How Real Is The Reel Hype?

How real is the Reel hype? Very Real.

If I were to sit down with filmmaker Martin Scorsese 30 years ago and tell him that the future of video included going from horizontal to vertical, shrinking the big screen down to your pocket, and there was a 60 second maximum, it may have given one of the greatest directors of all time a heart attack. Oh, did I mention we’d consume on average 53 of these small films a day… sorry Marty.

With Instagram’s continual updates, it’s easy to feel uncertain about where the future of video ads is heading. In the past, businesses have poured money into larger-scale productions, but lately, here at Orange Slice, we’ve been exploring quicker, lower-cost lower-production shoots to make Reels. First, let’s take a look at the difference between the two.

While Reels and traditional videos both have their places, here is how the two stack up against one another.

In conclusion, Instagram Reels are on the rise. Here at Orange Slice we’ve been experimenting with Reels for our clients and have found that they rack up the views. Reels work particularly well when we are 1) Promoting a specific event or sale 2) Wanting to show the fun culture of the business. When it comes to longer-term campaigns, we like to stick to traditional videos where we have a little more creative flexibility. Since we’re running those as ads for months on end, it’s worth the production costs.

Here’s a challenge: Can you kill two birds with one stone? Taking a traditional video and adapting it for a Reels is exactly what we did with Alaska Mill & Feed’s Birdseed Campaign, giving us the best of both worlds. Don’t worry, no birds were harmed in the filming of this.