In this episode of the Engage Video Marketing Podcast, I had the opportunity to speak with Christy Poulos, the Global Partnerships Director of Genero. We discussed the changing landscape of video marketing and the relationship between agencies, content creators, and brands. Christy shared insights into how Genero is filling the gap in the market by connecting brands with a global network of professional creatives and providing opportunities for video producers to work with big brands. We also explored the importance of understanding social media platforms and creating content that is tailored to their specific requirements. Overall, it was a fascinating conversation that shed light on the future of video marketing and the role of creativity in this evolving industry.
Christie Poulos is a content, digital communications, and creative leader with 20+ years of experience working for leading cross-functional teams to produce compelling creative and content experiences that engage people, solve problems, and drive growth for clients. Currently, she is the Global Partnerships Director of Genero – a creative technology solution for in-house marketing teams, enabling marketing leaders to transform their creative and production approach for greater efficiency. Previously at King Content – a world-leading content marketing agency – Christie led the global Creative, Editorial, and Paid Media teams. As Head of Content for Red Bull UK, Christie led TV, film, and communications projects around the world and was part of the global communications team for the Red Bull Stratos Mission to the Edge of Space.
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Transcript of the Interview: ** Note: the following transcript was generated by AI and therefore may contain some errors and omissions.
Ben (00:00.142)
into it. All right. Hey, Christie, welcome to the podcast.
Christie (00:05.065)
Thank you, Ben.
Ben (00:07.03)
Well, thanks for joining me. So we were talking before we hit record here, but I first connected with you many, many years ago. You spoke on stage in an event in Brisbane here. And I don’t know if I’m gonna attribute this quote to you, but I’m going to anyway, because I’ve actually used this quote multiple times in those many years since I saw you speak. You talked about the avalanche of average content. I don’t know if you recall that, that.
Christie (00:33.367)
Yeah, it does.
Ben (00:33.878)
You know, it bombards the digital consumer every day. And I loved that phrase and I’ve since adopted it. And many times I have referenced you. I don’t know if you got it from somewhere, but anyway, I just wanted to throw that at you, so I remember that very distinctly, but I would love for people that haven’t heard of you before, Christie, or come across your platform that you represent, Genero as well. Tell us your story. What got you into content creation and the world of video marketing that you play?
Christie (00:48.055)
Thank you.
Christie (01:01.797)
Yeah, look, it’s a twisty, turny tail, and a really long one because of how long I’ve been doing it for, but I will try and shorten it for you guys. I got started actually in PR and communications and quite quickly realized that like trying to sell.
shampoo and mobile phone plans wasn’t that fun but a friend was working in extreme sports and I was like that looks awesome and easy you know PR in extreme sports surely that’s very easy turns out it is um so that kind of led me on the path to content we were already creating our own content
20 years ago in the extreme sports industry. And then eventually that led me to a role at Red Bull in the UK where a short maternity contract turned into seven years.
around the time that the Red Bull Media House was launching. So just very, very good timing to be in the Red Bull communications team, creating content for a brand that was obviously already pretty well known for content marketing. And at the time when they were really.
going all in on branded content, on the media, and launching the Media House. So, I mean, I just short-cutted 15 years of my career for quite there. And since then, after leaving Red Bull and moving back to Australia, I’ve been working in content marketing, digital marketing, creative content.
Christie (02:27.765)
the stint at a content marketing agency, King Content, some time with my own business. And for the last nearly five years, I’ve been at Genero and we’re an Australian born global business, a flexible on-demand creative and production solution for brands where they can tap into our global network of professional creatives, use our amazing platform to facilitate creative and production and then work with.
our expert team and people from all walks of life in the creative and production industry. And in my current role, I’m global partnerships director. So I’m responsible for our partnerships with the big platforms like Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Google, who we work with a lot to generate vast quantities of content for clients. Yeah, so that’s me in a nutshell.
Ben (03:14.804)
Yeah.
Very cool. It’s not a small nutshell either, Christy, so thanks for breaking that down for us. And I definitely want to explore a bit more about this way of working that Genero kind of enables for brands and agencies and video producers. And we’re going to get to that. But I have to go back to your time at Red Bull because I think that’s something that people are globally, I think, are very aware of some of the incredible content plays that Red Bull have done
I want you to maybe share a bit of insight into what it’s like in the creative team there of thinking about what’s the purpose from Red Bull’s perspective of creating branded content because they’re big ideas and they’re executed often flawlessly. Maybe it’s not the case in behind the scenes, but it’s not your traditional advertising. So what’s the thought process here taking us back to that time at Red Bull?
Christie (04:14.873)
Yeah, that’s a good point regarding traditional advertising. So I suppose I would say that when I was at Red Bull, there was a traditional advertising part of the business. There still is. Red Bull was founded on traditional above the line advertising, and everybody would be familiar with the cartoon campaign, which is unchanged in the 30 plus years that Red Bull’s been around.
The other part of the business, which is the best part of the business I worked in, it was more the communication side of the business and the events, athletes and cultural projects. And that part of the business was always all about generating really compelling stories that positioned the brand and the product in the most exciting, sexy parts of youth culture. So sport, music, you know, motor sports.
And at Red Bull, they’re separate. Sports and motorsports are two separate things. And so our role was always about telling stories in that space and trying to engage our customers to really drive value for the brand. It was less about awareness and more about cultural resonance and relevance. And that was right from the very first day at Red Bull.
what they tried to do with the brand. The folklore of Red Bull is that Dietrich Mataschitz, the founder of the business, took the very first case of Red Bull and went up into the mountains and gave it to the snowboarder and then into the bars and gave it to the bartender. And that was literally like this fable about the beginning of Red Bull. So at no point did the business suddenly decide to start creating content and telling stories and working with athletes.
It was just always part of the business. And I guess he was a bit of a genius in that respect because he knew this was a really powerful way to launch a product, to create a brand new category and to engage audiences long-term.
Ben (06:03.114)
Hmm.
Ben (06:11.926)
Yeah, I think Red Bull was one of the earlier adopters of this approach to marketing and branded content. I’m interested, you know, more and more brands are taking on this approach, but how can the small business or the smaller brand that doesn’t have the budget and the reach of things like Red Bull, how can they adopt this approach, do you think today?
Christie (06:30.877)
Look, I think, well, in the time since we last met, a lot has changed. A lot, a lot has changed in the content industry.
I mean, social has completely upended the way that everything works. And I’m sure that listeners now are feeling that in their businesses, in their day to day. And it’s made it really attainable for small businesses to get out there and start telling really important stories and engaging their audiences with content. It’s become.
practically free to do it. And so I would say that, you know, I’m no expert actually on creating content as a small business owner. That’s not my area of expertise. I actually find it really amazing to see how.
tiny teams or teams of one are using the current social platforms and tools to create great content for their brand. Um, but I would say that, you know, my advice based on what I see is get started, take advantage of all the incredible tools that are there, ready to be used. Um, really work out what works for your brand and your audience. And then you can decide over time what you’re going to invest in. What kind of partners you need to level that up and, uh, you know, take it from there, but.
I think experimenting with social is definitely the way forward.
Ben (07:51.722)
Yeah, and it’s 100% easier today than ever before to experiment in this space. So I think that’s really good advice just to not be afraid to try something different or try something that’s working in another vertical or another industry and see how you can adapt it for your own brand or business as well. Probably not throwing some guy out of an orbiting craft wearing a space suit is not necessarily easy.
Christie (08:08.286)
Yeah.
Christie (08:15.821)
Yes, absolutely not. But there is great ways to start small. And Red Bull was really good at doing the small stuff too. I think that’s what people don’t really appreciate is that we maybe had big budgets, but that budget was broken up into a thousand initiatives and activities, sometimes something that only a few hundred people would experience. But all of it added up to something that worked for the brand.
It wasn’t all about big expensive projects by any means.
Ben (08:48.542)
Right. I mean, it’s a culture of content creation, right, is the way that I kind of perceive it from the outside.
Christie (08:54.369)
It was a culture of storytelling. I think like content creation was just a natural output. You know, what, you know, don’t tell stories unless you’re gonna show people, but it was really came down to knowing who you are as a brand, knowing your audience and working super hard to generate stories. I mean, the whole part of the business that I worked in, we were all dedicated to creating stories to tell. And then there was a small part of that was capturing that and turning that into content.
But we wouldn’t have been able to do anything if it wasn’t for the athlete marketing teams, the culture marketing teams, the events teams, and all of those people that were generating all this amazing content.
Ben (09:35.574)
Very cool. So I’m interested to take things back just to basics here because we’ve referred to this term branded content, right? But for you, Kristy, what does that mean? And how is that different from in inverted commas, traditional advertising or marketing?
Christie (09:50.873)
Yeah, well, it doesn’t mean very much anymore, quite frankly. It’s sort of become a little bit of an old fashioned phrase to me because I feel like with the advent of social.
everyone is creating content. It used to be that branded content was kind of a reaction to advertising. You’d sort of either make an ad, run it on TV, perhaps do like a print version, an outdoor version, and do this sort of interactive style of advertising, which of course is still totally relevant today. Or you might like try and get other people to talk about your brand, through PR and communications. And there wasn’t an awful lot in between. Of course there were brands,
100 years ago, creating their own print publications and later on their own TV shows and all that kind of thing. But I think it really started to, you know, take up, pick up steam when brands realized they could create their own media brands or their own media platforms or their own content hubs. And, you know, really take control of a lot of their own content creation for their customers. I think.
That’s all become a bit blurred with content marketing now, which is a really great, I guess, technique to engage audiences and drive business results with content. But branded content, especially when it comes to video, I guess to me that just means video that’s being created by brands in lots of different ways, for lots of different reasons, but ultimately something that comes from them, or at least is.
you know, sponsored by them, enabled by them, inspired by them for audiences.
Ben (11:30.642)
Yeah, so your background, as you kind of told us your story, you know, through your career there, is both from the brand side, from the business side of Red Bull and so on, through into the agency side with your work with King Content previously, and now into a new model altogether, which I’m interested, you know, when you talk about Genero, and maybe you can give us a little understanding of what Genero is as a platform, but from…
the perspective of both the brand and from the agency, what gap is Genero filling, do you believe in the market today?
Christie (12:05.893)
Yeah, that’s a great question. Well, I mean, a little bit more about Genero what we do is we connect brands with a global network of professional creative businesses. So that could be anything from freelancers, videographers, and creative directors and writers and photographers through to small independent creative businesses like yours, production companies, social agencies, small creative agencies, independent creative businesses basically.
And we work mostly with enterprise businesses globally. We work with brands like Hilton, Unilever, here in Australia, we work with Tourism Australia. And so these large businesses are looking for ways to create content that are more agile, cost efficient.
that get more diversity of thought and creativity. And they know that there’s a big global pool of amazing talented people outside of agencies who they could be working with, but finding them and collaborating with them is difficult for large businesses. So that’s kind of where we come in to basically facilitate that connection. We also work.
really closely in partnership with the major global platforms running big scale programs to help deliver content to their advertisers.
and with a focus on best practices and creative excellence specifically for each of those sorts of platforms. So yeah, basically from a creator’s point of view, we make it possible to work with lots of big global brands all over the world and see, I guess, new business opportunities that you might not normally see in your day-to-day and we’re able to connect quite small businesses with really big brands, which can be a big selling point to creators, that opportunity to work with.
Christie (13:53.612)
bigger businesses or just really interesting brands and businesses that they may not already be able to do so.
Ben (13:59.306)
Yeah, what is the shift that you saw in the industry over the last number of years that has led to this being, this sort of avenue being the right sort of approach to take for some brands? So, you know, that traditional agency model, like big advertising agency that those big brands would kind of work with, what’s changed in this space?
Christie (14:21.113)
I lost you for a minute there, but hopefully I kind of got the gist of the question. I think it’s been a gradual change. And generally, we’ve been around for more than 13 years. So we’ve been working out in the industry for a long time. But I think that there’s been a lot of disruption to the traditional creative and production industry. Obviously, the way the brands are spending their money is changing significantly. The rise of social has been a massive impact on
budgets on the requirements for content. So we see brands needing more and more and more content, but the budgets are not expanding exponentially to cover that. So actually budgets are going down, I guess, in average per piece of content. So brands are looking for really great value. They’re looking for experts that they can work with on particular platforms. They’re looking for…
experts in culture and diverse audience groups. So sometimes agencies, it can be difficult for them to access all of this, right, in one team. So working with independent creatives all around the world can make sense to solve some of those problems. On the flip side, the marketplace has changed significantly, certainly post pandemic. This was a trend already, but we’ve seen more and more creators leave the full-time workforce. Lots of people have left agencies set up smaller businesses
independently, there’s some amazing talent out there for brands to connect with. So I think on that side, people are much more interested in independent working, the gig economy, you know, lots of things, factors driving that side of the marketplace. So it’s, we definitely, that clients are still working with agencies, that there is absolutely a role for the agency.
in the mix, there’s no doubt about that, especially our clients who are big enterprise clients, they’re not ditching their agencies entirely. They’re just looking for alternative ways to overcome their business challenges and create the right content at the right time for the right person.
Ben (16:23.126)
I imagine there’s also an element of allowing for experimentation as well, because, you know, typically if you’re, you know, executing a major campaign through an agency, then it may not build in some capability to experiment with new things, new ideas, and to get fresh ideas into the mix, right? Whereas, you know, putting a brief out through a platform like Genero enables, probably if the brief’s open enough, a whole range of creative ideas to come to the table, right?
Christie (16:52.889)
Yeah, look, it definitely is a really great way of accessing diverse creativity, not just lots of different ideas and different ways of solving problems, but also actual diverse people. I think that’s something that can be quite challenging in the traditional industry.
because of course no agency with a very fixed model, fixed people, fixed team, they can’t hire every type of person with every type of cultural background. But through the GENERO Network, we can certainly help connect clients with more diverse creatives to solve problems in different ways.
Ben (17:29.566)
Yeah, awesome. So that’s from the brand perspective, but for the video producer or the creator, the creative director, the script writer, for the creative who is looking to connect with those opportunities to work with those big brands, what’s the benefit of Genero for them?
Christie (17:48.722)
I think as I mentioned before, it’s…
It’s a great way of building pipeline, certainly for small businesses. And I know when I had my own little business, drumming up new business was not really my favorite part of the job. And so we’re connecting sometimes very small businesses that have no new business function or skills, but are really great at what they do and have great ideas and deliver quality work. We’re giving them an opportunity to add to their existing pipeline
in a way that’s, I guess, you know, not effortless by any means because Genero is a pitch-based platform so there’s a lot of work involved but certainly once they start to build a reputation and make some client connections, you know, it can be a really great way of working with interesting and you know…
diverse global brands and doing some work that they can really showcase. So I think that’s probably the main selling point for most creatives is opportunities.
Ben (18:51.602)
Yeah, awesome. So for the video producer or the creative listening or watching this show here, can you give us a, just a bit of an understanding about the process? So, uh, you know, need, do you need an account? Do they just read through briefs and then just throw the hand up and say, I’ll take that job, you know, I’m playing devil’s advocate here, but tell us how does it work?
Christie (19:11.657)
Yeah, sure. It’s really, it’s free to sign up and create an account. You do need to be a registered creative in order to see briefs because of confidentiality, of course. Many briefs are open briefs and you can see them and decide if it suits your skill set. Maybe it’s asking for ideas and you have a great idea. So it’s up to the individual creator to decide if they want to throw their hat into the ring.
And then as I mentioned before, there’s a little bit of a, there is a pitch process generally. So creators’ ideas will be shared with the client via the platform and then the client will select their preferred creative team based on their pitch, their ideas, their previous work. We don’t white label creative. So the client knows exactly who they’re working with.
and we don’t really get in the way of the standard production process. It mostly happens on the platform these days. I mean, remote production is pretty normal in our world these days, but we certainly have clients and creators working, you know, in person together and attending shoots and all the typical stuff that you might imagine. Of course, if the client’s in a different country that may not happen.
Yeah, so that’s generally the gist of it. So we also run a lot of briefs, which we call private briefs, where we only brief sort of privately to a smaller number of creatives. So the best way of being eligible for those is to have a really great profile on Genero. So we can find you where the suitable work comes up. So when you do sign up to Genero, I recommend spending a little bit of time on your profile and uploading some of your more recent work.
really explaining what you’re great at and what you love to do and being quite specific. And then hopefully we’ll be able to find you for private briefs if you don’t see open briefs that suit your business.
Ben (21:00.974)
Nice, cool. So as well as for the creative teams, as well as getting their profile set up well, as you described there, and really selling themselves through their profile. What are some quick tips that you can share if someone’s new to this idea of pitching for work or providing a response to a brief so that they can be hopefully best considered for the job?
Christie (21:24.421)
All right, I did miss that whole question. Can you repeat that please?
Ben (21:27.194)
Yeah, I’ll repeat that. Let me just mark that clip. Yeah, it’s occasionally dropping out, but we’re mostly good. Okay, so I’ll ask the question again. You got me? Can you hear me? See me?
Christie (21:30.485)
Yeah.
It keeps freezing.
Ben (21:41.811)
No, you can’t.
Freezing quite a lot. Okay. Let me do a little bit of something, something.
Ben (21:54.626)
That’s all right, have you got me now? Yep, so what I’m gonna do is turn on low data mode. Can you hear me now? You probably can’t see me now. So low data mode just turns off our video stream. So it’s still recording, but it should just be much smoother in the recording.
Christie (21:55.326)
Yeah, sorry, just have now that it’s uploading, I think. Can I turn that off?
Christie (22:03.561)
Okay. Yep. No.
Christie (22:10.353)
Yep.
Ben (22:16.574)
Okay, so you are still on camera, but you just can’t see me anymore. Okay, I’ll ask you the question again, Christy, and we’ll cut it all together. Okay, cool. So you’ve just given us a great understanding of some of the ways that creatives can put their best foot forward with their profile and making sure that they’re really selling their agency or their capabilities for their work through their profile on Genero, but what are some tips you can share for agencies who are…
Christie (22:25.29)
Great.
Ben (22:44.594)
Maybe new to pitching and haven’t done this kind of thing before to, to best position their pitch to be received well by the client.
Christie (22:53.017)
Yes, absolutely. Well, I mean, the first thing I would say is that Genero is quite a remote pitch process. So if you’re used to getting in a room with a potential client and taking them through your presentation and having that sort of face time, it can be a little bit daunting to go into more of a remote pitch process where really it’s your pitch deck or your treatment, as we call it, that will win the business. So we encourage you to…
Spend a bit of time on that deck outlining your ideas, of course, your background, your experience, why you’ve got the capability to deliver this fantastic idea. We find that clients respond to really visual treatments, no surprise. So…
taking the time to provide references, storyboards, moodboards, whatever you can do to really bring it to life for clients is really valuable. Some of the things that some teams struggle with is if they’re used to dealing with agencies who are really, really good at, I guess, providing creative briefs and sometimes filling in the blanks a little bit, this is a little different because quite often the client you’re working with, and maybe when you are used to working with small businesses, it’s not that different, but they are often not
They don’t have any background in creative and content. They might be brand managers. They might be social media managers. They might be people that haven’t really worked in the production and content side, but they understand their brand very, very well and they know what they need to do. So you have to sort of get into their headspace and think about how you can help them understand what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it. And also in a way they can share with their teams and get that buy-in internally so that you’re the ones that they decide to go with.
Ben (24:11.274)
Mm.
Christie (24:40.603)
I will say of course that like, it’s not a completely closed off process. You can absolutely ask questions. We have a Q and A function on the brief itself. You know, you’re welcome to get in touch with Genero directly and see if you can chat to the person who’s running the brief on behalf of the client. You know, we try and make the process as easy as possible for the creator. We really wanna make you guys look good. So don’t feel like you just have to figure it out yourself. We’re here to help. So feel free to ask questions.
Yeah, but generally I would say, you know, make it visual, make it really exciting and engaging for whoever’s viewing it. And also, I guess, make sure that what you propose to do is supported by your credentials and previous work, because obviously it’s a big leap of faith for clients to work with a new partner. So you really need to show them how, you know, you’re a really safe bet for this project.
Ben (25:35.326)
Yeah, 100%. And I think it’s worth mentioning here as well that not all of the briefs on Genero are really big budget briefs either. There are opportunities to dip your toe in the water, so to speak, with something that’s relatively small and perhaps can be handled quite quickly as well, right?
Christie (25:55.325)
Yeah, absolutely. We run briefs, all different shapes and sizes, from simple kind of videography, half day shoot, right through to integrated creative campaigns, social content, and more specialized things like drone operators or photography, that kind of thing. It’s very, very broad. Generally, it’s more around visual content.
But yeah, absolutely, there’s lots of opportunities, big and small, and budgets are very broad ranging. Some budgets are really modest, and other bigger opportunities, you’ll see some much bigger budgets, obviously, but more work and more deliverables involved. So you can kind of pick and choose what suits you and your business.
Ben (26:37.61)
Very cool. So I do encourage anyone who’s listening, who is in a creative industry and, you know, potentially wants to pitch for this sort of work to just go and sign up for a free account with Genero and, you know, you get the emails and you get notified of briefs and you can have a look at open briefs and just get a sense of what might be a good fit for you. But Christie, where I want to go now is to explore, like you are, you know, head of partnerships, uh, I’d love to explore what that, what that means for your role in Genero, because you talked about
partnerships with some major platforms like Meta and TikTok and so on. So, you know, what does that mean for the relationship with Genero? And what does that mean for the creators who are, you know, potentially working with brands today as well?
Christie (27:27.765)
Sorry, I might need you to repeat the question. Yeah.
Ben (27:29.238)
That’s all right, did you lose me a bit as well? Okay, can you hear me now? Oh, we’re doing so well. Okay, so I was just asking about the partnerships. So, you know, partnerships with Meta, with TikTok, what does that look like with Genero? So what does that mean for the platform and what does it also mean for the creators who are pitching for work on Genero as well?
Christie (27:34.365)
Yes.
Christie (27:51.953)
Yeah, so we are global creative partners with the major platforms, Amazon, Google, Pinterest, TikTok and Meta What that means is that we work really closely with their sales team, mostly helping their advertisers create best practice fit for platform.
content, mostly advertising, for their different platforms, basically. They’re all quite different. And so having that knowledge, very specific knowledge of the platform is really useful to help clients get the best content for the platform. So that’s kind of our role that we play. Our team are all trained up on all the best practices for the different platforms. And then we, in turn, train up our creators to help clients on those platforms.
it’s a big growth area for everyone, social and particularly vertical video. I think we all were surprised at how quickly video went from like this to like that. I know a lot of purists and traditional content creators resisted and felt that maybe it wasn’t gonna become the thing it is, but obviously there’s no turning back from vertical content.
Ben (28:54.924)
Yeah.
Christie (29:08.037)
And then also just understanding how to create really engaging social content for audiences that have a completely different relationship with content to the way they did 10 years ago. So what we’re always looking for are creatives and creators who really understand this space. And it’s actually surprising how few traditional production companies have
successfully made that transition. And that might be deliberate because the budgets are a lot less, the quality levels are quite different. But I really encourage anyone who’s interested in diversifying their business or really, I guess, going where the market is going. If they’re comfortable with that sort of lower budget and varying production values, then go for it. But make sure that you really understand the platforms that you’re creating for.
But I would say we’re always looking, always looking for people who really get it, really get reels, really get TikTok, really get YouTube. You know, understand these platforms truly rather than just we can make it 916.
Ben (30:18.602)
Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, hopefully Christie, you are preaching to the choir here on the engaged video marketing podcast, because that’s everything that I’ve been talking about on this podcast for the last five years is the importance for video producers to understand and see themselves as video strategists. And what that means is of course, you know, being able to adapt a production approaches for, for the platforms and you know, producing content in the right format for distribution.
to get the right results. At the end of the day, it’s about results for the client, not about how cinematic and beautiful you can make a piece of content become.
Christie (30:55.333)
Yes, exactly. I get really annoyed when we’re doing a brief for Metta and you know the content arrives and it’s anamorphic and I’m just like oh god. Yeah, so here’s a tip for you if you do plan on pitching, you know, if you’re pitching for social content pitch with a vertical storyboard such a simple thing but
Ben (31:04.468)
Right.
Ben (31:12.238)
Mm-hmm.
Christie (31:14.225)
you know, it really shows the client and our partner that you’re thinking about their platform first and the audience and the way they’re consuming that content rather than doing things the way you’ve always done things because that’s how you’ve always done it. Of course, when you’re dealing with advertising agency clients, you know, they’re a bit more open to that sort of thing, but we’re trying to get to social content really quickly. So vertical storyboards, think about Sound Off because it’s likely to be part
deliverables will be sound off. And think about safe zones as well, really constantly changing safe zones for the different platforms. That’s the sort of logistics, but then it really comes down to like, do you really truly know how people are consuming content on these platforms? And how can you be? How can you stand out and fit in at the same time, which is the challenge with social?
Ben (32:07.322)
Yeah, I think, you know, it certainly seems like Genero acts as that guide for brands coming through Genero to help them understand those platform nuances, obviously, through your partnerships. But I think regardless of whether you’re pitching for work through Genero, that video producers need to be that video strategist for their clients because in so many cases, those clients are not thinking about…
social first content. They’re not thinking about creating content in the right way for these platforms. And that’s our role as video producers to understand this landscape. I’m very passionate about that. So, you know, I think if you can stay at the forefront, you know, incorporate that into your pitches and show that you are that expert, I think you’re definitely going to stand out from the competition.
Christie (32:45.673)
Yeah.
Christie (32:58.437)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it might be unbiased because we so much of our energy is spent on social first content. So, you know, we are absolutely thinking social first. So our clients, it’s, it’s sometimes it’s actually sometimes the creators that are like, they’re the hard people to change. You know, because I think, you know, for the more people who’ve been more experienced, you’ve been doing it for a bit longer, like, it’s just old habits die hard and
Ben (33:16.491)
Yeah.
Christie (33:26.673)
you know, even in like the traditional agency world, I think a constant, you know, criticism of the traditional agency world can sometimes be that they always start with that TVC. They always start with that, you know, 60 second film. They call it a film, you know, and it’s just that mindset. You’re already heading off on the wrong foot and once you really get too far down that path, it’s very hard to get back.
And quite often at the end of the day, social content is an afterthought when actually it’s that content that’s gonna have the most impact and be seen by the most people and ultimately drive those business objectives. So it should be flipped. And actually you should be thinking about the six seconds, the 15 seconds, how are you gonna show up in the vertical space? How are you gonna stop people in the feed when you’ve got half a second to grab their attention?
and stand out from the avalanche of ordinary. That’s where you should be thinking rather than, I’ve got 30 seconds to tell my story because you just don’t anymore.
Ben (34:29.906)
Yeah, it definitely requires a mindset shift. It requires adapting, you know, with the changing times as well. And just in, in kind of to wrap up here, Christy, I’m really interested to explore with you how you think this is going to change in the next coming years. You know, obviously you don’t have a crystal ball. You can’t tell the future, right? But our, our landscape of digital creation and content and social media is.
rapidly changing. So where do you think we’re going? Like what are the challenges we’re going to, we’re going to come up against in the next couple of years.
Christie (35:02.521)
Yeah, well, I mean, it wouldn’t be any kind of podcast without talking about AI. So I think, um, you know, I think that’s, we’re still coming to terms with what is going to happen. We don’t know, but it seems very, very likely that AI will massively disrupt the creative industry and the production industry. And that, that work that is currently being done at the sort of bottom of the funnel, I guess, you know, assets being adapted and simple, um, sales driving content is almost likely to be.
Ben (35:06.381)
Right.
Christie (35:31.613)
deliver through AI tools. You know, the platforms themselves like Google and Meta and TikTok are all developing super advanced tools to make creative and production more accessible to businesses and brands and individuals. So, you know, CapCut is a great example of a ByteDance-owned app that makes it really, really easy to create for TikTok. And if anyone’s had a play with CapCut, it’s kind of terrifying what it can do. So I think…
Ben (35:56.482)
Mm.
Christie (35:59.549)
The thing that I hope AI will not replace anytime soon is, you know, true creativity is really custom approaches to business problems, is coming up with really compelling ideas, creating original content, shooting footage. So basically anything that can’t be delivered through AI, I’m sure that we’ve got a bit longer with that kind of work.
I think that the social platforms will continue to disrupt the way that we, the brands spend their money and the way that they create content and having an understanding of those channels of creators and influencers and how they’re disrupting our industry and really being able to harness all of these changes for the better is what I would be hoping to be able to do in my career. Because I don’t think
we’re gonna see that change any time soon. The good news is video just continues to grow in importance and become kind of everything as we always thought it would.
But yeah, and I think just this idea of a global world where you can work with anyone anywhere, anytime, and the remote working thing seems like it’s here to stay. It’s such a great opportunity for small independent creative businesses. So hopefully, we can help make those connections and drive those opportunities for everyone. Yeah, so that would probably be my three things, AI, social, global.
Ben (37:31.531)
Yeah, look, it’s all changing rapidly. You know, you talk about CapCut and the tools there. I mean, you know, just yesterday we delivered a couple of direct response ad creatives for a long-term client of ours that were created entirely with AI characters in CapCut, you know, from text to AI-generated characters and B-roll that we had shot years ago. It’s crazy. It is crazy. And it’s effective content.
Um, but I just want to kind of just echo some of the thoughts that you had there, Christie, around, you know, how we, as, as video producers or as video marketers who listen to this podcast, how we stay relevant in a changing space. And I think you touched on it before that the brands, the brand managers, they, they aren’t creatives first and foremost. So regardless of the tools that you’re going to use to create content, our role is as creatives, as video producers or video marketers.
is to come up with that creative approach and navigate the landscape of different content types and platforms. And it might not be just about creating beautiful stuff behind a camera. It may be more around that video strategy and working on delivering the right outcomes, regardless of the tools. I think that’s how we can stay current and at the forefront of changes.
Christie (38:52.394)
Yeah, I think you’re so right and
It’s, we talk about this all the time in our business, because obviously we are seeing the way that these fantastic tools are making it so much easier. Like, as you mentioned, you’re creating AI driven kind of characters. You can get a really amazing AI voiceover these days for free. So there’s a lot, things that were hard six months ago and now they’re very easy, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy for clients or that they wanna get involved in that kind of thing.
Ben (39:20.671)
Mm.
Christie (39:25.043)
So certainly the, you know, bigger enterprise businesses, mid-market businesses, they’ve got a lot to do in their jobs. As one brand manager once told me, like, I think people don’t realize that only a small part of my job is advertising. And so they’ve always going to need partners and experts to work with, to navigate this world, to use these tools, to come up with great ideas. We just got to keep evolving so we don’t get left behind.
Ben (39:42.882)
dip.
Ben (39:51.474)
Yeah, 100%. Hey, Kristy, this has been a fascinating chat. It’s been really interesting to hear both your story and also more about Genero and I encourage people, as I mentioned before, to sign up and have a look at the available opportunities on the platform there. But for people that maybe want to connect with you or learn more about Genero, where would you like to send them if they’ve been intrigued and interested by this episode?
Ben (40:20.982)
Maybe you didn’t hear me there. No, that’s okay. I was just wrapping up and I was saying blah, but where would you like to send people if they wanted to connect further with you or learn more about everything that you’ve got going on and more about Genero?
Christie (40:23.907)
Look.
Christie (40:34.901)
Sure, well, you know, always feel free to reach out on LinkedIn, Christy Poulos, and then you can check out our website, genero.com. Sign up as a creator, as I mentioned, it’s free to join, so you can see all the briefs and decide if it’s for you. We’ve also got some great resources on the website about writing, sorry, and responding to briefs, creating a great treatment, and just in general, you know, how to, I guess, succeed in the genero world. But yeah, looking forward to hearing from you, and if you see any opportunities that are in interest,
get in touch and I’ll happily help if I can.
Ben (41:07.33)
For sure. Oh, and real quick, like if there are any brands listening that perhaps want to explore the idea of using Genero, is there a certain level of business that you work with through the platform?
Christie (41:13.801)
Thank you.
Christie (41:18.417)
We work with all different businesses, small and large, because the client sets the budget on Genero, it’s probably a very important thing to point out. The client actually is 100% in control of their budget. So they can decide what they’ve got to spend and what they need to try and achieve. So it’s really available, we work with tiny little startups and scale-ups and small businesses through to big independent, I’m sorry, bigger enterprise businesses. So yeah.
anyone can give it a go. And also, I mean, you know, creative businesses can use it as well to find partners and crew and things like that, although that’s not our main way of operating, but it’s certainly available to anyone to use.
Ben (41:55.734)
Awesome. Thanks so much, Kristy. This has been super valuable. And keep battling the avalanche of average one video at a time, whether you’re creating it or you’re helping other brands create it through your platform. This has been awesome.
Christie (42:09.064)
Thanks so much, Ben.
Ben (42:11.151)
Okay cool, alright.
