Brands have needed to adapt to the changing times and create timely videos with timely messages. COVID-19 and quarantine has certainly proved that. Repurposing footage with new messages has been a route many have taken. 

What is now known as Smirnoff’s “Hang Out from Home” campaign, did not start out that way. It was shot in February, when we could still do things like that, encouraging America to go out this summer and have fun with their new Red, White, and Berry line. Unfortunately for them, just a few weeks later, quarantine kicked in and all of that changed. Fortunately, Smirnoff was quick to revamp the campaign message that instead put the focus on staying at home. They already had the footage captured; it was a matter of reworking the original edit, safely recording new voiceovers, and adding in a few clips from home, courtesy of their spokespeople. 

This idea of repurposing video content with a timely message is not just for big brands like Smirnoff. We have been working with clients to do just that. Whether formed from archived footage from past projects, or client-provided or user-generated footage, it comes down to the edit, and how to repackage to create a new video with a new message. 

A great example of this is a project we worked on with our client Fibre Box Association. They wanted to create a “thank you” video for the corrugated packaging industry; an industry deemed an “essential business”, making corrugated cardboard packaging which was keeping the flow of products moving. We had previously-captured footage from a different project of theirs that would work perfectly in this new video. To take it one step further, we pitched the idea of having a montage of real people saying thank you with handmade cardboard signs. This, of course, required user-generated content - participants recorded themselves and submitted the footage to us. With a timely message scripted out and a voiceover to deliver that message, we combined the pieces to create the final video.

This is the time to look at your video content from a new perspective. How can you make the most of the footage you have? Are there new videos you want to create, new messages you want to deliver? Consider repurposing your video content as a safe and timely option.