Vine and Instagram videos are certainly popular, but one format that’s seen quite a boost on both Twitter and Facebook is the GIF, or the Graphic Interchange Format. With this, users are able to loop small pieces of video together in a consistently running loop.
It’s a unique format, and sets up clever responses in the social media world. However, it appears that it could also be a new venue for companies to take advantage of, provided they have the right approach to making a GIF work.
Adweek recently reported that a lot more companies are taking advantage of such a format, attracting new consumers with fun, short video clips that entice them to try out their products.
For instance, with DiGornio Pizza’s clip above, a “pizza-utopia” is created, with continuously zooming pictures of the company’s pepperoni pizza product. It’s certainly bound to make a few people hungry.
“We are starting to see this behavior where people are using content and culture to communicate – they’re not just using words anymore,” said Adam Leibsohn, chief operating officer for Giphy. “When they’re doing that, there’s an opportunity for that culture to come from a brand.”
Both Giphy and Tumblr have begun pushing branded content via marketers through GIF-related posts, while agencies are working on creating better production studios and possibilities for advertisements in house.
Paramount Pictures is another company taking advantage of GIF’s, working with Giphy to create promotional clips based on its forthcoming Terminator Genisys film. This is the second time that it’s worked on the media front for advertising for the film, following a fun tie-in with YouTube’s studio in Los Angeles. The video clip can be found below.
“In terms of the animated GIF, we pay close attention to what content works on which platforms, so it’s not as simple as throwing a 30 or 15 second spot up or even a quick video edit,” said Megan Wahtera, senior vice president of interactive marketing for Paramount.
Through The Studio at Giphy — a specialized team that puts together GIFs and other video projects for clients — more companies have begun picking up, utilizing the format more for social media purposes. “We’re building really basic elements of communication,” said Leibsohn. “It’s like an alphabet — if you have all the letters, you can make all the words.”
More GIF business is pouring in as well. “We’ve got projects that are breaking almost every week at this point,” Leibsohn continued. “We had to actually expand the studio, staff up and make the process faster to be able to produce more content.
Examples of these GIFs can be found here.