As I mentioned yesterday, our San Diego shoot inspired a bunch of blog posts. Here’s a tease ahead to next week…

Frontera Tortas: I was excited to see that celebrity chef Rick Bayless has his own restaurant in O’Hare Airport’s American Airlines terminal. It serves all sorts of gourmet tortas. I was there in the morning and had one of the best breakfast sandwiches I’ve ever tasted. While sitting at the bar eating, I looked up at the TV and was impressed with what I saw. It wasn’t the Olympics.

American Airlines Safety Video: yes, the video that tells us all to buckle-up and points out that our seats are also flotation devices. Of all things that could impress me, this might have been the most surprising. The video was… terrific. It was a whole new spin on something we’ve all seen before.

Print Turn Video: this is something I’ve written about in the past, but it was driven home during our trip. Print publications that now offer video. Sounds ridiculous, but it’s happening in all sorts of different ways.

Don’t Pass Up Good Shots: we’ve all be there. You’re producing a video, you’ve been shooting all day and put away your gear, you’re tired and thinking about evening plans… when… you spot a good shot. Do you take that camera back out? We did… and I’ll show you why.

–Tony Gnau

There’s a difference between a commercial and a good online video, but many business leaders don’t get it.

Many think their online videos need to be all about them and their company. They don’t. That’s a commercial. You know, the annoying segments people avoid while watching TV?

That’s why companies need a different approach to online videos. The videos need to benefit the audience in some way, which means flexing the creativity muscle and developing stories. Use your expertise to help… to educate.

The result is loyalty. When you produce stories that benefit your audience, they’ll return. The more they return, the more you become trusted. The more you’re trusted, the more business you’ll earn.

Putting the audience first should always be the goal.

–Tony Gnau

By now you might be aware that I’m a big fan of the web series. Instead of paying to create one long video, I often advocate producing a series of shorter videos instead.

There are plenty of companies out there doing this, and some of the bigger corporations are taking them to the next level. It’s great because they serve as good examples and provide good ideas for smaller companies.

Today, I’m featuring General Motors and its new web series for the Cadillac ATS. It’s a new model for the brand, so we get a bunch of videos at Cadillac’s YouTube Channel.

I love it! They basically put the car through the paces in different parts of the world. Patagonia, Morocco, Monaco, China… all with different environmental challenges to test the ATS.

That series on its own is pretty cool, but what’s amazing is that each location actually has its own series of videos. For example, Patagonia has a feature on the car, then there’s one on the making of that video, a story on a lighthouse where the Atlantic meets the Pacific, one on the region’s Grey Glacier, and finally a story on the indigenous tribe that lives there.

Some of the videos feature the car, some of them don’t. Sure, you get plenty of the car, but the video series is more about the adventure than the ATS. It’s all very fun, and again, serves as a great example for small business owners.

First, it demonstrates you don’t have to hit people over the head with your marketing message for them to “get” it. We’re a smart audience. We know it’s about the ATS. It’s the storytelling that keeps us watching, not an endless message about Cadillac.

Second, a series like this should get your creative juices flowing. Start thinking about your products and services in a different way. How are people using them? Feature them and their experiences instead of simply having company officials talk about facts and figures.

You don’t have to be GM. You don’t need to travel to different continents. All you need are good stories, and you can find those.

–Tony Gnau

I ran into an interesting guy yesterday. We got to talking and he asked me what I do. I told him about T60 and that we produce mostly PR and marketing videos.

That peaked his interest.

Turns out he teaches at Northwestern’s business school, and specializes in… wait for it… marketing. That started a back-and-forth, and I don’t know who was more interested in what the other had to say.

The big takeaway I got from the conversation was that we’re on the right track. I told him how I don’t think of us as marketers, that I believe we are storytellers first and foremost. He loved hearing that and talked about how he’s teaching the same thing in the classroom.

Nice to hear the next generation of marketing students are going to be on the same page as our story when they graduate.

–Tony Gnau

I’ll tell you what… American Airlines is producing some pretty good videos. If you’re in marketing or public relations, you should be taking notes because they’re doing a lot of things right.

American is in total PR mode. The CEO is reportedly on a “recovery” tour, pumping up customers and employees following the company filing for bankruptcy last November.

To go along with the tour, company officials produced a video. It’s terrific. Nothing revolutionary, just good videography, nice editing and solid storytelling.

One of the reasons I’m highlighting it is because the first two-thirds is simply a good example of an “About Us” video. It features customers and employees, and it’s just great to see how a major corporation produces something every company should have on its website.

For you small business owners, or you PR/marketing folks who help small business owners, there’s no reason you can’t have a quality video like this produced. Some of the shooting techniques might be toned down a bit to save costs, but the storytelling and message are totally doable.

–Tony Gnau

Ground Zero: September 13, 2010

We have a New York City shoot this week. I’m sure we’ll have more in the future, but I think all of them combined will have a tough time competing with our first.

We walked on Ground Zero.

There it is. Top that. It was about as powerful a shoot as I think we’ll ever have.

We produced a story on a former Chicagoland cop who walked from the Windy City to the Big Apple to raise money for fallen first responders and military families.

The shoot at Ground Zero happened by chance. While we were shooting outside the site, one of the Port Authority cops patrolling the area asked what we were up to. After telling her about the walk, she escorted us inside and introduced us to her boss. He then led us onto the site.

Talk about a video that shifted gears.

That’s a good lesson for everyone producing videos. Don’t get married to your plans. A great opportunity presented itself to us, and within 5-minutes we completely shifted the story we were telling.

Powerful, spontaneous moments will almost always trump a good plan.

–Tony Gnau

We have a shoot for a new client this week, and I knew I liked them when they gave us sample videos of the type of stories they like… from Starbucks.

Flat-out… Starbucks produces some great videos. I’ve blogged about them in the past, and they clearly understand the power of storytelling.

They also understand that featuring their own people is a great way to highlight  their company. Your team makes your business work, and they’re also your secret salespeople. They’re great subjects for videos because they’re real… authentic.

Real audiences relate to real people.

–Tony Gnau

Music is a great thing to add to a video. It’s important however to pick the right music.

If you’re producing a business video for PR or marketing purposes, make sure to choose royalty-free music. We run into a lot of clients who have a popular song in mind for their videos, not thinking about needing the rights to use that music.

Royalty-free music allows you to set a mood and do it on a budget.

–Tony Gnau

Video is a great way to take people behind-the-scenes of your company, and I have a terrific example for you today.

American Airlines sent this video out yesterday via Facebook… Where does a bag go after it’s checked?

It’s exactly what a behind-the-scenes video should be. American takes something they do everyday that we never get to see… move and transport luggage… and show us exactly how it’s done.

What do you do at your business that goes unseen? It doesn’t have to be something as technically complicated as moving bags. Even something simple can be elevated with quality storytelling.

Take people behind-the-scenes and show them the great things you do when they’re not looking.

–Tony Gnau

I saw a new Ford Escape on the road yesterday. Very nice. So nice it sent me to Ford’s YouTube channel looking for some videos.

Alas… no luck. I did however find a nice little series entitled, Drive Quality. Three short videos, each just over a minute long, and all featuring things Ford leaders do around their plants to improve production line quality.

I thought the videos were good. Nothing Earth-shattering, but I walked away as a viewer thinking… huh… that’s pretty cool.

Folks… that’s a win for Ford. I think we sometimes get hung-up on the impact of our videos. Not every video is going to set the world on fire. As a matter of fact, it is a rare video that will do that. And if it doesn’t feature a cat, it’s nearly impossible to achieve.

We need to temper our expectations. Ford got it right. I only intended on watching one of the videos when I clicked, but I watched all three and learned something interesting about the company.

I can only hope your videos are as successful.

–Tony Gnau

SIDE NOTE!… I did eventually find some videos featuring the new Escape. :-)