and small,  Shark’s has received consistent creative recognition. More about Shark Communications can be viewed on the agency's website at sharkcomm.com.

OTT: What it is and what it means for marketers and TV.

OTT, or "over-the-top," is a term that describes the delivery of television and other content over the Internet instead of using traditional channels. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Youtube – we've all used them before, and these along with other OTT providers are becoming the standard for media consumption in the 21st century. In the old days of advertising, you used to go down to the local TV station and order a flight of 30-second slots on whichever show or program that you felt would align with your target audience demographic. Traditional TV networks used a best-guess coverage, or viewer "ratings" system to estimate how many eyeballs viewed your spot, and that was it.

Fast forward to today, where the number of people paying for cable TV is declining year over year, and advertisers are following the customer online. OTT, social media, and streaming services are commanding more and more of people's time, and they offer rich customer data and precise targeting for advertisers. Advertising with OTT TV providers like Hulu offers a new level of tracking and accountability, with guaranteed impressions and non-skippable ads, that traditional TV models can't match.

As an award-winning multi-media agency, Shark Communications produces broadcast and OTT commercials. With the rise of smart TVs, 5G networks, and more, we see TV viewership shifting rapidly to OTT and digital platforms. See below, a sneak peek of some concept storyboards slated for a 2019 launch.

:15s video storyboard for a client to be named later (CTBNL)

Great advertising has "legs." Bank Rhode Island's "BIG" TV.

In marketing industry-speak, when an ad runs over a longer period of time, or an ad campaign endures, it’s called marketing that “has legs.” Our 2018 production of Bank Rhode Island’s 30 second Broadcast and Digital TV ad is proving to be that case with executive management now focused on building it out as a campaign that drives the brand across broadcast, digital, social and more.

Digital Video Marketing - start now because it's the future of your brand.

Human beings are visual learners, our brains wired to select for images and videos over audio and text. Just five seconds of video can convey more information than any banner or article, and studies show that retention rates for video are almost 10x higher than written words. This is why video advertising is so effective – the ability to increase brand awareness, attract customers, and boost sales in a quick, cost-effective manner.

The landscape of online video advertising spans multiple devices and is continually evolving: tv viewers of the past are cutting cords and accessing programming online; search engines are connecting eager audiences with relevant ads, and social media’s algorithms rank higher for video than any other form of content. From in-stream to display to social, online video advertising offers a plethora of opportunities for brands looking to raise awareness and broaden the sales funnel.

Display Video Advertising

Advanced audience targeting allows brands to position themselves in front of motivated consumers, building trust and driving conversions. For instance, a user may visit a website to read about designer shoes and experience a targeted auto-play video from a shoe retailer that reinforces the brand or sells a specific product. This is a prime example of the efficiency of online advertising, paired with the effectiveness of video, combining to reach key audience segments.

In-Stream Video Advertising

For 2018, eMarketer projects that cord-cutters and “cord-nevers” will represent around 20% of the U.S. population, and more than half of all television viewers will access programming online. In-stream video ads display content within a video player – such as Hulu, Roku, ABC, NBC, CBS – either before or during programmed video content. Targeting can be focused down to the city, street, household, or even square-foot level, and guaranteed impressions means that waste is eliminated.

Social Media Video Advertising

Gone are the days of black and white, text-based social media networks: a scroll through any Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter feed reveals a stream of viral, trending videos sandwiched between video ads. Social platforms collect rich data on their users, which allows advertisers to tailor videos to user interests and target demographics. Sponsored videos are well integrated within the content users interact with and they are equipped with additional features that allow users to share, like, and discuss.

A Digital TV advertising campaign - coming soon.

Digital TV advertising, Connected TV, streaming video advertising, it all offers a new opportunity for marketing. As  Forbes put it in a recent article on Connected tv advertising... " Thanks to everything from smart TVs to mobile to connected devices (Roku, Amazon Fire TV et al), it’s a lot more digital than people realize. And therein lies the opportunity: take advantage of all that digitally viewed television..." At Shark, we're sidestepping the cost of broadcast TV for clients in metro markets with a new geotargeted digital TV media buy. Here's a redacted (six of 18 frames) look at a new 30 second spot in design and production. 

Making it happen at Mels: New Bank Rhode Island TV spot slated for late April launch.

Following a Boston-shoot last month, post production on a new BankRI television commercial moved to Montreal for editing, sound, color and more. With approval confirmed, and the media buy in place, a big thanks and Chapeau!! to all of the talented and helpful people at Mels. Well known for their recent and beautiful work on Adele's "Hello" video, I want to thank,  in no particular order: Cecile Morel, Catherine Grenier, Anne-Catherine Busson, le mixeur, Martin Boisselle, le monteur incroyable,  Claude Antoine, et Jerome Cloutier. 

The spot in its final form is sophisticated, smart and should prove to be a strong foundation for BankRI's overall corporate identity. In fact, the bank's marketing department led my Mr. Steven Parente initiated a more extensive and integrated, Commercial Banking campaign in print and digital based on the TV spot's imagery.