08 Jan Instagram Boomerang

Read all about this new feature here which gives certain brands all sorts of new marketing and branding possibilities on Instagram.

Here’s a trial I did with Smudge.

I found that it works best with either repetitive motion or a change of state

Lots of creative short videos going on and plenty of opportunities for brands to get some fun action shots that work the brand positioning and puts the fun it in. For this to be effective you need to shoot super short videos of motion that reverses itself like a boomerang. Instagram is bringing to the app things formerly only possible with video editing.

I have yet to see a best practice case study for brands that have effectively used boomerang as a medium to enhance their brand positioning or product. And many of them have made random videos that quite do any extra for the brand.

Some examples cited by marketing sites, and these two were probably the best, Twentyonepilots a band and Cosmopolitan magazine copying the bubble gum instagram demo.

For the medium of boomerang to be effective, it must deal with a situation that shows a change of state in motion eg milk in a coffee cup diffusing and the reverse, or a magic card trick or someone skydiving when the parachute opens etc.