Just Doing Event Videos Isn’t Enough

cdw facebookYou know me… I love event videos. Previews that encourage people to attend, and videos shot during the event to share afterwards. I think they’re a great way to get people excited about the event, and a way for the event to live on even after it’s over.

Having said that… you still need to deliver a quality video and tell a good story. Just producing a video isn’t good enough. Case in point… CDW.

The technology retailer launched a new campaign last week and bought some space on Facebook. One of their ads popped-up in my news feed, and while I typically sail over them this one caught my attention.

It featured a video, See the fun people had at Technoliner reveal day (video below). Sounded like a good example of an event video, so I decided to see what they cooked up. It turned out to be a major letdown.

CDW apparently is driving a bus across the country featuring new technology, and they’re promoting the tour hoping people will check out the bus if it stops in their town. Sounds like a good opportunity for a video, right? Well, it is but the story stinks.

It’s all about CDW. Look at our launch party. We had Charles Barkley there. We grilled out. There’s all sorts of technology on-board. In short… they’re totally full of themselves. 

Look… if all your event video is doing is capturing the scene to give people sense of what happened that’s all fine, but that isn’t the goal for this video. I think the goal is to get us to want to see the Technoliner. So here I am… Joe Viewer… thinking… who cares? How does this technology impact me? Why would I make an effort to see the bus? What’s the point?

I don’t have an answer for any of those questions because CDW is too busy patting themselves on the back.

On top of that… they want me to check out the bus, but they don’t say which cities it’ll hit. Okay, maybe it’s too many to list, but give me a call-to-action saying something like, “Check the website for when the Technoliner will be in your neighborhood.”

Just because you’re holding an event and you’re excited about it doesn’t mean the rest of the world will be as well. The video still needs to be focused on audience members and their needs.

That’s the foundation for a good video.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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