Studio Chat With David Brewis at Event Tech Live London

Amid the energy and connections happening at Event Tech Live (ETL) in London, Hubilo’s Senior Director of Content and Communications Rachel Moore stepped up to the microphones for a chat with David Brewis, Managing Creative Director at TEN80. During their conversation, they talked about the future of the events industry and the importance of video-based storytelling to improve customer engagement. 

Here are the key takeaways from the Hubilo Studio Chat with David Brewis.

Getting to know David Brewis

David is a digital marketing guru with years of experience in video-based storytelling for the B2B SaaS market. He founded TEN80 in 2005 with the goal of providing top-notch video and television production services to businesses. Over the course of his career, David has worked with industry giants like CNN, BBC, Coca-Cola Europe, and Adobe. 

According to David, genuine storytelling is one of the most powerful tools in any CMO's arsenal. He prefers videos over other storytelling mediums and believes they are most suited to distribute content in a compelling way. 

Virtual events need to become a marketing channel

Since the pandemic, the popularity of virtual events has skyrocketed. Yet, while the initial surge of virtual events happened out of necessity, David believes they need to be a part of every organization's marketing strategy in the future. 

"If you are a CMO, then my advice would be to start thinking of your virtual events as more of a marketing channel, " David says. 

On top of providing a host of accessibility benefits, virtual events offer critical data analytics as well; they are a gold mine of data for CMOs. And they can use that data to host better events and improve their marketing practices. 

Virtual events are a crucial part of any marketing strategy 

If events aren’t already a key piece in your company's marketing strategy, they should be. From creating content to analytics-driven decision-making, everything links to the events. This becomes particularly true in the case of virtual events. Companies use platforms like Hubilo that integrate with various CRM tools seamlessly. And in such a highly connected environment, businesses know more about who their customers/attendees are and how to reach out to them. 

“[While working with virtual event planning tools] you know who your customers are because they'll probably be in your CRM, and you can track the engagement of the content you're creating with that particular demographic," says David. 

Videos are the most powerful storytelling medium

According to David and just about every marketing professional you know today, we live in an attention economy. Every company is fighting to grab the focus of potential customers and retain it. And no other storytelling medium is more effective in doing that than videos. Videos are a more stimulating way of content distribution which modern-day users prefer over most other mediums.

In a recent survey focused on marketing professionals, about 86% of participants admitted to using videos as a marketing tool. Furthermore, 78% of those marketers believed that videos boosted their sales and 86% said that videos increased their website traffic.

Video-based storytelling needs better production value

Most organizations nowadays see the value behind video-based storytelling, yet they struggle to create them in an engaging fashion. According to David, most companies know what to do but don't know how to do it well. 

"CMOs need to put a little bit more emphasis on budget and production value of their videos within events," David explains.

When talking about video-based storytelling, we need to focus on making the content more engaging for the audience. To do that, having a healthy budget is essential. A good budget will enable companies to hire better presenters, have better lighting, and even include different camera angles. All together, they make content more compelling to the audience and create possibilities to get better leads.

How David stays updated on events

According to David, the events industry is ever-changing. New tech comes out every year, and people come up with innovative ways to market their events and build communities around them. Staying on top of all the industry news is essential. 

David stays caught up on the latest trends by registering for everything he can find on the internet. "My inbox in the morning is that is like 1000 emails. But I don't mind because I'm actually learning what all of these guys are putting out in terms of marketing content."

Why TEN80, though?

David shares with us the inspiration behind why he decided to name his company TEN80: 

"Originally, it was about the number of lines in the HD video signal. But then, I saw a documentary about five years ago. And I learned that it (1080) was actually the year Newcastle was created, that's where I'm from. So the castle was actually built in the 11th century by the Normans in the North East of England, in the year 1080. So I've got two stories around the provenance of my own brand!"

TEN80 is a marketing, content creation, and video production firm that excels at telling compelling stories across multiple channels. They provide top-tier content creation services to B2B SaaS companies to help them reach their target users. 

Watch the full video interview with David Brewis in Hubilo’s Studio Chats playlist on Youtube, and follow our blog to keep yourself up to speed with the latest event marketing strategies for your business!