OUR CAPABILITIES
THE MARCS
The Marcs is an Emmy + Webby nominated production company that has a strong and diverse track record of creating story-first content that integrates our brand partners and their heroes (athletes, artists, or product) in authentic and organic ways, while crafting stories that are both core-competent and universally understood.
TRACK RECORD
The Marcs have over 10 years of experience working closely with leaders in media – Red Bull, Meta (Facebook), the NFL, and World Surf League – developing, creating, and making original programming formats to meet client content priorities and deliver on audience goals.
LIFE OF KAI
UNDRAFTED
QUALITY
Our work has run the gamut — from short films to long-form series and features — our portfolio is highlighted by pieces that have been recognized as best-in-class and reliably over-perform audience metric targets, especially engagement.
ENGAGEMENT
In 2023, The Marcs will celebrate a decade of partnering with Red Bull — one of the world’s leaders in branded original content — on hero-centric series, formats, and films across their ecosystem. Over that period, one key audience insight to highlight is that the programming we created significantly outperformed expected engagement on owned and operated platforms. On Red Bull TV, the pieces have delivered over 3mm video views, 40mm mins watched, over a million unique viewers, and an average of 24 minutes watched/viewer. On Red Bull’s main YouTube channel, episodes have delivered over 20mm video views, 50mm mins watched, and an average play duration of 12 minutes – which is over 3x the average engagement for the main Red Bull YT Channel.
KEY CAPABILITIES
Across owned, operated, and third-party platforms, The Marcs create content to:
- Elevate brand heroes
- Build an audience
- Expand client reach by growing current audience, which also increases market share.
- Deepen engagement with existing audience.
- Acquire and retain new audiences.
- Complement LIVE events
- We develop formats and series designed to be both timely and evergreen that extend the life cycle of LIVE properties.
- Drive tune in
- Both in the run-up to a LIVE event and post-event VOD.
- The strong engagement numbers on episodes – both when released close to an event, as well as during strategic programming windows in the weeks/months after the event – show that the type of content we develop is a real and consistent driver of VOD numbers, breathing new life into an event.
- Leverage crossover audiences
- Provide a vehicle for content partnerships
- Red Bull TV’s Life of Kai franchise is a good recent example of hero-centric storytelling from The Marcs, collaborating with multiple brands – TAG Heuer, BFGoodrich, and Red Bull – to elevate their heroes in ways that pay back into those brands and up their perceived brand value.
WORK
UNDRAFTED
Client: NFL
Project: The Marcs created, executive produced and directed the NFL Network flagship series, Undrafted, which follows undrafted NFL hopefuls as they push themselves to their limits for one shot at their dream...a spot on an NFL squad.
Highlight: This series, which ran for three seasons, garnered two Emmy nominations in the Best Sports Documentary Series category.
ALL IN
Client: World Surf League / Red Bull Media House / Meta (Facebook)
Project: The Marcs worked with professional surfing’s governing body, the World Surf League, as well as Red Bull and Facebook on this co-production that granted audiences an all-access pass inside the lives of surfing’s biggest stars as they contended for a world title. Shot across four World Championship Tour events in the pressure-filled months of the second half of the year, the series built in momentum to a dramatic finale in surfing’s ultimate arena, where the entire season came to a head on Hawaii’s North Shore during the coveted Triple Crown of surfing.
Highlights: This series ran for two seasons as the tentpole series for the World Surf League, fortifying the relationship between the League, its third-party platform (Facebook), and a major sponsor. Additionally, the series was used to drive tune-in to LIVE broadcasts and leveraged to cross-pollinate audiences between the three brands.
REMEMBER THE NAME
Client: Red Bull BC One
Project: Red Bull BC One is a global one-on-one breaking competition that features thousands of b-boys and b-girls each year vying for a world title. This piece was part of a broader anthology series across Red Bull’s ecosystem featuring athletes and artists who are about to break. We followed them as they tried to make the jump to the next level, capturing the trials and tribulations of this dramatic period in the lives of those who may just be bound for glory. Remember the Name: Victor Montalvo follows a young, up-and-coming US BC One Champion, Victor Montalvo, as he trains at home in Orlando before going to Rome to compete in the BC One World Championships.
Highlights: Webby Nomination For Best Culture Documentary
AIR RACE
Client: Red Bull Air Race
Project: Red Bull Air Race, which operated from 2003-2019, was a FÉDÉRATION AÉRONAUTIQUE INTERNATIONALE (FAI) World Championship series and a competitive flying platform for the world’s best pilots, flying at high speed and executing maneuvers at low altitude. As one of Red Bull’s most protected properties, the brand commissioned The Marcs to make a two-part documentary following three first-year pilots, anchored around the series’ marquis event at Ascot, with the first episode airing in the lead-up to the event and the second episode airing post-event.
IN HOUSE
Client: Youth America’s Cup
Project: Red Bull commissioned The Marcs to develop a series centered on Youth America's Cup, focusing on one team, the underdog of the competition -- Team Bermuda, a diverse group comprised partially of well-seasoned racers and partially of elite athletes with almost no sailing experience -- where we followed four of the key sailors as they battled for roster spots during the team’s final training camp before the Youth America's Cup qualifiers and main event. In House is a behind-closed-doors, top-to-bottom look into the world of Team Bermuda as they prepare for the Red Bull Youth America's Cup, capturing the pressure, the highs, lows, and lives of the athletes, coaches, families, and more. Shot in the vein of HBO’s Hard Knocks, the piece incorporated poetic writing and powerful narration fused with a complement of raw cinema verité and lush hand-held visuals. Across the two-episode arc we tell the story of Team Bermuda, a team comprised of locals from a variety of backgrounds who are not formally-trained sailors as they work together preparing for a world-class competition.
QUALIFYING
Client: Red Bull Surfing
Project: Red Bull wanted to document the process athletes endure when they aspire to make the jump to their sport’s top tier. Qualifying is a series that we created for Red Bull following four different surfers in their year-long bid to qualify for the WCT. The cast ranged from high-profile, top-tier surfers and well-traveled journeymen to blue-chip prospects and the recently relegated. With this spectrum of surfers, we were able to fully articulate the layers innate to the struggle to qualify for surfing’s most elite level. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.