Agency Masterclass: Taking brand videos to the next level

by Brock Horning | October 2025

For many businesses, the traditional brand video comes with plenty of challenges. How do you create one video that can appeal to your entire target audience? How do you distil your huge range of services and products into a single narrative?

To find the solution, brands need to think beyond the standard linear format. Creative agency Bear House Media is leading the way in a brand new kind of brand video. One that allows viewers to follow their curiosity and personalise their brand video to their interests.

A brand video needs to have a clear goal. Whether that is to increase brand awareness, make a sale or build trust. It needs to communicate what the brand stands for and shape the customer’s experience. On a technical level, this is the best way to measure success.

However, underpinning that technical goal is the core mission of a brand video. To connect with the viewer on an emotional level.

Bear House Media’s interactive brand video for Nina’s Garden, a garden design business

How do you do that? Dan Coomber of Bear House Media explains, “The story is where connection happens, and that is always where we start any project from.

The best brand films feel authentic and emotionally engaging. They don’t always need to feel like adverts; it’s more about helping people understand and care about what the brand stands for.

As filmmakers, we obviously care deeply about the visuals, but ultimately, it’s the connection that matters, the viewer should leave with a real sense of who the brand is and why it matters.

Interactive video takes everything a step further. It allows the audience to be active participants. When people choose how to explore a story, engagement deepens and the message becomes their own.”

Bear House Media paired the traditional brand film with the interactivity of social media, gaming and personalised customer journeys to create something fresh. A way for audiences to participate in the journey while maintaining the high cinematic quality of a top-tier brand video.

“Interactive video has really changed how we think about creating content. When you put the viewer in control, you not only make the experience more convenient for them by letting them see what interests them most, but also far more engaging generally. It becomes a journey rather than a linear story, which naturally increases the time people spend interacting with your content.

Where do you want to go next? A menu screen from Bear House Media’s interactive brand video for Taunton School

For us, it’s about merging film with technology (we are all quite geeky like that!) You can still have beautiful shots, strong sound design, and lighting, but now the audience decides where to go next. That mix of the creative aspect and interactivity is what is exciting. It feels fresh and opens up new storytelling possibilities.

Another strength is its flexibility, it can work across all levels of production and budget. From informative, toolbox-style projects like our Taunton School Interactive Campus, where viewers explore facilities at their own pace, to a more fully cinematic production, like Clifton College. The format adapts really well. Both school projects but completely different!

Interactive videos are not a new concept, but it’s only recently that the creation process hasn’t been prohibitively expensive. While creative agencies often face a little work in helping clients see the opportunities in interactive, a demonstration is often all that’s needed.

Decision time! A still from Bear House Media’s interactive demo

“The key is helping clients see interactive video not as a gimmick, but as a genuinely useful tool, and that’s often the first conversation we have. It’s not right for every project, and we’re always honest about that.

For those it does suit, the initial reaction is usually curiosity. People want to see how it works and what it looks like in practice. Once they try a demo, it tends to, on the whole, click straight away.

Cost is always a concern, and understandably so. Interactive projects work best when there’s enough high-quality content to give viewers real freedom to explore. But we always explain that you’re investing in something much more immersive than a traditional video. It is a way for the audience to experience your brand and build a much stronger connection.

In our minds, spending money on a short video that no one watches feels like a bigger waste. When planned properly from the outset, an interactive film can actually be very cost-effective, and once clients see how it makes their message more engaging and measurable, they’re usually all in.”

Bear House Media are seeing its commissions for interactive brand videos increasing rapidly. Here are three of their favourites:

The Brief: A garden design business, Nina’s Garden, needed to clearly demonstrate Nina’s skills, knowledge and ability to deliver high-end projects.

The brand video had to showcase the personalised experience Nina offers to clients seeking extraordinary gardens. It needed to introduce Nina, her passion, and run through the key range of considerations for prospective clients.

The Solution: An interactive experience allowing viewers to explore one of Nina’s high-end garden creations. Besides building an emotive connection between Nina and the audience, the interactive brand video distils a range of detailed considerations into an engaging guide. Interviews with Nina explain her design ethos, linking together short videos that guide viewers through the garden, complemented by 360° footage for an immersive sense of space.

Brand video for landscape design business, Nina’s Garden.

The Brief: A prestigious school in Bristol, Clifton College, wanted to showcase the breadth and spirit of life from Pre-Prep to Sixth Form. They were looking for a narrative-led interactive film that allowed viewers to experience the full range of life at the college.

The Solution: The fun and engaging narrative follows a student who discovers a magical portal, enabling them to inhabit other pupils in the school. This would’ve worked well as a linear film but taking it interactive has taken it to a new level. Viewers are invested in the story and can choose the subjects and opportunities that interest them about life at Clifton College.

The interactive nature also gives Clifton College a unique insight into the subjects and experiences that prospective students are considering when looking at college options.

The Brief: Taunton School, a prestigious UK boarding school, was looking to highlight the facilities available to prospective students, from swimming pools to the theatre.

The Solution: An interactive campus map gives viewers the choice to explore various areas of the school, guided by voiceovers from Taunton School students. The film acts as a toolbox, showcasing the quality of the school’s facilities, from boarding to academics. It is also providing Taunton School with essential insight into the facilities that prospective students are interested in.

And for a bonus, here’s a quick overview of Bear House Media’s latest interactive project, currently in progress.

The Brief: How do you bring the traditional director’s cut and DVD extras experience into the streaming era? The team were seeking to explore behind the scenes with a new kind of interactive journey.

The Solution: Delving behind the scenes of ‘Becoming American: Philadelphia’s Story’, viewers are given the controls to explore sections of the main film in more depth. Additional content related to the founding era of America is accessible via the main contextual menu.

So what does the future of interactive brand videos look like? For Dan Coomber, it’s very positive.

“With each project, we keep pushing as filmmakers to find new, creative, and sometimes wonderfully unexpected ways to tell stories and create immersive experiences for our clients.

It’s still early days for this as a tool, but that’s what makes it so exciting. We’re able to offer clients something genuinely different, a fresh way to connect with their audiences that stands apart from anything else out there. Viewers regularly describe these experiences as “fun,” “different,” and “memorable.”

This is exactly the reaction we want and, in a world of generative AI, will ultimately stand clients out from the crowd.”