It’s apparently day two of wife-inspired blog posts. She pointed out the video I blogged about yesterday, and here she is doing it again.

This one came via her employer. She teaches at a local college and school leaders sent an email encouraging everyone to support a recent grad competing for capital funding for her business.

The campaign features a video that caught my attention. Now, don’t get your expectations up. The video is pretty basic. What I loved though is the young entrepreneur and her storytelling.

Already storytelling

She doesn’t rely on facts and figures. She doesn’t talk about P/L or ROI. She tells her story.

Quality video will come later.  For now, she’s laying the foundation for storytelling success by simply telling her story.

–Tony Gnau

I love creativity, and in some case creativity can actually be when you steal… err… borrow… err… pay homage to another person’s idea.

My wife sent me this video the other day. One of our favorite shows is HGTV’s House Hunters. It also appears to be a favorite of the folks at Disney because they created a short parody of the show set to Beauty and the Beast.

Take a page from disney’s playbook

Businesses can use this sort of thing as inspiration. What are your favorite shows? Check that… what are your audience’s favorite shows? You don’t have to do a straight-up parody. Sometimes using the same production techniques works as well.

One of T60’s videos that jumps to mind is a recruiting video we produced for the Bloomingdale Police Department. The opening sequence is a total homage to the opening for each episode of the FX series, The Shield. We produced the video years ago, but I still love that opening to this day.

It just goes to show you, never underestimate how other people’s ideas can help drive your own creativity.

–Tony Gnau

I met with a new client last week who’s suffering from the same problem many businesses and non-profits suffer from. They do a lot.

This particular client sat in my office and told me all about their organization and what they do. It was a nearly two-hour explanation. What they wanted to know is how they can break all of that down into a 60-second video.

The answer can be uncomfortable for some people… you can’t. In most cases, you can’t fit everything about your business into a short video. Here’s the silver lining… you shouldn’t want to.

Video is about emotion, not facts

Video is a great information delivery tool, but so is print and digital. What sets video apart is that it can elicit a powerful emotional response. Video isn’t about listing off everything you do, it’s about convincing people you’re good at what you do, that you’re a quality organization, that you’re going to deliver.

Too much information clouds your audience members’ minds. It disconnects them from their emotions.

BREAK IT DOWN

So while many people try to cram as much as they can into a short video, I tend to narrow the focus as much as possible.

After listing to what this particular client does, I broke down their services into three core areas. Once you do that, the story becomes more manageable.

That’s one of the hidden benefits to hiring a professional storyteller. It’s the whole seeing the forest through the trees analogy. Sometimes people who work at a company are too close to it. It can take someone from outside to provide a fresh perspective.

Narrow your focus. It works almost every time.

–Tony Gnau

Another terrific Chicago-AMA event in the books. Wednesday morning we got to hear from Mark Achler, Senior Vice President of New Business Strategy and Innovation at movie rental giant Redbox.

As usual, T60 provided the preview video for Chicago-AMA. That means I got to pick Mark’s brain a few weeks before the event, and the thing I took away from our interview and video shoot is the same thing I got out of Wednesday’s presentation.

Simplicity

The simpler the customer experience you provide, the easier it is to earn and keep customers. Makes sense for a company renting movies, but when you think about it that theory rings true for most businesses no matter what they do.

In our case, we tell corporate stories. One of the biggest concerns for most of our new clients is that they’re going to have to sit down and create a script for us to follow. When I tell them that’s our job, it’s often followed by an instant sigh of relief.

How we keep it simple

We make the video production process easy on clients. We talk with them ahead of time to figure out what they’re trying to communicate. We conduct interviews to support that message, then we create a story that’s going to connect with their audience.

Simple.

I had never thought of it that way before meeting and talking with Mark, but now I see how simplicity is a big part of our service. It’s something I now feel like I need to highlight even more.

Is providing a simple customer experience a cornerstone of your business?

–Tony Gnau

I tend to email myself blog ideas, but occasionally they get pushed aside in the shuffle… doomed to a sad existence inside my inbox. But all is not lost! I cleaned out my email last night and found a gem.

Razorfish is a marketing giant, and I got to visit their Chicago offices early this summer (for this video). That’s why this Ad Week article last month caught my eye.

Video highlights innovation

Razorfish leaders have created a whole room dedicated to video and digital technology, helping them create demonstrations for clients. It looks pretty cool, but I like their promo video even better.

I know, me liking a video about video!? Shocker.

Anyway, the video is nice. It’s pretty flashy storytelling, but look at the subject matter… it’s flashy so the style is a good fit.

Promotion minus the sales-pitch

I just love the whole idea of a creating a video to promote things a company is doing that bring value to clients. This video is certainly about Razorfish, but it doesn’t feel that way because it’s so focused on showing how their innovations can help clients.

That’s how you do it folks. Focus on the audience. Lesson learned courtesy a marketing bigwig.

–Tony Gnau

Video can be pretty magical. First and foremost, it’s a communication tool, but maybe its most powerful ability is the way it allows your audience to emotionally connect with you.

As a young TV news reporter, I was frequently confused when people would approach me and start a conversation like we were good friends. At first, I would question myself, wondering if this was someone I had met before. After a while, I came to understand that these are people watching me every night. I’m a part of their lives, a trusted friend, even though we had never met.

You can be that to your customers, prospects and employees. The more they see and hear from you, the more they feel like they know you. The more they feel like they know you, the more trusted you become.

That’s the power of video.

–Tony Gnau

I went to log on to Facebook over the Thanksgiving holiday and received a welcome surprise.

Facebook has long featured a video on its login screen, but it’s usually some sort of motion graphics video demonstrating Facebook features. This time, however, it was some quality storytelling.

Facebook Storytelling

The social media giant has produced a segment called, Facebook Stories. It’s a series of videos highlighting some of the uses for Facebook.

I loved the first one I saw about a fish scientist (video: Speeding Up Science). The first half is all about what this guy does for a living, and then they hit you with the innovative way he’s using Facebook.

Smart plan for any business

This is something everyone can learn from. Find the people who are using your products or services, tell their stories, then how you’re helping them.

It’s “selling” without sounding like you’re selling.

That’s the power of video and storytelling.

–Tony Gnau

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I’ll be out the rest of the week, so have a terrific holiday.

Back on Monday!

–Tony Gnau

I helped myself to this photo from his Facebook page. Hope he doesn’t mind!

Short week here at T60 with the holiday, but before we all load up on turkey I just wanted to give some special props to one of my favorite people, Jeremy Nichols.

Wait, let me get that right… Emmy award-winning news photographer/editor Jeremy Nichols.

Jeremy won his first Emmy over the weekend. Speaking as an Emmy winner myself, and a past Emmy judge, the honor is well overdue. This guy’s been churning out quality stories for a long time.

Video: Jeremy’s Emmy Winning Story

Jeremy and I have been friends for about 15-years. We met in Kearney, NE at KHGI-TV. He was a young TV news photographer. I was the budding reporter.

I basically owe my livelihood to Jeremy. As a young TV journalist, I was all about the writing and on-camera performance. I never gave much thought to the photography and editing until I met Jeremy. He recommended I go to a seminar hosted by the National Press Photographers Association, and the rest is history.

That seminar changed the course of my career. I fell in love with shooting and editing, and it took my storytelling to a whole new level. That may not have happened if it weren’t for Jeremy suggesting the seminar and the two of us going back-and-forth critiquing each other’s work… even after our careers took us to different cities.

Now, here I am years later shooting, editing and storytelling for my own company. I feel privileged that Jeremy has shared his talents with T60. He’s worked on a couple of projects as a freelancer, and I know we’ll have more for him in the future.

I’d like to say I’ve seen the best Jeremy has to offer, but the truth is… the dude just keeps getting better. He’s one of the guys I’m out to impress every time I pick-up a camera, and he’s someone whose work you should watch.

–Tony Gnau

I watched a video over the weekend that jumped out at me. It’s for Project: Living Well.

Here’s what I liked about it. Clearly professionally done, visual storytelling and I love the way they integrated graphics.

The last part is what I’d like to focus on because we get a bunch of requests from clients wanting motion graphics videos. This is the perfect alternative.

Look for a Motion graphics alternative

I think motion graphics can be effective, but they can also be exhausting. A 1-2 minute video with all sorts of text to read and graphics zooming on and off-screen can be a bit much. A video like this one makes good use of the graphics while still telling a visual story.

Just because you want to use graphics doesn’t mean you have to scrap the idea of shooting video. The two can complement one another quite well.

–Tony Gnau