Brave New Media Enters the Emmys:
“Our synthesis of tangible and intangible connections pushed us over the edge.”
It all started with TV Academy creative consultant, Neal Roscoe, hiring Brave New Media (BNM) to create an historic website for the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards.
With 12 years’ experience on the Emmy Awards Neal knew this was a unique year filled with large challenges. COVID-19 prevented the press from interviewing the Emmy winners face-to-face. Roscoe and his partner, US-based Creative Technology (CT), a global supplier of audiovisual high-tech, created the concept of a Virtual Media Center, where viewers could not only follow the winners in real-time as they were interviewed and received their prizes, but could also download content minutes after the event. CBS and Television Academy, hosts of the 73rd Emmys, approved the idea, and so BNM, veteran digital and live-events production company, was chosen to transform that vision into reality.
Challenges
Only CBS and Television Academy publicists could escort Emmy winners to the Media Center for trophy pickup, photos and interviews. The general press was disallowed. In order to duplicate the experience of being in person, BNM developed a web portal that integrated with the Emmys’ General Press Room, so that interviews broadcast by CT could be followed live by the press.
“The moment a winner was announced,” BNM’s founder Damian Petrou elaborated, “we had to update the website in real-time with the backstage press interviews and transcripts. The CBS network had never done anything like this. Actually, this particular immersive press experience was a first for the industry as a whole.”
On top of that, BNM had to engineer a distribution solution for press all over the world to access the backstage interview clips.
“We integrated a Dropbox API with Vimeo for the press to download and post clips to social media twenty minutes after we’d uploaded the clips of the winners’ interviews.” Stephen Cashmere, BNM Producer, explained. “So, say, there was the Ted Lasso clip where cast and crew did the Roy Kent cheer backstage, that clip was on our website within fifteen minutes of it happening. We made the website as user-friendly as possible for a tech-challenged press to use. Making these clips ready for a sharable audience in the social media ether.”
The 73rd Emmys was also more complex than their previous TV experiences, in that BNM was faced with new challenges.
According to Stephen, “Even though we had everything down pat from other virutal events: customer support functionalities, logins, how to hire and train backup crew/staff – the entire virtual user experience, and we’d worked with CBS on the 2017 Emmys, this was a whole new immersive talent and press experience, while under very strict COVID protocol.”
Producing the Virtual Website
As the Media Center Director Damian Petrou directed and coordinated the physical and digital activities of broadcast and programming personnel. BNM producer Stephen Cashmere and his BNM Web Development Team, Johanna Ruiz and Amber Sjomeling, built the portal that integrated with the CBS media center. This included embedding plug-ins for the press to sign a virtual clip agreement, integrating password management features, incorporating interactive capabilities for the press to interview Emmy winners, downloading the clips of winner interviews in the EVS General Press, and adding a resource center with transcripts and real-time updates of winners, among other items.
Website designer and Art Director Zac Good incorporated CBS/TV Academy design ideas for inspiration.
“This was my tenth year working with the Emmys, so it was exciting to participate … and always cool to see how the show has evolved over the years,” Stephen enthused. “I worked on this event before streaming platforms had ever been nominated. And now we are creating tech that is becoming a precedent for future award shows. I felt honored to collaborate with the TV Academy, Neal Roscoe, and CBS to participate in creating this historical and thrilling milestone for such an important event.”
Results
Invariably, it’s front-stage production that makes the news, rarely—if ever—backstage. So when the tweeted video clip of Ted Lasso and crew doing the Roy Kent cheer backstage picked up over 1M views, Damian exulted to the CT team:
“Our clip was trending earlier this morning around the globe. It was a team effort to make sure this was possible. Great calls were made to take the return feed off the LED, going for a wider lens, and the EVS/Dropbox integration worked seamlessly. So much to be proud of and this clip represents how it all came together in one shiny moment.”
“I think it all came down to.’’ Stephen reflected, “Our synthesis of tangible and intangible connections… We harnessed the tangible assets of our talents and experience in design, content, and technology with the intangibles of dedication, passion, and existing connections. We used all our tools at our disposal – web design, UX/UI, product development – all those hard skills and merged them with the intangibles. The synthesis pushed us over the edge.”
For Neal, the success of the project frittered down to two assets: A seasoned team and simply #BeingBrave.
“Our biggest relief,” he divulged, “was being able to rely on the BNM team that it could manage the entire range of components from audiovisual to PR, design changes, technical issues and so forth… Having worked with Stephen, Damian, and the Brave New Media team on many Emmys, I’d say it was their institutional knowledge that helped CBS and Television Academy help the public and the press enjoy the Emmys remotely without missing a beat.”
Brave New Media reimagined the pre-pandemic Gatorade Athlete of the Year Awards Show hosted by sports superstars J.J Watt and Taylor Rooks
Reimagined
A couple of months ago, NOUN agency brought on the Brave New Media LA team to rethink and revamp the Gatorade Athlete of the Year Awards show. It was our first time working this event, which honors and celebrates athletic excellence by recognizing the nation’s most outstanding high school student-athletes. In short, It’s known as the most prestigious honor in high school sports. The challenge? To reimagine the pre-pandemic show in under 1 hour while presenting it in an intimately cool new setting that blows everyone away. We did it in 37 mins, without a hitch!
12 nominees graced the stage which was narrowed down to 1 girl and 1 boy to win the title, hosted by the electrifying football player J.J Watt and broadcasting sports superstar Taylor Rooks in downtown Hollywood. Brave New Media LA was in charge of writing the show, staging, and providing experiential optimizations to ensure a successful event. The team worked with Sweetwater and Kinetic Lighting to build a uniquely designed curved LED round stage. But it didn’t stop there, we made a couple of other tweaks too.
“We ended off feeling inspired by all the beaming athletes and the hard work behind the scenes that pulled everything together.”
The Challenge
Pre-pandemic this event would have been held at a fancy ballroom with a lengthy 2-hour ceremony, but the goal was to appeal to a younger demographic, primed by snappy TikTok videos. An overall quicker show was the focus. We scrapped the awkward Q and A session from previous shows to cut down on time and had the nominees come out on stage one by one instead, giving them each their time to shine by spotlighting them à la an NBA All Star game intro. We wanted to recognize and give the nominees their individual moments and a chance for a slick photo opp without putting time at stake. COVID really allowed us to reimagine this event, hitting pause on the things we thought could be improved on with our optimizations. We brought our experience from our previous red carpet events and our expertise to NOUN and Gatorade. They looked to us for advice on reserved seating, placement, and so on. Come show day, we spent time briefing the talent and walking them through everything in rehearsals to ensure everything ran smoothly come show time.
Inspired
When it was all over we ended off feeling inspired by all the beaming athletes and the hard work behind the scenes that pulled everything together. This year’s show was successful and innovative in a whole brave new way and we can’t wait to do it all over again next year!
FOX recreated the town of Hohman, Indiana for a three hour musical adaptation of the iconic 1983 Christmas movie
Reimagined
Many a thousand heaps of artificial snow were sprayed on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank for the most ambitious television event of the 2017 holiday season, A Christmas Story Live!
Hiring the most versatile talent with chops for Hollywood and Broadway comedy, they wanted an equally movable multi-platform campaign. FOX called in Brave New Media to write, produce and direct its digital campaign sponsored by Old Navy. Inspired by the 12 Days of Christmas carol, the team assembled to make 12 live spots featuring influencer Erin Robinson with the all star cast and creative minds behind A Christmas Story Live! With twelve days and counting before such a live TV musical entailing extraordinary timing of scenes and choreography, including a 300 page script under revisions, the pressure was palpable, so we set out to make the spots a fun experience.
The 12 live spots garnered a Webby Award nomination and a Leg Lamp Award from Jane Krakowski.
First Old Navy needed interactive trivia questions to engage the fans in the spirit of giving and fashion. Damian and Aaron then wrote jingles for Erin to bravely sing live as a Christmas carol introduction for the interviews that put the guests at ease, asking questions they hadn’t been asked a thousand times in the press circuit while mustering excitement for the show.
Erin Robinson has a very bright future, holding her own with some of the brightest minds in entertainment today. The 12 live spots garnered a Webby Award nomination and a Leg Lamp Award from Jane Krakowski.
How Brave New Media updated FOX’s Teen Choice pre-show by broadcasting in YouTube 180 VR.
Reimagined
Google recently introduced a new video format called VR180, which focuses on high resolution for both mobile and desktop viewing. As the platform is still fresh to the market, Google is looking to showcase virtual reality in new ways. FOX’s Teen Choice pre-show changed the game by broadcasting in YouTube 180 VR, and we had the opportunity to produce the historic broadcast. With VR filming being such a new format, everyone on-set had to stay flexible and quick-thinking to accommodate. Brave New Media wrote the main script for the show, including an opening exchange between the hosts, pre-recorded segments, and the overall flow of the hour-long live broadcast. The broadcast was a massive success, with over 250,000 live viewers and 98% ‘thumbs up’ YouTube rating. We were able to show our quick decision-making, flexibility, time-sensitive creative output, and poise under pressure to deliver a quality broadcast.
A week before the broadcast, we all learned that there would be a new twist to the broadcast: Google VR!
In 2016, our video producer Damian Petrou directed and produced the FOX Teen Choice Awards Blue Carpet stream on Facebook Live. The broadcast drew 150,000 live viewers and received high interactivity. FOX asked us to produce the broadcast again in 2017. Part of this process included writing the script and run-of-show for the hosts to read off of a teleprompter, which Brave New Media wrote the bulk of before coming to set. We remained flexible during rehearsal days, making sure to adjust the script to fit the hosts’ and production needs.
A week before the broadcast, we all learned that there would be a new twist to the 2017 broadcast: Google VR! Since 2015, virtual reality has built its online presence, with VR video becoming a popular way to experience experiences from sporting events to concerts and even tourist experiences. Recently, Google introduced a new video format called VR180, which focuses on high resolution for both mobile and desktop viewing. As the platform is still fresh to the market, Google is looking to showcase virtual reality in new ways. The Teen Choice Awards Blue Carpet always tries to stay on the cutting edge to line up with their young audience. Realistically, it was a perfect fit between VR and Teen Choice!
With the VR filming being such a new format, everyone on-set had to stay flexible and quick-thinking to accommodate. We wrote the main script for the show, which included an opening exchange between the two hosts, pre-recorded segments for TV stars and our hosts, and the overall flow of the hour-long live broadcast. One of the segments was a written monologue for eight-year-old star of the The Mick, Jack Stanton. Pitting him as the “resident teen correspondent,” we worked with FOX’s team to come up with a concept that would help him stand out from the usual interviews while still tapping into the exciting present
Our Video Director, Damian Petrou, had the opportunity to produce and direct a special VR180 livestream on YouTube with NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant!
GOOGLE VR LABS
At Brave New Media, we are passionate about athletics and cutting-edge technology, so we were thrilled to be part of a project that combines the two. This special virtual reality event, hosted by sWooZie, took place from the studios at The YouTube Space in Los Angeles where the Golden State Warriors’ basketball star was interviewed by YouTube stars What’s Inside, Ryan ToysReview, and First We Feast. The VR180 event was broadcasted exclusively on his YouTube channel, and fans could tune in to the livestream via desktop and mobile devices in HD, or immerse themselves in the VR experience with Cardboard, Daydream View, and PSVR. The stream had nearly 240,000 views with plenty of engagement from the audience. We are proud to have directed and produced such an innovative, unique event.
A week before the broadcast, we all learned that there would be a new twist to the broadcast: Google VR!
Inspired
When it was all over we ended off feeling inspired by all the beaming athletes and the hard work behind the scenes that pulled everything together. This year’s show was successful and innovative in a whole brave new way and we can’t wait to do it all over again next year!
Brave New Media Helps to Build Pro Soccer into a Minnesota Institution
Reimagined
Minnesota can lay claim to a team in all six major sports leagues in the United States. The newest of the bunch is Minnesota United FC, who joined Major League Soccer for the 2017 season. “The Loons” are one of the hottest tickets in town, known for a lively game and a great crowd atmosphere. As recently as 2012, however, professional soccer in Minnesota was on life support. Check out how Brave New Media helped grow the beautiful game in our great state.
Professional soccer in Minnesota dates back to the 1970s, when the Kicks played host to some of the biggest stars in the world. Kicks games would draw around 23,000 fans a game at the old Metropolitan Stadium, with their attendance peaking at 32,775. A few other iterations tried to capture this excitement, to middling results. When the North American Soccer League (NASL) was founded in 2011, they wanted a team in Minnesota. However, the NSC Minnesota Stars were owned by the league, and the whole project didn’t look sustainable.
“The team that nobody wanted…
Is going to win the cup!”
The Stars’ coach at the time, Manny Lagos, is a friend of BNM partner and video producer Damian Petrou. The two spoke at an event in 2011 and decided to start a marketing partnership between Brave New Media and the Stars. We agreed to support all marketing activities on a pro-bono basis until the team found a new owner. The first year deployed a campaign called “Shine On.” We handled design and development of a new website for the Stars. The partnership included coordinating photography and video at every match, enhanced creative for social media channels, and making new sponsorship decks and marketing materials. This gave a full season’s worth of content, for web, social and game day!
While 2011 gave a solid footing, 2012 required another step up. We deemed 2012 “The Year of the Fan.” This included contests on Twitter to increase engagement, challenging fans to introduce new faces to the team via Facebook, creating Match Day Moments, and providing new content via web, email, and social media channels. All of this was done to increase attendance, sponsorship, merchandise sales, and an online presence. During the Year of the Fan, Dr. Bill McGuire attended a few games. At the end of the year, he purchased the team, giving stability to the Stars!
With a rebrand to Minnesota United, there were new marketing challenges to overcome. Brave New Media was chosen to design and build the new club website using the sharp visual design from Zeus Jones. We also produced and managed all print ads, radio ads, and videos for the club.
At the heart of our work with Minnesota United, we came up with the 2014 season marketing campaign: The Summer of Soccer. With a World Cup scheduled that summer, BNM helped Minnesota United increase their footprint across the Twin Cities. A pair of marquee matches against international teams helped draw new faces and larger crowds to Minnesota United matches. Brave New Media created print ads, TV spots, radio ads, digital ads, social media contests, and soccer events to further the reach.
The results of this partnership were very apparent. In 2011, Minnesota’s average attendance was only 400 per match. By the end of 2014, that figure skyrocketed to over 6,000 per match! Even sweeter, Minnesota United was selected as an MLS expansion team in early 2015. For a team that seemed close to folding in 2012, the move to MLS gave United – and Minnesota soccer as a whole – some long overdue stability! We’re proud to have partnered with our friends at Minnesota United, and can’t wait to see what the future of soccer in this state holds.
The Blue Zones: How a research expedition on the subject of longevity became a long-term partnership
Longevity Quest In
In 2005, Dan Buettner published something profound: the simple secrets of longevity from the world’s most spirited centenarians. Running in National Geographic’s November issue, his findings on how the world’s oldest people were living well into their 100th year sparked a national fascination. Any American looking to add more years to their life—or more life to their years—was immediately intrigued. He didn’t know it at the time, but Dan Buettner was now to task on the assignment of his life. With the question of what it meant to live a good life at the center of his quest, the Blue Zones® was born.
THE BLUE ZONES QUEST
Brave New Media’s partnership with Dan Buettner and his Blue Zones began in 2003. Already an established writer, known for his long-distance bike treks and bylines, Buettner had become interested in the subject of longevity. Why were some individuals in certain parts of the world living far better—and far longer—than others? From his travels, he had a hunch that one’s environment could play an outsize role on collective and individual health. Buettner was curious. And he had a hunch he wasn’t the only one who’d be interested in the answers.
A SEARCH FOR THE SECRETS OF WELLBEING
Buettner decided to explore these corners of the world to discover the common lifestyle factors linked to longevity. His hope? That by studying the Blue Zones and understanding their common themes he’d be able to reverse-engineer health outcomes for audiences back in the States. Buettner pitched his idea and got the green light from both National Geographic and the University of Minnesota’s Center on Aging. And armed with a grant from Washington D.C., Buettner and his team of historians, dieticians and geneticists set out to discover the secrets of the world’s Blue Zones.
“Explorer, seeking editor: must be able to ride bike, speak Greek, and be willing to lug satellites the size of suitcases up mountainsides. Those without a sense of daring-do need not apply.”
In addition to scientists and researchers, Buettner needed storytellers.
National Geographic required video content from the field for their website and other news outlets. And Buettner needed storytelling and editing talent for his project Classroom Connect. Back in 2003, mobile video was still emerging. An ability to grasp the technical requirements of video production from some of the most remote corners of the world was an absolute must. From a temperamental perspective, Buettner needed a partner with an adventurous attitude, a tenacious spirit and total bravery. On the soft-skills side of things, speaking Greek and riding a bicycle were also on the requirements list. That’s where Brave New Media came in. Check, check, and check.
Beaming content back to the United States via satellite, carting A/V equipment in challenging terrain, and dealing with major time zone differences meant the team often found themselves in unique situations. On one occasion, Buettner woke to discover Damian Petrou still awake from the night prior—editing video footage on the jungle floor. While at times the remote locales were a constraint, they were also a grand adventure—a chance to push the limits of production and get comfortable with new methods of streaming, editing, and broadcasting.
“Editing all night—let alone on a jungle floor—can be quite challenging. But it was also compelling, and fun! Looking back, it really was the beginning of new media. From editing software, tapeless cameras, and streaming technology we were at the forefront of delivering real-time content from the jungle.”
A GLOBAL INFLUENCE: BRAVE NEW MEDIA CREATES TED TALKS GRAPHICS
Soon after the publication of his findings, Buettner became a thought leader in the health and wellness space. Invited to give a talk on his research in the fall of 2009 at TEDxTwinCities, Buettner suddenly needed a stunning presentation to support his on-stage speech. For his debut onto the international speaking circuit, Brave New Media partnered with the Blue Zones team to create a visual-first presentation. Filled with immersive photography that kept the focus on Buettner’s powerful message—and not on slides, the Brave New Media team created graphics that simplified the datasets into a compelling story with a clear narrative arc. Titled ‘How to Live to Be 100+’, the presentation now has over 4 million views on the TED Talks website.
BLUE ZONES PROJECT CITIES – ALBERT LEA
In 2010, Buettner launched The Blue Zones Project®. Created ‘to make the healthy choice the easy choice’, this new subsidiary of the brand partnered with both civic leaders and health insurance companies to bring healthier lifestyle habits to communities across the United States.
Brave New Media provided Buettner with video production, editing, and storytelling services when the prairie city of Albert Lea, Minnesota was selected as a Blue Zones project city in 2010. To support the launch, the team created engaging video storytelling to showcase Albert Lea’s civic transformation. Visiting the town a total of twelve times in the same year, the experience of the town’s transformation was seen in realtime and captured on camera— a powerful reminder of the impact our environments have on individual and collective health. In recognition of their work, Brave New Media won a Webby Award in partnership with AARP for general website category, health, and wellness.
THE BLUE ZONES WEBSITE: A HUB FOR DECADES-WORTH OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS CONTENT
As the Blue Zones brand grew, the website needed to scale too. But bringing decades worth of content into one hub was a big undertaking. Visually, the brand was known for stunning imagery and National Geographic-quality photography. Brave New Media needed to allow the power of these images to speak for themselves, while also providing enough way-finding elements and content blocks for users to easily navigate the site and digest the content.
To solve these needs, Brave New Media relied on their 20+ years of web development expertise to develop a centralized content hub. Opening to full-bleed imagery and a scrolling index, the site keeps the visual ethos of the brand while offering viewers an extensive navigation menu that otherwise remains completely hidden until clicked. Over the years, as Buettner has launched products as diverse as cookbooks and coffee beans, the team has found inventive and compelling ways to showcase the entire scope of the brand across mobile and digital without compromising on design or depth of content.
- WellbeingNSport & MLS Next
Brave New Media kicked off new training videos for MLS Next and The Sanneh Foundation
Challenges
Earlier this year, the Brave New Media team was approached by the inspiring and accomplished soccer player and friend, Tony Sanneh of the Sanneh Foundation to breathe new life into the current training videos used in his coaching curriculum. Aside from his formidable playing career, Tony has been active in several community-based organizations and initiatives over the years focusing on diversity, equality and inclusion. Given our history and affiliation with Tony, and the Sanneh Foundation along with his concerns with the effectiveness of the older videos and continued issues faced within the league, we were more than happy to kick it off with a re-imagined and brave new look that inspires and sparks change within the community.
Even though the content from the original videos were quite dated and disengaging, the issues unfortunately remained the same throughout the years.
Shoot Day
This collection of videos would be used to train the teams and arm their coaches with the tools to create a safe culture on and off pitch. Even though the content from the original videos were quite dated and disengaging, the issues unfortunately remained the same throughout the years. Our hope was that in sharing these resources and experiences through a new perspective we would be able to provide healthier environments for everyone involved. This opportunity to create change while addressing discrimination issues within the MLS was one that resonated with us on a deeper level. These were not just going to be any coaching videos, but ones that focused on creating positive change, an important pillar that we focus on here at Brave New Media.
We worked closely with the MLS Next team and key stakeholders to understand and target the concerns that needed to be addressed, while creating new scripts that were enhanced, engaging and impactful. We started off by casting real kids but professional actors within the local community to add authenticity to the videos. We purposely chose this juxtaposition to create an interesting dynamic between kids who experienced discrimination first hand, and actors hired to play the part.
Where We Go From Here
We then focused on building a new narrative that would achieve all of these directives and objectives. This was quite the balancing act, but in our brave new way we collaboratively put our heads together between creative and production teams, to tell a new story.
In the end, we have these fresh new videos to look forward to along with a chance to make a difference that matters while setting a standard that touches everyone involved in MLS. As we continue to grow with the well being sports brand, we’re facilitating a future filled with great storytelling and educational videos built around a curriculum, and that’s exciting.
