Just a couple takeaways from yesterday’s ChicagoAMA Executive Sunrise Series event (VIDEO BELOW). Cars.com CMO Linda Bartman talked a lot about the company’s challenge of satisfying its audience (car buyers) and its clients (dealers/advertisers). She mentioned a couple of things I though tied nicely into businesses producing marketing videos.

Cars.com leaders are consistently doing their best to educate clients about the benefits of digital marketing. Many car dealers are apparently pretty resistant to change. Unfortunately for them, the days of customers showing up at a dealership unclear on what they want are over. Digital media has changed everything. Now, customers have researched what they want for hours online before they ever get to a dealership, so those dealers need to do a better job of selling themselves… not just their cars.… Read More

Non-profits are typically great video production clients. Mainly because they understand how effective storytelling can be in marketing an organization. One of our clients also understands it can play a big roll during a crisis like the Oklahoma tornado aftermath.

UpLifting Lives is an charity focused on housing. It helps with debt relief plans for homeowners upside down on their mortgages, and they step-in after disasters to help get people back into their neighborhoods. The video we produced for them touches on each of those missions, but yesterday I got a call from them asking for an emergency edit session.

Tailoring a message

They wanted me to cut down the video so it only mentions the disaster relief part (VIDEO BELOW).… Read More

This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine, but it also serves as a valuable lesson for business leaders. Actually, it’s a good tip for anyone shooting video on their cell phone… which is pretty much everyone. Please shoot your cell phone video in the proper aspect ratio.

Virtually all video cameras these days shoot in widescreen 16:9, right? That’s what your flat screen TV is at home. That’s what your computer monitor is at work… your laptop… YouTube screen… et cetera. The problem is when most people shoot video on their phone, they hold it vertically… which makes your aspect ratio 9:16.… Read More

I got a question last week from a business owner, “What do you do if you want a video for your business but you’re camera-shy?” It’s not an unfamiliar question and my standard answers is, “Suck it up.” After a moment of shock, I smile and say, “Do testimonial videos.”

testimonials accomplish a few things

Testimonials are the camera-shy business leader’s best friend because it’s a win-win-win. Hearing from people who use a product or service makes a big impact on viewers… the clients who provide their story get some publicity as well… and the camera-shy business leader doesn’t have to be seen or heard on camera!… Read More

A quarter century in business is something to celebrate. The ups, the downs, the people who made it everything possible… all of it makes for good video content. Give it to a loyal following and they’ll eat it up… or drink it down in this case.

Goose Island Beer Company is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this week. For those of you outside Chicago, it’s quite simply the city’s beer. Starting as a brew pub, growing into a craft brewery, and succeeding to the point where Anheuser-Busch stepped in and purchased the company. It’s the American Dream come to life, and now you can learn all about it in a newly produced video (WATCH IT BELOW).… Read More

One of the things I love about being a ChicagoAMA sponsor is getting to meet the amazing professionals who share their time and knowledge with the members. T60 produces preview videos for many of the organization’s events. That means I get to meet the keynote speakers weeks before their presentations, and that one-on-one time has been priceless to learn about their video strategy.

Basically, I get to pick their brains. A lot it centers on the topic they’ll be covering, but no surprise I also ask them questions about how they’re using video. You can imagine how excited I was when I met with the cars.com… Read More

I watched a pretty cool movie over the weekend, and it illustrated something important for anyone producing corporate videos. Keeping an open mind is crucial to storytelling.

The movie I saw was Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. It’s all about nutrition and changing the way we eat. The material is interesting, the story is well-told and it’s worthwhile watching. The trailer and full movie are below.

Alright, spoiler alert… I’m going to give away a surprise in the movie, so if you’re genuinely interested in seeing it… bookmark this post and come back to read it later.

About the movie

Okay, the movie is billed as the story of Joe Cross… an Australian man who’s 100-pounds overweight, suffering from an autoimmune disease and ready to make a big life-change.… Read More

I’m your classic half-full versus half-empty kind of guy. Always have been. That’s a good quality to have when producing corporate videos.

Here’s how my morning went last Thursday…

• 6:20 a.m.: woke up 20-minutes late
• 7:00 a.m.: realized I forgot my phone at home
• 8:30 a.m.: returned to get my phone, made me late for chiropractor appointment
• 11:10 a.m.: after an hour in the office, jumped on the L to meet a friend/colleague in the Loop for lunch
• 11:15 a.m.: CTA shut down north side L service because of a train derailment
• 11:45 a.m.: make the 30-minute walk home only to arrive to a big pile of cat puke in the front hall

That was all before Noon.… Read More

Here we go again. I had another pros and cons conversation recently with someone about do-it-yourself video content. Thankfully, I had a new argument to bolster my opinion courtesy Jon Acuff.

Acuff is a successful author. He started with a blog and his latest book, START (VIDEO BELOW), debuted on The New York Times best sellers list. I’m a big fan of his last book, Quitter, and I’m looking forward to reading this next one. He’s an entertaining writer, but even better he’s pretty inspiring.

I was listening to him talk about START during an EntreLeadership podcast and something really hit home for me.… Read More

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I consistently am when it comes to all the ways marketing videos are being used and where.

I walked into a local locksmith yesterday, Ashland Lock and Security Solutions, and I was greeted not by one video monitor… but two. A pair of flat screens playing videos featuring two different products.

Two monitors, two brands

One of them was showing a durability demonstration for a particular lock system (VIDEO BELOW) and the other highlighted a bunch of different locks and the mechanics behind how they work.

The videos actually accomplished a couple of things.… Read More