Long-form advertising for your brand

I'm familiar with long-form journalism.  I even like to indulge myself in http://longreads.com/ every now & again when I have the attention span.

But, I've never thought the concept could apply to advertising.

Yesterday, I discovered the LEGO video above (17 minutes) --  It's cute, on point and good for the brand.  In fact, it could be an "ABC Family Original Movie" in another life.

This is a novel concept to me -- I can think of a few company-related movies, typically about the founder, albeit not always positive (i.e., The Social Network, Enron, Coco Channel). And, I know Pixar used to create short-films to show off their technology (Tin Toy).  

That's it.

I'm not a pop culture maven by any stretch of the imagination, but I know: A) people love stories, B) well-done short-films are entertaining.

We like stories of risk-takers, of entrepreneurs, of creators -- and, at the end of the day, it's those types of people who start companies (especially the brands we love).  

Would you rather watch a cool 10 minute story on your favorite designer or toy maker, or receive a 140 character tweet asking you to join a Facebook fan page where you'll receive equally uninspiring messages?

I know I'll choose the video any day.  And, on that note, check out this cool company video: