Background
During the rollout of Facebook video, brands and media sites like Buzzfeed and blogTO were moving quickly to double down on content production in order to reach new audiences.
Together with my cousin and business partner at Fulton Inbound, I had the opportunity to pitch a video series called Stuck on the Gardiner to blogTO.
The series featured myself and Rob - now a front end web developer if you're looking - driving on the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto, recapping the week's news and events as reported from blogTO's written content library.
Rob and I were responsible for shooting and editing the video series, including various graphics and audio cues, as well as blogTO's branded assets. Stuck on the Gardiner was posted to blogTO's social media channels with support from their content production teams and continued to run for 50 episodes including a few shot and recorded in Las Vegas and the Canadian National Exhibition.
Highlights
While weekly videos steadily received tens of thousands of views, our most successful pieces of content were a handful of spin-off videos featuring Rob and I visiting special events and restaurants in Toronto. The video Nom Nom Nom Poutine vs Smoke's Poutinerie reached viral status, amassing over half of a million views, a challenging feat for the local content site at the time.
Stuck on the Gardiner attracted multiple inquiries for sponsorship activations. Two came to fruition with Toyota, which was looking to showcase their fuel-efficient hybrid cars to an urban audience of millennials.
We worked with their team to coordinate vehicle pickup and outline the requirements for the videos to ensure that the sponsor received adequate mention of their brand and inclusion of their product.