I remember watching tech YouTubers reveal their embargoed content. “That must be so cool to be involved before anyone else,” I’d think to myself.
It really is. And I can say that with some experience now because I’ve been fortunate enough to review a number of embargoed products from the likes of Google, Beats, Honor, and DJI.
I recently added Samsung to that list, and while it was just as cool as the rest, it was also one of the most challenging in terms of content production. I’ve learned so much over the last couple of weeks and made a couple of significant mistakes. I’d like to share this experience with you today.
I’ll be talking more about this during today’s live stream on the Solo Club YouTube channel (4PM UK time - check it out here).
Product embargoes are invite-only. You can’t request to be a part of them and you certainly can’t rock up announced (which would be impossible, anyway, given that you’d never know when or where they’re about to happen). My route into these opportunities has either been via an email received out of the blue from a brand or agency, or via a referral from one of my peers. They are rare, unpredictable, and incredibly exciting when they land.
The first thing you’ll be asked is to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The weight and consequences of these legal documents vary depending on the brand in question, but they all essentially say the same thing: once you’ve signed this, if you let the cat out of the bag before THIS date, you’re never going to work with us again. Ever. Oh, and you might face legal action. Not in quite so many words, but you get the picture; once signed, you play ball.
Samsung, as you might guess, is very hot on this stuff. Equally, they’re a lovely brand to work with - friendly, willing to answer many stupid beginner questions, and incredibly generous with their time and hospitality. The embargo I entered with them recently related to the ‘Unpacked’ event that was held in South Korea earlier this week. This provided me with two things - a press briefing with hands-on access to the unreleased products, and an invite to a ‘watch party’ in London where the launch event was streamed live from Seoul.
Mark my words - this was a huge deal for Mark Ellis Reviews. But I also knew that it was going to be incredibly hard work. Despite my previous experience with embargoed product reviews, this was entirely different - the hands-on experience in particular would test my planning, nerve, and ability to think quickly in terms of content generation.
As you might suspect, you’re given relatively limited time with those products. The idea is to get as much b-roll shot as possible for a video you’ll eventually make in time for the lifting of the embargo. The challenge with the Samsung press event was that there were seven new products to get my hands on (two phones, two watches, and three tablets). It was exhilarating and nerve-wracking in equal measure. Once our time was up, I genuinely had no idea whether or not I’d shot enough footage, or what, exactly, I was going to do with it.
What followed was a tightly controlled and minutely managed content production process. The day after the hands-on, I returned to the studio and filmed some a-roll where I provided an overview of each new product and documented my brief experience with them. That was then edited (with the addition of the aforementioned b-roll which was, mercifully, decent enough), polished, and scheduled for publication on the day the embargo would be lifted, one week later.
Next, it was over to my short-form editor, who chopped up the long-form video into a bunch of vertical reels that would be published on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts. Once created, these were passed onto my VA, who was instructed to schedule the content just after the lifting of the embargo.
As you might suspect, I wasn’t sitting with my feet up during this period. There was a blog post to be written, too (complete with still images of the products lifted from my video) which also needed to be scheduled for publication after the embargo. Oh, and while we’re talking about written content, there were tweets and Instagram posts which were also written and scheduled ahead of time.
These tasks didn’t stop during the live streaming of the Unpacked event, either (which was timed to coincide with the embargo lifting). Additional tweets needed writing, and those scheduled Instagram posts and Reels needed sharing as Stories. It was a significant team effort that demanded very close attention to detail. I’m happy to say that everyone did an incredible job.
The time I’ve invested into this - not to mention the expense that comes with external assistance - is significant. It has removed my focus from other projects and left me somewhat weary as I write this newsletter.
The resulting video is, ironically, one of my worst performing to date. I’m not too concerned about this, but it has revealed a couple of errors I made.
Firstly, I should have taken someone with me to help shoot the b-roll and include more of me in it. That would have made creating a thumbnail for the video far easier (this was easily the weakest part of the production) - and two heads are always better than one. Secondly, I think focusing the video on all those products was a mistake. I realised quickly that the other YouTubers in attendance who had more experience under their belts had focused on just one product or comparison with an existing product from another brand.
This remains a learning process and one I am absolutely devouring. It’s also the start of what I hope will be a very fruitful partnership with Samsung and other brands in the future. As always, I’ll share as much as I can about this experience with you all.