Animal: B2B Marketing Lessons on Thinking Like a Movie Marketer with Producer at H20 Studios, Kevin Carter

Scared marketing doesn’t stand out. Bold stories do. And no one knows that better than the team behind Animal, a new documentary that challenges everything you think you know about meat, health, and what drives people to change.

In this episode, we’re pulling lessons from the film’s launch with the help of our special guest, Kevin Carter, Producer at H20 Studios.

Together, we explore what B2B marketers can steal from the big screen on how to activate communities, take smart creative risks, and stop playing it safe when the goal is to stand out.

About our guest, Kevin Carter

Kevin Carter is an experienced marketing and production executive with a track record of driving significant revenue and audience growth. Currently a Producer at H20 Studios in Los Angeles, he oversees productions, strategically optimizing budgets to achieve substantial savings while delivering high-impact content reaching millions of viewers. Previously, in Global Marketing Strategy at Lionsgate, Kevin spearheaded marketing campaigns for over 117 film and television releases, generating upwards of $100 million in revenue.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Kevin’s documentary, Animal:

• Build evangelists, not just audiences. A film doesn’t go viral because it’s seen. It goes viral because people can’t stop talking about it. That’s how Kevin sees it. He says, “The best way is when you really create an army of people that just talk about your film without you doing anything.” For B2B marketers, that means stop chasing impressions and start sparking conversations. If your product solves a real problem, give your users the language, the emotion, and the why. They won’t just use it, they’ll share it.
• Give your team space to strike out. You can’t hit home runs if you’re too scared to swing. Kevin urges leaders to embrace failure in the name of breakthrough: “You have to allow your executives to have three strikeouts before a win… try some crazy things that might cause some virality.” In B2B, too many marketers are stuck playing defense. But virality, innovation, and true brand momentum come from cultures that reward experimentation, not just execution. If you want word of mouth, you have to make room for risk.
• Challenge the spreadsheet. When executives default to templates, creativity gets sidelined. Kevin puts it bluntly: “Do I use this templated spend calculator… or do I take a chance and try something new to break through all the noise?” Most choose safety and the result is scared content that no one talks about. In B2B, the same trap shows up in recycled campaigns and rinse-repeat strategies. But breakthrough growth doesn’t come from playing it safe. It comes from marketers brave enough to break the mold. Because what limits risk often limits reach.

Quotes

*“The best way is when you really create an army of people that just talk about your film without you doing anything. Every one person that you market to that loves it and then tells three other people. There’s so much value to that. And then you expand that out to thousands of people, and they’re all sharing with other people. That is the winning formula, really.”

*“You finally get that EVP role… you’re just loving life, and then you have two options. Do I use this templated spend calculator that we use on films, that’s probably solid… limits our downside risk? Or do I take a chance and try something new and fresh, and try to break through all the noise out there, but the downside risk is a bit higher? Most of the time, they pick the latter... I think you get stuck in. Just making scared content all the time versus making like the best content.”

*“For Animal, there’s been no templated spend at all, we are just doing a totally bespoke campaign. If we do another film after this, it won’t be the same either. You have to look at each project and ask, what are our strengths? What are our weaknesses?... And then lean into your strengths and hopefully that carries you to the promised land.”

Time Stamps

[00:55] Meet Kevin Carter, Producer at H20 Studios

[01:00] Breaking Down Kevin's Documentary, Animal

[07:52] Marketing Strategies For Film and TV

[14:51] Challenges and Risks in Movie Marketing

[21:25] Rethinking Your Target Audience

[27:14] Innovative Marketing Techniques For Film and TV

[33:40] Creating the Documentary, Animal

[35:26] Marketing Animal

[40:02 Final Thoughts & Takeaways

Links

Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn

Check out Animal

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