Niche audiences command attention. Do you have a strategy to reach and dare I say, entertain them?

DIG recently teamed up with Kids at Play to produce a cooking series aimed at the lactose intolerant crowd. “Gourmoo Cooking” is a TV-style cooking show starring Kristy Bernardo, author of the cooking blog “The Wicked Noodle”. Each episode features a guest food blogger who cooks with Kristy, creating a recipe featuring lactose-free milk products.

Through hyper-targeted social and online distribution, Gourmoo Cooking has amassed over 3MM views and provided inspiration (and guidance) for cooking with lactose-free milk. Don’t overlook niche audiences!

We recently caught up with the Founder and Executive Producer from Kids At Play, Jason Berger, to talk shop, toss around a few Gourmoo Cooking stories, and look to the future of branded entertainment.

1. What made the Moovision program a unique experience for you as a content producer?

With the Moovision cooking shows, we set out to help time-crunched consumers looking for delicious and quick recipes using Lactaid. Editing was the biggest challenge – the recipes would take about an hour to make – and we knocked them down to 3- to 5-minute episodes, without losing any pertinent details for the audience in the process. We wanted it to feel like a network type of show that was cut down. Not jeopardizing the production value was key here and in anything we create, whether the budget is big or small: When it comes down to web content, it’s got to cut through the clutter. At the end of the day, we gave Lactaid the best possible creative, and it’s been successful, garnering more than 3 million views. The long-form work has successfully enabled Lactaid to reach a more engaged audience – much more so than a 30-second commercial.

2. What are your keys to making branded content that is both entertaining and rewarding for the brand?

You have to seamlessly integrate the brand, and make it more about the actual product than the brand. We’re going to get those labeled shots, but if you do it in a way that is unobtrusive, the audience will appreciate it. Hopefully, the consumer gets lost in the entertainment part of it. Consumers have a lot of options right now. They really want things to be transparent – they’re so much smarter these days. They’ll know when someone’s smacking them in the face with a brand.

3. What is your outlook for the social/branded entertainment space in 2012?

What do consumers want more of from advertisers? All the analytics are there showing that branded content is growing, and we now have the metrics about online advertising to give brands so much to work with. I think we’re going to see more materials produced at a high level. These days, it’s all about the consumer’s time – the days of prime time are no longer. People are online and not looking for cookie-cutter stuff. Brands at this point need to understand their consumers and cater to them. I think you’re seeing it with all the deals being made with YouTube, and we’re doing all the production for about half of Yahoo!’s original programming. It’s about understanding why people are going online in the first place.

4. What is the first thing you think about when stepping on set/location?

I think about everything: I think about the sounds, I think about the lights. I think my brain is always going back to sitting in the edit bay. I’m always thinking to myself, what is this going to look like when I go back there? How am I going to make this so I don’t have any obstacles? How can I eliminate things that would be problematic in post-(production)?

5. What five words best describe your partnership with Digital Influence Group?

Creative. Understanding. Team. Forward-thinking. Communication. I think that DIG has really carved a niche for themselves in the particular digital space that they’re in. They’re great communicators, they understand production and they understand their space. They’re creative folks. They can take content and really put it out there so it’s entertaining and drives traffic.

6. What brand or organization just nails social entertainment and value creation for their audience? Why?

Old Spice has done a really nice job; they also are constantly trying to figure out what people want, and they’re doing it through social media.

7. Who or what has influenced you as a director?

Both Martin Scorsese and Ridley and Tony Scott have. I think they have a big range. The Scott brothers, for example, are producing “The Good Wife” – a highly successful and an award-winning show – but at the same time they’re directing stuff like “Man On Fire,” which is more male-skewed and hugely successful. I’m always fascinated by people who are able to be successful on several fronts: They’re never pigeonholed.

8. What is the best b-roll you ever shot?

I think when I shot Burt Young from “Rocky” on Super 8, because I think it really captured the essence of Burt and his surroundings and where he was in his life. And I think with the texture of it, the camera became another element in telling the story. You could turn off the music and see what we were going for. It could live by itself. Here is a quick slice of the b-roll.

About Jason Berger
Jason is the Founder and Executive Producer of one-stop production company Kids At Play. Berger leads a team of some of the industry’s most creative minds in creating relevant, engaging and unexpected video for some of the world’s foremost brands, including Intel, Xbox, Mazda, Blue Cross, Ford, Black & Decker, Purex, Oxfam International, Oakley, NETGEAR, and LACTAID. He founded J2D Productions in 2005 – and its subsidiary, Kids At Play, in 2008 – with the interest and understanding that companies need production of high-quality digital content. With a core team of seven peers, editors for individual projects and additional advisors, Berger thinks that Kids At Play has found a good niche.

Follow Adam and Jason on Twitter @adamgmcqueen and @jasonhberger.