Media Magic.

Real Results.

I'm an innovator in news, social media marketing and video production. As a documentary film producer and director, I use the latest digital tools to tell very personal, humam stories. For seven years leading the news team at WKYC-TV NBC in Cleveland, I guided content and branding for our region’s news leader. I'm an expert at growing audiences for digital and social content.

I create social media experiences for small but mighty non-profits, and for some of the biggest companies in the world.

Brennan Donnellan Media was formed to include a network of programmers, artists, photographers and talent. Scroll down to see examples of our work.

LATEST

How do you keep a century-old brand relevant while the whole world is changing? That’s the challenge that makes The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association such a perfect laboratory for new ideas.

For our 150th birthday, we created Legacy 150, a year-long campaign driven by media of every kind, and intended to strengthen our position as thought leaders in the community. The response has been outstanding! Thousands of people are digging deep into our archives via our Legacy 150 Interactive Timeline. Click on the image at the left and explore!

Thousands more are listening and subscribing to My BarStory, CMBA’s weekly podcast, where we hear stories of life in the law. We’re creating an oral history as told by leaders past, present, and future. Click the logo to listen.

Young attorneys want to see their sensibilities reflected in the media they consume. So, we experiment! With a goal to be bold and take chances but to respect the values that make CMBA such an important place to belong. Click the images below to see some of our recent reels.

For a sampling of more CMBA video, watch the YouTube playlist below:

HOLLYWOOD BOB

"Hollywood Bob" tells the story of a legendary Cleveland limousine driver. For more than 30 years, Bob was the preferred limo driver for the Hollywood and political elite. Bob’s life at that time was chronicled by the great Cleveland comic writer Harvey Pekar.

Hollywood Bob has always been eccentric, with his black clothing, fingernails and hair. As he tells us his story, we get a personal look at his strange way of seeing the world.

After decades running a successful business, for the first time, Bob is arrested. He faces a series of legal problems all starting from a controversial accusation of child enticement. Social media spreads an incomplete and ultimately false story. The community that once celebrated Bob is now turning on him.

"Hollywood Bob" is a personal profile and a piece of investigative journalism. Completed with a budget under $3,000 and shot with a variety of cameras, including professional digital video cameras, iPhones, GoPros and other cheap gear, the story of Hollywood Bob emerges raw and real.

“Hollywood Bob” was an official selection in the Winter 2020 Docs Without Borders Film Festival and the 2019 Toronto Lift-Off Online Film Festival. Runtime: 52 minutes

VIRAL

My YouTube channel has 1.2 million views. From my time as a partner at nSixty Digital Marketing up until today, I have seen social media mature. We now have precise data to learn everything we can about the audience. Mix in some creativity and a mandate to take risks, and you will create growing engagement.

My review of Vibram’s Furoshiki wrap shoes just hit 250,000 views. As I write this, there are two people watching it. I get between two and ten or more views every hour of every day. If you watch the video, you might wonder why. It’s nothing special and actually pretty awkward.

It makes more sense if you think about the audience. Shoes of all types are a popular topic on YouTube. These shoes in particular are so unusual that people are anxious to see them in action. We unbox the shoes like tech enthusiasts do with a new phone. By analyzing which topics and techniques are engaging with big audiences, you can make smart decisions about what might go viral.

Have you ever seen a news station build an ice desk in the middle of the winter so the anchors can deliver the news outside? You can blame me for that. In the winter of 2014, we were looking for a way to showcase our coverage of a bitter cold spell, something to set us apart. I tossed off the idea of an ice desk. We made some calls and after a couple of days, we had it!

The story went viral, picked up by national news networks and industry blogs. This video was shared hundreds of thousands of times. Soon, everyone across the country was building an ice desk. In 2014 and 2015 I counted more than 70 copycats.

Robin Swoboda’s memorable “Ice Ice Baby” rap made it weird and fun enough to share.

My first year with nSixty, we brought in about $3,000 in revenue. The following year our revenue jumped to $400,000.

nSixty used video sharing on social media to engage fans with brands. We were forced to innovate in video streaming, social media API’s and especially in delivering metrics to our clients. Social video was just beginning and because of that, we were able to attract international clients like Major League Baseball, Ford, Jeep and Dodge, we even went on tour with Weezer in partnership with State Farm.

We learned a lot about how consumers want to connect with their favorite brands. Just be real.

I’ve been working the formula for viral video for more than a decade. This super simple video from ten years ago has more than 200,000 views. It has the cute factor, and it took off when I shared it with The Consumerist blog.

Canva - Camera Lens in Close Up Photo.jpg

News

I love news. I should, I have been in and out of that business throughout my entire career. As I worked through the digital revolution in three different newsrooms, one conclusion became obvious to me. In a world with thousands of competitors all working to attract the same audiences, there is only one path. Deliver clearly superior content. Double down on the fundamentals of great writing, authentic storytelling and rock solid journalism. If media have become too extreme and divisive, we must be the antidote.

News is not a commodity. Build trust through consistent excellence, not by chasing fleeting trends or slavishly following deceptive data.

This was a major step forward at WKYC toward true multiplatform journalism. The opiod epidemic was devastating lives across Ohio, yet the news coverage seemed somehow impersonal. I assembled a diverse team of journalists, some experienced reporters, some who were masters of digital media techniques. We invested their time by embedding our people with EMS services across the region. We told these personal stories of despair, exhaustion and even death online, via social media, and on television.

I was thrilled when this team won the 2018 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation.

I’m sometimes asked about my most memorable moment in the news business. The discovery of the Cleveland captives alive is definitely one of them. When a news team is trained and disciplined as emergency responders, the result is clearly superior coverage that viewers will notice and choose.

Back that up with aggressive investigative reporting and a trusted team to deliver the news and you have an unbeatable combination.

It’s not all bad news in the newsroom. One favorite moment was when I interviewed Jerry Garcia. As a very big fan who had seen him perform the previous night, I was starstruck. I was instructed to only talk about Jerry’s art so I did something I usually don’t - I followed the rules!

Nonprofits

Nonprofits are crazy for video. As a marketing tool, it can be an effective way to convey emotion and emphasize the mission. Before you spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to hire a production company, think about the goal. Find a character. Make viewers feel the passion for your cause. With simple tools and a digital-first approach, video can have a powerful personal impact without the cost of a fancy production.