Program Videos That Don’t Feel Like Marketing - UMaine’s “Life in the Pines” Series w/ Brenn Borror and Patrick Wine

My guests today are Brenn Borror, who leads content strategy at the University of Maine, and Patrick Wine, founder of Story Stroll, the filmmaker behind UMaine's "Life in the Pines" series. We get into how an unscripted, vlog-style student story series came together — and why it's stuck around for three seasons.Brenn and Patrick walk through how "Life in the Pines" started as a cold-call pitch for a generic campus tour video that they reshaped into something more specific to UMaine, why they insisted on one person, one camera, and no crew for every shoot, and how a rigged-up "snorri cam" — basically a tripod strapped under a student's arms — lets students walk and narrate their own story without feeling guided by the marketing team. We also dig into the unglamorous side of the metrics: why a nearly 40,000-subscriber YouTube channel mostly built on a viral lobster-cooking video and an old extension-office library isn't the same audience watching these student stories, and why that's actually fine.In this episode:Why UMaine passed on a polished, teleprompter-style tour video pitch and built something rougher and more specific insteadHow the "snorri cam" walk-and-talk format gets genuine, unguided footage out of studentsThe one-person, one-camera rule and why it matters for getting students to relax on cameraWhy calling it "seasons" and "episodes" instead of a playlist changed how people watched itHow a pre-interview process surfaces the small, specific details (like a chocolate bar traded for a bicycle) that make a story worth followingWhy low YouTube view counts don't mean the series isn't working, and what they're actually using it for in the funnelHow casting evolved from proactive outreach to an open call, and why they now ask for a 60-second video submissionWhy retention, not just recruitment, is a real benefit of this kind of contentResources mentioned:Life in the Pines (full series hub): https://umaine.edu/pines/Life in the Pines, full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue-xo4MsoTsLife in the Pines, teaser trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1hKbuFXtw8Life in the Pines, Season 2 full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2axURGS18IThe University of Maine's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheUniversityofMaineStory Stroll Studios (Patrick's production company): storystrollstudios.comConnect with Brenn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brennborror/Connect with Patrick:Story Stroll Studios: storystrollstudios.comEmail: [email protected]: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmwine/Connect with John:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnazoniWebsite: https://unveild.tvNewsletter: https://unveild.tv/newsletter