That headline has been T60’s slogan since I started the company eight years ago, and the tradition may continue.

Admittedly, this is some self-patting on the back. I learned yesterday I’ve been nominated for another Emmy Award.

As many of you know, I got my start as a TV news reporter… winning three Emmy awards during my 9-year career. What many of you might not know is I continue to moonlight at WGN-TV as a freelance producer and writer.

At first, it started as a way to make some money while I got T60 going. Now, I freelance there less often, but it’s still a lot of fun when I do. I get to keep my toes in TV news, and I also get to work on a terrific team.

Being part of a team

Team is the key word here because for the first time in my career, I’m nominated as part of a team. Our 5pm newscast is nominated for best news gathering (spot news) for our coverage of the NATO protests. I wrote for that show, edited video and coordinated live shots, so I’m one member of the team that’s nominated.

We haven’t won anything yet. It’s just a nomination, but it’s fun. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work. I often tell people the Telly is like an Emmy for people in the non-broadcasting world, but that’s what’s cool about an Emmy. Everyone knows what one is and the achievement speaks for itself.

Any award you’ve won that you want to brag on a bit? I’d love to hear about it and give you a virtual pat on the back.

–Tony Gnau

And you thought I was done blogging about BrandSmart. Well… so did I, but I was going over my notes one more time and another blog post jumped out at me.

Encyclopedia Britannica. Did you think the internet killed it? Not even close. The company’s senior vice president and general manager of education told the BrandSmart audience Britannica has been changing with the times.

They no longer print encyclopedias, instead, the company delivers its content online. The internet hasn’t killed Britannica. It’s actually given leaders there a chance to make their content even more engaging.

Britannica Video

I know, you can see where this is going. The first thing you find when logging on to the website is video. Obviously, something the print edition could never do, but it speaks volumes about the medium about how it’s a powerful information tool.

Here’s a company that’s been in the information and printing business for hundreds of years. You read that right… hundreds of years. The company was founded in 18th Century, and after all that time they leave the printing business and what’s one of the first things that’s added to the content… video.

They understand the power of video. It has the ability to capture people’s attention, peak their interest and get them to seek even more information.

Seeing any benefit to business here?

–Tony Gnau

All week I’ve been highlighting some of my takeaways from last week’s BrandSmart conference. The event was put on by the Chicago chapter of the American Marketing Association.

Panel discussions… featured speakers… movers and shakers in the marketing world… all under one roof. It was a terrific event.

T60 is a Chicago-AMA sponsor, so we were thrown into the mix as a BrandSmart sponsor as well. We got to set up a display table and talk to people about our passion… storytelling.

BrandSmart Video competition

One of the things a lot of people commented on was that there were two other video sponsors that had tables. Nothing like a little healthy competition, right?

Wrong. We all talked with one another, checked out each others’ stuff and you know what? We’re totally not in competition with each other. All three of us clearly have our own areas of expertise.

One of the companies focuses mostly on 30-second commercials. The other company seemed to feature a lot of longer format videos. T60… short and to-the-point storytelling.

Production companies are all different

If you’re looking for someone to produce your videos, please keep in mind no two production companies are alike. Chances are the three of us at BrandSmart could all produce what the others specialize in, but in T60’s case we choose not to. We rather focus on our passion.

So… remember to ask the production companies you approach what types of projects they enjoy the most. The bigger the company, the more likely they dabble in a little bit of everything, but what are they best at producing? Look at their work and you should also be able to judge for yourself.

It’s important to find someone who lines up with what you’re looking for. I’ll tell you right now, if you’re looking for a production company that’s going to roll in for the day with a big production team carrying all sorts of fun video toys… T60 isn’t the company for you. We’re lean, fast and focused on telling good stories… short on flash and long on substance.

Figure out the type of video you want, the type of production team that fits with the project and pick a company that’s going to deliver.

–Tony Gnau

No surprise… a big topic of conversation at BrandSmart 2012 was the rise of mobile and what it means to marketing. A question asked during one of the panels is if video has a role.

Alex Kutsishin, president at FiddleFly mobile web solution said adding video to mobile is “brilliant.” He seemed totally on-board and liked the idea of QR codes in stores sending customers to mobile videos.

Mobile video is brilliant, but…

There was a little push-back from Ro Kumar, CEO at Digital Aisle. He cautioned the audience saying video in that situation needs special care. The issue… length. Mr. Kumar says the last thing customer are going to want to do is stand in an aisle watching a long video.

Agreed. I blogged yesterday about producing videos focused on your audience. That’s true when it comes to selecting your content, but it also means considering where they’ll watch the video.

Consider your audience

If you have a captive audience at a meeting or an industry conference like BrandSmart (virtually all the presenters used video), you can show a 3-4 minute video. If your audience is watching on a smart phone in a store, you better keep it short. I’d suggest 1-minute or less.

Mobile is here and video has a role, but you still need to know your audience.

–Tony Gnau

Probably my favorite moment from last week’s BrandSmart conference was a presentation by Second City. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Second City is the nation’s premiere training ground for improv comedy.

The group drew a comparison between comedy and marketing. One of the things they focused on is… audience. They talked about how they adjust their shows and performances based on how the audience is reacting. Certainly, very similar to what marketers do.

Who’s your audience?

It’s also a great comparison for videos. The number one question you should be asking when you produce a video is who’s the audience? Every decision on what goes into the video and how it’s presented should be pushed through that filter.

Why does this matter to the audience? How does it benefit them? You have to answer these questions.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in chest pounding when producing videos. You’re proud of your business, but remember… it isn’t about you, it’s about the audience.

–Tony Gnau

BrandSmart 2012 turned out to be an interesting education. The annual event thrown by the Chicago Chapter of the American Marketing Association brought together all sorts of marketing bigwigs.

It was an education for me because while T60 works as an arm of the marketing business, it’s only part of what we do. We’re not immersed in all aspects of the industry everyday, so it was interesting hearing about where things appear to be going.

Video was certainly discussed and I’ll blog more about that later this week (PLUG!), but today I’m going to touch on a simple observation. Virtually every presenter at BrandSmart used video during their presentation.

Now, we’ve done a bunch of videos for clients who wanted them specifically for a live presentation at meetings or conferences. Lincoln Park Zoo and Glenwood Academy jump to mind. Videos like these are great because instead of just delivering information from a presenter standing on stage, you can add dynamic and interesting storytelling.

Here’s the thing that struck me though at BrandSmart. The presenters were experienced marketers. They understand storytelling and how to capture an audience. They do it everyday. Their livelihood depends on it, and these people chose video to help them connect with the BrandSmart audience.

If that isn’t an endorsement for video, I don’t know what is.

Using video during your typical speech, presentation or corporate event can turn it into something special.

–Tony Gnau

Nice day Wednesday at BrandSmart 2012. The Chicago chapter of the American Marketing Association brought together some great panels and speakers to talk about all the changes taking place in marketing.

The highlight for me might have been Second City. Someone from the improv comedy organization talked about the similarities between what they do and what marketers do. Didn’t hurt bringing some Second City performers along to do a few quick sketches.

Anyway, good stuff… and I plan on sharing it all with you next week. TEASE! That’s right, Monday-Thursday next week I’ll share some observations from BrandSmart 2012.

Stay tuned!

–Tony Gnau

We’ve featured Lincoln Park Zoo a lot here at T60. LPZ is a regular client, and as you might imagine… a pretty fun client to have. This week is a prime example of why.

A baby gorilla was born last week at the zoo. Things are very secretive when a zoo baby is born. They like to keep it under wraps until the baby is ready for all the attention it’s going to get, so I was excited when I received the top-secret email over the weekend wondering if I was available for a shoot on Monday.

Video adds appeal to your media releases

See… Lincoln Park Zoo does it right. Leaders there understand how to use the media room at their website. They wanted quality video to post that journalists and bloggers could share with their audiences. Enter T60.

How often will you see businesses post a news release at their media page and nothing more? Maybe the occasional photo or two? Not LPZ. They understand the power of video. A zoo baby means media attention. Even a news release is going to get stories, but adding photos and video puts it over the top.

costs less than you think

Here’s a surprising tidbit as well. It doesn’t cost much. A simple broll shoot like this (baby gorilla video) will likely costs hundreds of dollars… not thousands. Our broll packages start at $500. PLUG!

So… does your media center contain video? Next time you send out a news release, include some photos and video and compare the coverage to the last time you sent out a release. You’ll be surprised how enticing video can be.

–Tony Gnau

Politics of Storytelling.

That was a CNN headline yesterday scrawled at the bottom of a TV screen that caught my attention. I didn’t get the full story, but the subhead said something about how important it is for politicians to tell their story and not let someone else define who they are.

Business Needs storytelling too

Anyone think that’s exclusive to politics? Of course not. Corporations… brands… small businesses… they all need to be doing this, and video happens to be one of the best ways.

Why? Because seeing is believing.

Video lets people see for themselves and form their own opinion. Whether you’re simply setting the everyday tone for your business, or you’re a company doing damage control, video gives you the ability to deliver your story in a way that will capture an audience’s attention.

Let them see and believe you.

–Tony Gnau

I don’t care if you’re a solopreneur or CEO at a Fortune 500 company, money is always an issue. The number one question I get asked about video… how much does it cost?

I’m not afraid to answer that question. You’ll find T60 is a rarity in the video world. We actually post prices on our website. Of course, those are ballpark figures. Every project is unique, but I at least wanted to give people some sort of idea of what we charge.

Wants and needs

Which leads me to the subject at hand. We have all sorts of wants and needs at T60 right now, and everything costs money. I’d love to just write a check and get everything all at once, but that’s not realistic so we’re doing something radical.

We’re budgeting. Every creative person out there just got a cold chill. I’m with you, but it’s necessary if we want to achieve our goals.

We’re in the process of a complete website overhaul, and it’s just about time to upgrade our camera and editing suite. There’s a lot involved. We can’t do it all at once so we’re saving money, earmarking it for the things we value, and making purchases as we get the cash.

Video budgeting

Video is interesting. You can have it produced for as little as $500, or it could cost $20,000. There’s all sort of variables. So you know what you need to do… budget. Talk to producers ahead of time. Get an idea of what your video will cost before you set your budget.

FYI… this also happens to be true with anything you need to buy for your business. Save, save, save!

You’ll thank me later.

–Tony Gnau

p.s. T60 is debt free and doesn’t have a credit card or line of credit. Yes, it is possible. THANK YOU Dave Ramsey.