A Virtual Cuppa with… Small Films
A great catchup recently with George Hughes Creative Director at Small Films who specialise in video production for food and drink businesses. George has a wealth of knowledge and experience bringing brands to life so it was fun to grab a cuppa and find out more...
Tell us a bit about your back story?
I’m George Hughes, the founder of Small Films, a video agency specialising in the food and drink sector. I’m also a former TV director with 14 years experience producing and directing primetime series for BBC, Channel 4 and other networks. I found a passion for film and tv from an early age. As a child of the 80s, I’d spend hours flopped in front of the TV watching HeMan, Transformers and Thundercats. I also had a passion for wildlife documentaries and idolised David Attenborough. When my Dad started to rent VHS camcorders to shoot family movies, I’d either jump in front of the camera and pull faces or ask to borrow the camera so I could play with it. In my teenage years, I experimented with creating my own movies, recreating The Terminator with a friend or creating a stop-frame animation with clay models. After university I got my first job in the TV business, booking audience members onto the Celebrity Big Brother for the live eviction days. We’d go on set and herd the audience members around, making sure they screamed at the right moments and shut up the rest of the time. I worked my way up through the TV industry for 14 years, becoming a Producer and Director, and travelling the world shooting series for most of the major networks. I made a lot of food shows working with the likes of Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Greg Wallace to name just a few.
Why did you set up Smallfilms?
I could see the rise of online video and how it was becoming a hugely popular medium. I could also see how brands were trying to harness it’s power to share their story with customers. I could also see that the quality of video content being put out was generally not very good. I wanted to take my skills and knowledge of TV production and set up Small Films, so I could help brands to communicate better with video. We help them to stand out the crowded online space with reliable, effective video that’s powered by exceptional storytelling.
Who is it for?
Since founding the company, we’ve found our niche in food and drink, drawing on my background in TV programme-making. We’ve worked with a range of brands from startups like Emily Crisps and Plenish to big brands like Tilda and Aldi. We create branded content, recipe videos, advertisements and a whole range of tactical videos that deliver results for our clients from brand uplift to sales.
What are you most excited about in F&B this year?
The pandemic has had a huge effect on all our lives and changed our behaviour irreversibly. One big shift that’s happened is that it has accelerated the shift to online. Slow adopters of digital technology have been forced to catch up and online shopping has seen a huge boost. This change in shopping behaviour seems unlikely to return to the way it was before and consumers will spend less time in bricks and mortar stores and more time online. For food and beverage brands this offers an incredible opportunity to communicate with consumers in a way that just wasn’t possible before. With the smartphones in our pockets, brands can now reach us 24/7 wherever we are. From a video content perspective, this is extremely exciting. Your customers spend so much time online watching video content via Netflix, Iplayer, Youtube and Social, that it makes perfect sense to serve them your own high quality branded video content. By doing that you can create a real connection and deliver a message that truly resonates with them.
How are you making a difference?
We believe that brands have the ability to create video content that goes beyond traditional advertising. They have the power to create high quality content that adds a huge amount of value to consumers lives by being either entertaining, educational or informative. By encouraging our clients to explore this type of content creation, we hope to enrich people’s lives. We also believe in Business for Good and support the B1G1 Organisation. For every new project we start, we donate part of our fee to help a variety of global initiatives that align with our passion for climate action and preserving life on land and below sea. When you work with us, you can make a difference with us when we plant trees in deforested areas in Borneo, teach children in Kenya about climate change or help a village in Bangladesh to harness clean energy.
What brands do you admire most in the sector right now?
Red Bull have always dominated the space in terms of content creation and they really have transcended the product they sell. They aren’t just an energy drink any more, they are a way of life. I think Waitrose do a great job of creating useful video content that people can get value from in the way of recipe videos and other tips and tricks.
If you could have a virtual cuppa with anyone who would it be?
For me it would have to be David Attenborough. He’s a complete legend and has done more for educating the world about the effects of climate change and the wonders of nature than virtually any other individual. He also just seems like a thoroughly nice guy.