3 Things I Learned About Partnerships With YouTube, Google & the BBC
- Aug 7
- 2 min read
This is a series looking back at things I've learned working across the creative and cultural sectors.
3 Things I Learned
The equation for a strong partnership is your greatest challenge + your strongest asset. Combine them to find the right partner and what you can offer them.
The vision matters. Have a big idea you can communicate that doesn't change if the execution changes.
Broadcast can beat immersion. Designing the content to suit broader distribution cut through to enable greater reach and impact
The Context
It's 2016, I'm working in the BBC's Digital Guerrillas content innovation team. I'd won a commission from BBC Three for an original social series that used virtual reality creation tools, mixed reality filmmaking, and documentary storytelling to help people express their mental health visually.
The Challenges
The technology was new and untested, mixed reality and virtual production was not established, all the headsets were wired, we did not have any studio space to shoot it, we had very little budget, licensing Google's VR painting tool had never been done and we were working with a very sensitive topic and vulnerable contributors.
The Big Ideas
Find a partner that could provide technology and studio space together to provide a solid base for the experimentation. I realised that YouTube Space London was a studio for creators with over 50k subscribers. BBC Three had over 50k subscribers. YouTube was also part of Google, and Google had created Tilt Brush, the VR painting tool I wanted to use in the mixed reality films. If we could use YouTube Space as the studio and Tilt Brush as the tool, we could broker a partnership which provided a high-profile output on BBC platforms.
What It Meant
The new studio partnership was signed giving the BBC free access to YouTube Space London and kit for aligned projects, which enabled more social pilots. Tilt Brush was used for the mixed reality films which enabled a new type of storytelling on the topic of mental health. The visually-striking films caught people's imagination and were viewed by millions of people. The series got national news coverage on BBC Breakfast and a double-page spread in the i newspaper.
How To Use It
When thinking about partnerships, think about all sides and the needs of all partners. What is their mission? What do they have that you don't? What do you have that they don't? What are the optics of this collaboration? How do the audiences crossover? Is there a shared goal and neat crossover to expand upon? What's the story when it launches? And most importantly, how does it serve the creative and technical vision you are driving at?
Want to know more about this experience? Want me to do a talk or workshop on this topic? Got a project that these skills apply to? Get in touch: ian@greenraven.co.uk
