An ‘antidote’ to short-form video: Why some brands are leaning into short films

Why limit an ad to 30 seconds when it could basically be a movie?

Lengthy, cinematic ads are becoming increasingly popular, with brands like United Airlines, Cash App, Uber, Gucci, and Gushers creating short films that bust typical advertising parameters wide open. These ads, which often employ film production tactics and are distributed beyond TV and social, are aimed at creating genuine entertainment and fan service, according to brand representatives that Marketing Brew spoke to.

In an era where short-form video is dominant, advertisers leaning into movie-making could be a breath of fresh air, Tom Murphy, chief creative officer at VML North America, said.

“Because of the pervasiveness of ultra-short-form, sort of disposable content, the stuff that we’re looking at all day, every day on our phones, I feel like it’s almost like an antidote to that. It’s a counter-reaction,” he said.

But going the Hollywood route isn’t always easy, and it isn’t guaranteed to pay off. After all, there’s a reason why ads typically stick to a 15-, 30-, or 60-second time limit—and if advertisers are going to break the rules, they want to make sure it’s worth the risk.

Make it make sense

When ads take a movie-like approach, it might feel out of place to watch during a TV ad break or while scrolling social media. But cinematic ads still often live on platforms like YouTube or on mobile device screens, a sort of “ironic” method of consumption when you consider the large scale of production and resources that go into creating them, Murphy said.

Some cinematic advertisers have looked for grander stages. Luxury fashion brands, which have often toed the movie-advertisement line, have found ways to make them feel bigger than just another video on the internet. Gucci released a 33-minute short film called The Tiger codirected by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn and starring Oscar nominee Demi Moore, which premiered during a brand-hosted event, complete with other A-list attendees decked out in Gucci, effectively turning the event’s red-carpet event into a runway.

It’s not just fashion brands and big events that can help movie-like ads to attract consumer attention. Earlier this year, Cash App worked with Timothée Chalamet to helm a two-minute ad about intergenerational attitudes towards money; then-CMO Catherine Ferdon told Marketing Brew that the ads were placed in movie theaters due to the spot’s artistic lean; plus, the theater environment ensured a more rapt audience.

“The type of thing that almost ensures the undivided attention of a captive audience, that’s almost something you can only get in cinema,” Ferdon, who has since joined Coinbase, told us in July.

This holiday season, United Airlines is following a similar script. The airline recently partnered with Hallmark to create a four-minute mini-movie called Miles Apart, which stars Hallmark movie regular (and former Glinda in Broadway’s Wicked) Ginna Claire Mason. As part of the media buy, the short film will play in theaters before some Chicago screenings of Wicked: For Good.

United will also play Miles Apart on seat-back screens on its planes and on Hallmark’s streaming service, where viewers might expect to see longer content. “In-flight entertainment was a no-brainer,” Meg Mitchell, global creative director at United Airlines, told us.

This isn’t United Airlines’s first foray into cinematic ads; the airline created a holiday-film-like ad in 2023 that she said attracted Hallmark’s attention and led to this year’s collaboration. This time around, Mitchell said, the Hallmark partnership and holiday timing are designed to make United’s movie-like ad relatable to viewers.

“People love rom-coms, especially [when Hallmark has] this formula that is so beloved,” she said. “It was a way for us to have a stronger emotional connection with our audience for a longer period of time. We can actually have a beginning, middle, and an end to a story that we don’t often have the opportunity for in our regular advertising.”

A calculated risk

For brands pursuing the cinematic route, a big consideration is whether enough eyeballs find their ads in the first place. Murphy said that while some brands are finding creative ways to screen their movie-like ads, many are still relying on customers “seeking them out and wanting to engage with them.”

For Gushers, one way to attract viewers to its short film was to dip into ad creative that had already proven to resonate. Ahead of Halloween, the candy brand revived its “Fruitheads” commercial, which originally aired in the ’90s, into a nine-minute horror short called FruitHead that was distributed on YouTube, the Gushers website, and as part of an in-person screening at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.

“The original Fruitheads commercial has lived in people’s minds for decades, and FruitHead was our way of saying, ‘We hear you,’” Stephanie Lensing, brand experience manager for Gushers at General Mills, told Marketing Brew in an email. “It’s a direct response to that passion and conversation, turning years of fan chatter into something cinematic and new.”

When brands get too cinematic, though, that could pose an issue by deemphasizing the brand itself, Murphy warned. “One potential danger is that you’re trying so hard to tell a human story, that maybe the brand is not playing a central role,” he said.

Lexus’s recent toe-dip into the cinematic ad world looks to strike that balance by borrowing from the Wicked movie universe while still focusing on the car brand. In the 30-second ad spot released last month, Wicked director Jon M. Chu is featured onscreen driving a Lexus into Oz, in what Lisa McQueen, media manager at Lexus, said was an effort to emphasize the brand’s commitment to craft. The ad borrows well-known Wicked movie motifs, music, and magical touches designed to align the brand with the Hollywood sphere and the film franchise’s own enthusiastic fandom ahead of Friday’s release of Wicked: For Good.

“When it comes to the design and the art and craftsmanship of making a film, we thought that Jon really embodies that to a T,” McQueen said. “So much attention is given to the stars of the film, which is absolutely well warranted. We want to tell a little bit of a different story.”