Inspiration came from several sources but the hilarity of ‘Drunk History’ and its story telling mechanic resonated with the team and client.

Dissecting the mechanics of Drunk History, the authenticity of the story, told by a real person in a casual setting, and the borderline absurd reenactments became the leaping off point for the team. The campaign would hinge on the real dialogue of actual customers and theatrical reenactment to transform a story into a tale.

Armed with a loose treatment, the team switched focus on how to extend the reach of the customer stories, drive engagement, and make the content share-able. A content matrix was created to craft platform-appropriate cuts and formats to support the roll-out and growth of the series on several social platforms.

At the core would be a “long” cut of approximately 90 seconds highlighting the customer’s narrative. This cut would be deployed via Dell EMC’s video channels. Additional 15 and 30 second cuts were produced with motion graphic subtitles for more causal social platforms to drive viewers to the Dell EMC site. Key moments from the episodes were memorialized in animated MEME form for easy sharing amongst IT professionals in similar situations.

The challenge for the series (and the team) is the unknown. It is not until the interview is conducted that the visuals and themes reveal themselves. With footage in hand, the team parses the transcript to find the story elements and turns of phrase that can be brought to life.

Exclusively for online use, the various videos and graphics have been placed on YouTube, Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, and Giphy.

Within one day of release, the 30-second cut was Dell EMC’s most-viewed video of the year. It beat the #2 video by 100%.

On Twitter, the videos beat Dell EMC’s team benchmark for viewer’s watching the entire video by 2000%.

Sharing across all platforms set precedent with viewers actually sharing the videos.