Don’t Just Launch Your Product, Launch Your Story

When preparing for a big launch, it’s natural to want to communicate every last detail about your product in your video content. After all, you want your audience to get as psyched about your offering as you are.

But sometimes the most effective way to make a strong impression is to forego the informational approach in exchange for big, bold, creative storytelling. A story-driven video has the power to generate hype and emotional connection with your audience in a way that a product-focused video simply cannot do.

That’s the approach Fondu took with STACKS Nootropic.

One Small Video for STACKS, One Giant Leap for Their Brand

Shortly after its launch in summer 2021, STACKS had the opportunity to air a 30-second commercial at Olympia, an international bodybuilding competition viewed by millions of people in person and streaming around the world. That’s when they reached out to us.

During our first call, Co-Founder and Chief Sales Officer Jon Youngs said, “We want [a video] that when it hits you, you’re like, ‘What the hell was that? That was so epic, I want to learn more.’” Right off the bat we knew STACKS was not looking for an unboxing-style video cataloging its ingredients and benefits in a conventional way: The team was looking for something impactful, memorable, mind-melting.

Whenever the STACKS team spoke about the benefits of their product — heightened awareness, sharpened focus, improved performance — it evoked images of superhuman powers, supernal origins, and the dawning of a new era. We left each meeting thinking, “This drink is out of this world.”

Not to mention, the news cycle at that time was rife with stories of government UFO sightings and billionaires traveling to space, and suddenly everything clicked: we were in science fiction territory.

And so we crafted a narrative that imagined STACKS Nootropic as a mysterious object rocketing through the cosmos, headed straight for Earth. Its mission was not to destroy, but to enlighten all of humanity. The STACKS team loved it, and they felt it perfectly embodied their brand.

Building Brand Awareness on the Big and Little Screen

When STACKS came to us, they were still in the brand awareness stage of the sales pipeline. At this stage, a potential customer will begin forming associations between your brand and a whole constellation of ideas, feelings, and images — and so first impressions are essential.

Rather than bombarding viewers with a laundry list of features and explanatory material, short, high quality video can communicate your brand’s ethos in a way that is evocative and memorable. And, perhaps most crucially in today’s fast-paced digital ecosystem, it can do this in a short amount of time.

Not only that, but a fully immersive video experience — when executed successfully — is highly shareable. Audiences that respond to your video are apt to engage with it on social, becoming ambassadors for your brand as they do.

As of this writing, Jon Youngs’ post of the commercial on Instagram has garnered 7,945 views and over 739 likes.

Out of This World, Now In Your Grasp

By all counts, the premiere of “Out of This World” at Olympia 2021 was a massive success. STACKS recalled that, “One of the partner's kids can recite the whole commercial, so I feel like if we caught the attention of an energetic 2-year-old, then we definitely caught everyone else's attention.”

The video served as a kind of trailer, not for the STACKS movie, but for the totality of the STACKS experience. Like the mysterious package that explodes into a prismatic halo of enlightenment as it collides with Earth, the essence of the STACKS brand exploded into viewers’ minds, leaving an impression they wouldn’t soon forget.