When Freshpet in September decided it wanted branded content, the pet food purveyor hired ShareAbility, a production house focused solely on producing YouTube videos, instead of going the traditional route of calling an agency. At the time, a clip of an adorable 5-year-old, dubbed by the Internet as the Apparently Kid, was going viral and ShareAbility quickly snagged him for a one-off Freshpet video. The promo, which was released in mid-September, has been viewed 3.5 million times and shared more than 35,000 times on social media, while daily traffic to Freshpet has increased 416 percent. ShareAbility and Freshpet now are expanding their relationship with a longer-term video strategy, including a Dec. 15 holiday-themed clip.
