We’ve had some great opportunities to showcase FLIR technology in media, and the past year has seen some great uses in some big movies and television programs. The latest season of “Homeland,” “Rampage,” and “Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado,” all featured some excellent sequences using FLIR cameras. Sicario 2 involved integrating the camera into the picture helicopter – the gear was used both as an on-screen prop, but also to capture imagery from that was featured prominently in the opening scene of the film. Check out that scene above as well as the behind-the-scenes feature we were able to share on the FLIR YouTube channel.
FLIR continued to see major growth on social in 2017; we not only created amazing content throughout the year, we forged amazing relationships that led to historical achievements in the world of thermal.
Thirty Seconds to Mars VMAs Performance
FLIR teamed up with close partner MoviTHERM to facilitate the first live concert performance using FLIR Midwave Science Cameras. Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto reached out to FLIR and MoviTHERM to realize his vision for the band’s performance at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles. 5.4 million viewers watched the show live, bringing the largest single audience to the technology. I worked on site with MoviTherm and the performance’s creative director to realize Jared’s vision. In addition, I worked with the band’s team to coordinate a social campaign following the performance that garnered the largest engagement we’ve ever experienced as a brand. Jared and his team were great to work with, and I’m really proud of the end result.
USA Today 360
In June, USA Today’s VRTually There reached out to us about using a FLIR Midwave Science Camera for a segment on the largest bat colony in the world. I went down with the FLIR A8303 Science Camera and worked with the technical team to implement a thermal view in their 360º video. The end result shows you bats like you’ve never seen before!
Invisible Labs with Craig Beals & On the Job with Jason Cameron
In late 2016, we launched a new educational series we titled “Invisible Labs with Craig Beals,” and this summer we headed back out to Billings, Montana and filmed a whole new season of the program, which opens with a bang.
2017 also marked a new original content collaboration with Jason Cameron, HGTV host; we produced a handful of segments on location at a job-site in New Jersey to raise awareness around the newly released FLIR ONE Pro.
Influencer Network
I continued to work to identify opportunities for FLIR with YouTube creators, and we saw more creators using FLIR to tell their stories. Notables from 2017 include Jake Roper from VSauce3, and a few amazing videos from EngineeringExplained!
In 2017 we saw a 46% growth in our social audiences across all channels, with the largest percentage growth on Instagram at 140%. We averaged around 1400 pieces of content a quarter throughout 2017 across all social channels, up 28% year-over-year. This increased cadence definitely played a factor in how engaged our audience was with over 20K comments, up 65% from the previous year.
So what’s coming up in 2018? We’re going to be producing some exciting content on the ground at CES in January, so stay tuned for some more awesome from FLIR Social.
2016 was an incredible year in my role as Social Media Manager for FLIR Systems! We have had extremely successful content and are continuing to hit great growth and milestones.
Social Media Superstars
In May, Oregon Business named FLIR a Social Media Superstar: along with great organizations like the Portland Trailblazers and Travel Oregon, an independent panel said that “@FLIR has a good balance of fun feature content.” It was great to see validation from the industry on our efforts!
Growing the Influencer Network
Continuing to partner with networks and channels provides a great opportunity for both content creators and FLIR. Our technology enables creators to tell stories in exciting new ways, and introduces a whole new audience to the world of infrared. We had some great videos featuring FLIR with Physics Girl, the Hydraulic Press Channel, Red Bull, and more!
Passing 10 Million Views
Cutting together some great content shot at the Farnborough Air Show, we put out an awesome 40 second video of an F-35 demonstration. The video was picked up by Foxtrot Alpha, then made its way through various blogs like Popular Mechanics, and eventually on to CNN, amassing almost 350K views. Check out some of the top content that hit FLIR’s YouTube Channel this year:
Trending Upwards
Our social media reach continues to grow – impressions have risen over 200% since I became Social Media Manager two years ago. We’ve expanded our audience even more in 2016, with a total audience reaching nearly 200K, even more when tying in FLIR’s sub-brands. We see the evidence of reaching critical mass in our daily interactions with customers, whether through the engagement of fans, or individuals reaching out for product recommendations and support.
The Future is LIVE: Onward to 2017
We’ve begun live streaming content in 2016, but our cadence will increase as we move into 2017. Our CES live streams last year were under the radar, but this year we’re promoting our live stream of show activities, and we expect a good turnout! We hope to introduce some regular live streaming segments – and add more personality to FLIR’s social presence (See our Invisible Labs series).
As our department grows, so will our ability to continue to produce fun and engaging content, and we strive to have more hits as the year moves on.
Been a while since I’ve updated! Since April of 2015 I’ve moved into a new role at FLIR as the Social Media Marketing Manager for the company. I manage all of FLIR’s social media brand channels, including Extech and Raymarine. Taking on the role has moved me out west to Portland, Oregon! A long ways from Boston!
It’s been an amazing year – ending with bringing FLIR’s total audience on Facebook from 28K to 100K in just a few months. We’ve generated some great content in the second half of 2015 – bringing our total social brand impressions to to over 50 million (around a 1,000% increase Year over Year!).
As I settle into the new role, I’m looking to get back into the side projects! It’s been a while since I’ve posted any fun little shorts, so definitely looking to do more, as well as pick back up on some in-progress projects. More to come soon!
It’s been a whirlwind few months over at FLIR for new Video Content. One of the latest projects I’m really proud of is the 30 second spot I produced, shot, and cut for the new FLIR C2. The main goal was to drive the point home that this was an exciting product, especially from a form factor standpoint.
Also – a big event this month was CES. I created wall-to-wall coverage cutting 10 videos during the event that were used on FLIR’s social channels. See some of them below!
Been a busy month! Covered the Independent Film Festival of Boston once again for LonelyReviewer.com. We shot a ton of Q&As, some of which can be viewed here. We finished the first season of Boston Open Screen at the Coolidge last night, taking a hiatus for the summer. Also, I just put the finishing touches on something that had gotten lost deep in my vaults, “The Interview,” a little piece I shot back in 2011. Lot’s of good stuff in the works!
In testing and familiarizing myself with the Blackmagic, I’m filming little moments/situations/environments with the new 4K camera. This latest short I shot in my Uncle’s small Garage/Workshop. Lit only by two overhead fluorescents, and the first shot in a dark parking lot, the images this camera puts out have a lot of life.
The community is abuzz with the finally shipping Blackmagic 4K Cinema Camera. We got one at work, and I couldn’t wait to take it out and see what it can do. I hit the Charles River in Cambridge to get a bit of Boston at sunset. I took that 4K footage into a 1080p timeline and cut this little test out.
First impressions of the camera, I really like the touchscreen and the metadata entry features. I can see that being extremely helpful while on a shoot. File sizes are enormous (which is to be expected), but the imagery is gorgeous. The internal battery doesn’t last long at all. I got about 30 minutes out in the cold yesterday. I’ll stick with it to see how long at a better operating temperature, but, external batteries seem to be a must either way. More little shoots to come!
Listening to some podcasts, the twitter feed of Jaden Smith (son of actor Will Smith) was brought to my attention. I was looking for a reason to make a silent-film inspired call back, so I thought this project would be fun.
Inspired by the title cards from D.W. Griffith’s “Intolerance,” I created my own Jaden Smith Twitter feed video. Check it out!
It was another great year for film at the Independent Film Festival of Boston. LonelyReviewer.com had the best coverage of the festival yet again, and, festival favorite Bobcat Goldthwait came by with the premiere of his new film WILLOW CREEK.
IFFBoston is a great event and it’s a pleasure covering it – so head on over and read some of the coverage at LonelyReviewer.com.
I’m also happy to announce that we’ve added a new contributor to LonelyReviewer.com, Derek Deskins, who will be a great addition to the site. We continue to grow it, and are up to Episode 5 on the podcast. Subscribe here on iTunes!
Got some other stuff in the works for the summer, so stay tuned!
