Dive Brief:
- GE launched a five-day, drone-stream on Monday, giving social media viewers an above-the-scenes look at the brand's build and test facilities.
- Programming will run exclusively on live-streaming platform Periscope via GE's channel, @GeneralElectic, with fly-over views of remote industrial workshops.
- The #DRONEWEEK drone-cast will also feature commentary from GE scientists and technologists, who will be on-hand to answer audience questions on @GEDronePilot.
Dive Insight:
Proving its position as a daring brand, ready to test out any new marketing channel, GE is launching a week-long show, #DRONEWEEK, shot entirely on drones and debuting exclusively on Twitter-owned live-streaming app Periscope.
"The thinking behind Drone Week was to experiment with a programming format on a new medium like Periscope," GE Director of Innovation Sam Olstein told Marketing Dive. "Everybody knows what Shark Week is about and we wanted to take a page from a different media and apply to the Periscope platform. Using drones over five days lets us show the breadth of industries GE touches from an insane perspective."
Periscope users will get to check out some of the company's least accessible facilities across the U.S., from a drone's eye view, beginning with GE’s Blow-Out-Preventer manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas. The Gulf Coast facility manufactures subsea machines used extreme deep-sea drilling.
GE is taking cues from the NFL, which live-casted the NFL Draft on Periscope, and Olstein told Fast Company Co.Create the event highlighted importance of interacting with audiences in-the-moment.
"Part of what we want to demonstrate is the sheer scale and impact of GE machines along with how GE shares technology across industries and viewers will get to see that as the week progresses," Olstein said.
