One of video’s great benefits is authenticity. Let me rephrase that. One of the potential benefits is authenticity.

You can’t hide in video. There are all sorts of ways you can use the written word to sugar coat something, but put those same written words into a video and people will see right through you.

That’s why unscripted PR and marketing videos work best. Let people say things in their own words. Let events unfold naturally. Audiences pick up on these things and know when something’s being staged or something is genuine.

Playing it straight with people will result in an authentic message audiences will appreciate.

–Tony Gnau

I went to the Whole Foods website yesterday to see if they carry a specific product and found something even better… videos. Not just any videos, but well-done PR and marketing videos.

Here’s a company whose leaders are doing it right. By all means, please check out their video page. They have cooking demonstrations, features on store openings, examples of community projects, even an ongoing series called Hungry For More. It’s a Food Network/Travel Channel-style production that highlights the products you’ll find at Whole Foods and how they’re made.

Wow! Have they been reading this blog!?

One of the best things about a lot of the videos is that they aren’t even about Whole Foods. I mean, they are about Whole Foods in a greater sense. The videos just aren’t saying, “Look at us! Look at us! Aren’t we great!?”

This is the type of video content more corporate leaders need to be creating. By highlighting their vendors and communities, the company shines.

Funny how that works.

–Tony Gnau

Want to produce a good video? Make sure the people you’re putting in it are passionate.

I did an interview yesterday with a nun. She’s passionate about her cause, and boy did it come through on camera. You’ll get to see it when the project’s finished.

Too many companies are focused on managing the message, scripting situations, but that isn’t the right recipe for a successful video. Give me an unscripted story and passionate people any day.

That’s the way to get an authentic message that will connect with audiences.

There’s so many people looking for work out there, you might be surprised to find out that many companies continue to produce recruiting videos to attract top candidates. Take a closer look and you’ll realize some of these videos can provide lessons in PR and marketing.

Look no further than Starbucks. The company has a video front and center on the career page at its website.

The video’s a bit long… nearly 10-minutes! I’m a big believer in keeping internet videos less than 2-minutes, but here I’m okay with it. People are logging on to the career page to learn more about working at Starbucks, so you have an audience that’s motivated to watch. You can get away with a longer video in those cases.

Anyway, the video is skillfully done. Starbucks presents itself as a “people company that serves coffee,” and the video lives up to that by simply introducing us to some of its employees.

The video also demonstrates a great marketing technique. It provides just enough information to wet your appetite, but doesn’t weigh you down with facts and figures. For example, a couple of employees mention “bean stock,” but we never get details about the program.

As an audience, we quickly surmise it’s some sort of equity rewards program. No need to give the details during the video. That would just break up the flow. As soon as I was done watching, I explored the website to find out more about bean stock.

Way to go Starbucks! By focusing on the stories, you enticed me to find out more on my own… and I’m not even looking for a job.

Seems like a good marketing technique to me.

–Tony Gnau

Is she awesome or what!?  PR pro… blogging maestro… and easily wooed by a latte. Gini and I have been e-friends for a short while, and we finally managed to get together for coffee this week. A few days later, she honors me with a #FollowFriday on spinsucks.com. Totally cool!

For those of you joining us here for the first time… welcome. Friday’s are typically my day off from blogging, but there’s usually something new every Monday through Thursday.

Speaking of lattes, I actually just saw a Starbucks video I’m going to blog about on Monday, so please come back for that! In the meantime, feel free to look back at our previous posts.

Anyway, thanks for coming… hope to hear from you in the future… please feel free to share your Gini Dietrich stories. :-)

–Tony Gnau

Here we go. It’s August 2011, but the presidential campaigning for November 2012 is already here.

Wait! Don’t go away. This post doesn’t have anything to do with politics. Instead, it has everything to do with promoting you and your business.

Subscribe to any of the candidates’ YouTube channels, and you’re going to start getting their videos on a regular basis. They put a lot of time and effort into creating videos they think will appeal to you, and there’s a good reason they produce so many.

The more video you watch, the more you feel like you know them. The more you feel like you know them, the more likely you’ll be to vote for them.

Same thing applies to businesses. That’s why I encourage clients to produce a series of short videos released over a given period of time instead of one long video. We’re trying to capture that same feeling with audiences that politicians covet.

Want to see how it’s done? Check out this Mitt Romney video. It’s not an attack ad or a long internet video. It’s a short look at Romney, and I’m sure one of many to come… from the GOP… as well as the President.

–Tony Gnau

It sounds strange, but the more video content you produce, the more money you can save in the long run.

That’s because you start to build a raw video library. In many cases, the more raw video you accumulate, the less you need to shoot. The less you need to shoot, the lower your production cost.

For example, Lincoln Park Zoo is one of our regular clients, and we’ve shot a lot of video there. When zoo leaders decided they wanted to have a year-in-review video produced for their annual meeting, they asked us if we could use existing video and some photos they’d provide to create something?

No problem. Not having to go to the zoo to shoot all sorts of new video saved them big bucks, and they still got a great video. I was at the meeting and it received a huge round of applause.

Not to mention they then had a video they could share in an email campaign and via their social media.

The more video you produce, the less expensive it can get.

–Tony Gnau

VIDEO: Lincoln Park Zoo Year-In-Review

Every once in a while it’s good to take a step back and look at your past work.

We’re putting together a proposal for a repeat client, so we watched the last video we produced for them. It’s been five years, and you know what, it really made me reflect on where we started, how far we’ve come, and it really gave me a boost of energy.

Five years ago, every client was a new client and the thought of getting to a point where we have customers coming back for more was just a hope. Now it happens on a regular basis. That’s pretty exciting.

This particular client’s video was an award-winner and it stands up well today. Hopefully, they’ll like our proposal and sign a contract for this new project. If that’s the case, I’ll come back to the blog and share the news and that past video.

–Tony Gnau

No matter what your profession, it’s easy to get complacent. Especially when you’re good at what you do. You fall into a rhythm doing things the way you’ve always done them.

Stop it. Break that habit. I wear a lot of hats as a video producer and one of them is as videographer. I shoot most of what T60 produces, and I definitely find myself falling into a rhythm. I have a style I’m comfortable with, and it’s how I often find myself shooting without even realizing it.

I’m going to break that up a bit. I’m going to start experimenting with some new shooting styles.

I just finished watching the series finale of the NBC show Friday Night Lights. I have always loved the way the series was photographed, and I think it’s about time I incorporate some of those techniques into the PR/marketing videos we produce.

It doesn’t mean I’m abandoning my style y’all, it just means I’m going to add some new plays to the playbook.

Clear eyes, full hearts…

–Tony Gnau

We’re embarking on something new today… T60 is editing its first 30-second television commercial for a client. The experience has been an education.

We thought it was simply going to be like creating a 30-second web video, but it definitely is not the same. No big road blocks to report. The spot is shaping up nicely. There’s just a different mentality to producing a commercial and it has me watching them in a whole new way.

It’s still storytelling, but it’s high-octane storytelling.

We have a new respect for production companies specializing in TV commercials.

–Tony Gnau