Laguna Beach’s Gigasavvy has added an in-house content creation studio, called Studio4, in response to shifting consumer trends calling for more engaging content.
The studio will create targeted multimedia content for Gigasavvy, and will be utilized for YouTube, connected TV, social media, brand film and more video services.
Bud Tody will head development for the studio division. He counts prior experience at NBC Universal, Red Bull and most recently Costa Mesa-based SCS.
Gigasavvy was founded in 2008 and offers broadcast, online and social media services to its clients of various retail, technology and healthcare industries.
The agency’s clients include restaurant chain Flame Broiler, which the Studio4 team recently did a photo shoot for, and Irvine-based gaming company Razer, who the studio produces 3D animation for.
Gigasavvy ranked No. 12 on the Business Journal’s list of advertising agencies this year, reporting $14 million in 2021 revenue.
Social Network Focus
“With the increasing demand for video content, brands need a partner that can scale with them and support the growth of their brand online and off. They also need content creators with diverse capabilities and competencies across a wide range of digital channels,” officials said in an online statement.
Gigasavvy’s Studio4 will tailor its production for major social networks such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter, as clients seek to reach and engage with broader customer bases.
The Studio4 offerings launched privately to clients two months ago, and demand has since increased from new and existing customers.
“We’re answering a call for brands to tell deeper stories, and video is the best way to do that,” Founding Partner and President Kyle Johnston told the Business Journal. Johnston noticed the shift in demand for more dynamic content about three years ago.
“I thought, we need to get ahead of this and have a strategy to create content on an ongoing basis,” Johnston said.
The advertising executive plans to develop more long-form media moving forward instead of one-off videos and TV spots. Studio4 is part of the firm’s strategy to focus on a brand’s background and purpose beyond its product, which might look like behind-the-scenes footage.
Video Storytelling
In a marketing research report by Wyzowl, 86% of businesses in 2021 used video as a marketing tool compared to only 63% in 2017.
In 2020, Communications Lab in Orange purchased a fleet of computers and cameras for a newly built video production studio with its office. Added in the first month of the pandemic, the public relations firm later reported an increase in potential clients.
“Storytelling now has to have these digital tools,” Communications Lab Chief Executive Arianna Barrios told the Business Journal last month.
Out of Office
Gigasavvy went fully remote in 2020 and hasn’t returned to the office since, with employees able to work remotely from anywhere with monthly team meetings and flexible scheduling.
Studio4 is a remote program as the team uses multiple facilities across the country for on-site shoots and handles any post-production and editing off-site.
“When you have the physical space, you have to fill it up all the time. We’re building a network of production partners and representing different skillsets to satisfy the need for branded content at any time,” Johnston said.
