How to find the video worth making

From the Arsenal: Microdose your ideas into the market.

Story Of The Day: I woke up this morning scrolling RedNote.

I like to see what my Chinese brother and sisters are talking about.

Came across an interesting post - "Is TV commercials dying?"

Then the reframe:
"Do we just need a new way to decide when high production comes in?"

That got me thinking.

For a long time commercials lived or died on taste.

The brand said they want a commercial.
The agency had an idea.
The director stretched the idea.

They could do a test group.
Send out questionnaires.
Find a thousand people
who might fit the demo.

Then they launched it.

If it flopped, good luck figuring out why...

Hence was the golden age of TVC.

My wife would probably say
that is not enough data
to make a real decision anyway.

Now you can put a micro dose idea
in front of the market.

You can see if people stop. (caught their attention)
Comment. (have an opinion)
Save it. (want to watch it later)
Share it. (knows someone that should see it)
Tell you it sucks for them.

All before you spend the real money.
(If you haven't figured out that's the game they're playing here you go)

But I do not think the answer is
to let data make every creative choice.

The market can tell you
what it is responding to.

It cannot always tell you
what it has never seen before.

So there is a trade-off.

Ignore the market completely
and you are creating in the dark lab.

Only listen to the numbers
and eventually you start making
the same thing over and over again.
(fatiguing your creative and your market)

Use smaller content to find
the ideas with real signal.

Then bring that signal
to the creative team.

Now that's how you can de-risk and amplify.

Maybe people responded to a certain problem.
They cared about a specific person.

Maybe the talent, color, story,
or sentence pulled them in.

Most clients come into production
without knowing their real message yet.

They do not know the story.
They do not know what the audience cares about.
They do not know what has worked before.

Then they ask an agency or production team
to figure it out in a short window.
(An expensive short window)

A winning Reel is better proof
that you have a better direction to your campaign.

But it is a much better place to start
than a blank Google Doc.

Now you are not asking a creative team
to start from nothing.

Short-form does not replace higher-production work.
But It can give you an idea of what deserves it.

Takeaways: Test micro ideas before the big production.

How to Apply It Today:

1. Test The Idea: Put a smaller version of the message into the market before you build the expensive campaign.
2. Look For Signal: Do not only chase views. Look at what people say, save, share, and come back to. Isn't that resonance?
3. Bring Better Inputs: Give the creative team the response, the message, and the audience signal before asking them to make the flagship piece.

Pro tip: The goal is not to make more Reels forever. The goal is to find the winner worth doubling down.

As promised: dialing in your video workflows 1% at a time.
That’s what we do inside the Arsenal.

If you're struggling with video... we should talk.

Decide before the timeline.
-David

P.S. Look at short form as brain storming and market topic fit.

David Yang
​Co-Founder & CCO
DenimStitch Creative
7486 La Jolla Blvd #1012, La Jolla, CA 92037