Looking back on the last 10 years as Cherryduck becomes Preen

At the beginning of September the video production company I work for rebranded from ‘Cherryduck’ to ‘Preen’.

Working for one company for over a decade is becoming less and less common, portfolio careers are on the rise, and being a multi-hyphenate is appealing for its flexibility and job satisfaction. 

But working for one company for over a decade is exactly what I’ve done.

Cherryduck... cherry as in the fruit, duck as in ‘quack, quack’, a line I’ve said over the phone hundreds of times over those 10 years, a silly name for a company perhaps but people remember us and our clients seem to love it. 

This company has shaped me and I have shaped it. From the early days when 5 of us produced, filmed and edited our own content, working for magazines, filming behind-the-scenes, travelling up and down the country, to where we are now; creating branded content alongside agencies such as Grey, Elvis and Havas and brands including Treatwell, Lush and ASOS. 

Within a year of my joining, the projects we were winning started getting larger and the budgets got bigger, it was a baptism of fire, our ethos always being to say ‘yes’ and figure it out later. I’ll never regret that attitude, it got us to where we are now; a team of 22 with 5 studios, an impressive post production setup and a strong body of work, but it certainly brought forward the onset of my grey hair. 

The industry has evolved, unrecognisable from where it was 10 years ago. I left a traditional advertising set up in 2010, (you know, the one where 30 second TV ads were the be-all and end-all and the idea of ‘social content’ was a silly ‘nice to have’), cut to 2020, where if your social feed doesn’t add value, align with your OOH, TV ad and PR then you’re missing a huge opportunity, and frankly, it looks a bit shit.

Growing a video production company with an ever-evolving market for video content has been a wild ride. With continuous developments of platforms (social and open web) and trends changing by the day, we continued to adapt. 

Here’s a timeline of some of the key changes in the industry alongside Cherryduck’s evolution; 

2010 - Online video is in its infancy. Behind the scenes of photoshoots are a novelty in the publishing world. The core of Cherryduck’s work is behind the scenes videos, working with publishers to capture their photoshoots. We worked with magazines including Grazia, Look Mag and Fabulous Magazine. 

2011 - Relationships developed with the brands we met through the publishers. We joined them at the beginning of their video content journey. Videos tend to be created for YouTube channels and then embedded on clients websites. 

2013 - A big change in the industry; Instagram introduces video - 15 seconds only. Our clients including brands like Hunter, Dorothy Perkins, Monsoon and New Look start requesting ‘teasers’ for Instagram to encourage people to watch longer form content on their YouTube or website. 

2016 - Following in the footsteps of Snapchat, Insta stories are launched and vertical video comes into its own, adding yet another format to the deliverables list. 

March 2016 - Instagram videos can be 1 minute long, allowing brands to move away from the ‘teaser’ content and create stand alone video experiences on their instagram channels. 

April 2016 - Facebook live is launched and we work with brands including Birchbox to create ongoing live stream series, often with a competition element to them. 

2017 - Linkedin introduced native video. We work with clients including ASOS and Unilever to help bolster their employer brand through video. 

June 2018 - IGTV launches, making way for longer format video to gain prominence once again.

2020 - The world changes. Online and video trends that looked to come into play in 2030 have been accelerated. Values have come into sharp focus and a real opportunity to make real change in the industry and the world are clearer than ever. 

Throughout all of these changes our business model has remained pretty much the same, we were ‘all under one roof’; production, post, live streaming and studios. However, over the last year, it became abundantly clear that something had to change. We had so much to offer but our message was confusing, are you a studio? Are you a production company? Do you have directors? Do you live stream? Do you do animation?

The answer to all of the above is ‘yes’ but one element appeared to make it harder for the other to continue to grow. Our audiences for each service are different and to create a single message for all has become alienating, reinforcing the old adage; ‘If you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one.’, least of all ourselves. 

Change has been happening behind the scenes, and we’ve now separated into three stand-alone divisions. Our incredibly talented post team is now The Nest and Cherryduck Studios are able to market to a core audience of Production companies. Allowing the production offer (of which I am a part) to flourish in its own right. 

Video content marketing has the power to influence so much of our society and we take that responsibility seriously, our goal is to work with brands and agencies who feel the same, ensuring that the content we put out into the world is serving people rather than pulling the wool over their eyes. 

We will ensure our casting process results in representation on screen, and that our crewing processes are inclusive and create an environment where everyone can thrive. That we are environmentally conscious and sustainable throughout our production process. As a part of the leadership team at Bloom I have started to truly understand the impact I can have shaping this next chapter of our industry. We will be part of the change.

And with those changes, there also comes a new name.

I could not be more excited to introduce Preen; Branded Content for a Better World. 

I also take on a new role as Head of Marketing so expect some super informative and fun events (you can register for our first one here), lots of social content and more...

Preen are;

Andrew Boswell - Partnerships Director / Jez Furlong - Creative Director / Cortney Stowers - Producer/ Director / Phil Medway - Head of Production / Kyle Legg - Producer / Kim French - Head of Marketing

Kim French / Head of Marketing @ Preen

[email protected] / 07403232644