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Content marketing has been around a long time but social media has really kicked it into high gear, and few organizations are producing better video content than Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.

Yeah… that’s right. A museum is kicking some video content butt. They’re consistently doing it better than most Fortune 500 companies.

The Brain Scoop

The video series is called, The Brain Scoop. It features Emily Graslie, who is one of the museum’s scientists and Chief Curiosity Correspondent, as she examines things you’ll find at the museum as well as the natural history and science that surrounds us everyday.

I love the series. I love the commitment to content and the passion that comes through in every video. Emily is clearly bright, but her enthusiasm for what she’s covering jumps off the screen and grabs the audience.

Good example for businesses

For me it’s a classic example that just about every business or organization should pay attention to. Many business leaders think, why would we ever create a video series? We produce bottle openers. Who’s going to watch videos about that? Or… we’re an accounting firm. Who’s going to want to watch videos about accounting?

If you’re one of those people, please watch a few of The Brain Scoop videos. What you’ll get is smart content. The series doesn’t dumb down the subject matter. It’s been created for a select audience that will appreciate its thoughtfulness.

As a matter of fact, some would probably consider the content… dare I say it… boring. That’s hard for me to write because I find the content really interesting. However, if someone glazes over at the thought of science or natural history, the series isn’t for them… and that’s okay.

It just goes to show that whatever content you’re working with, if you commit to it and do it with passion the videos will find an audience.

Video content statistics

Don’t take my word for it. Take a look at the results.

The Field Museum is open 364 days a year and boasts an annual attendance of about 1.2 million visitors. Impressive.

During it’s first year producing The Brain Scoop, they posted about 60 videos that received over 6 million views. WOW!

How’s that break down? How does it average out?

• about 3300 people visit the museum everyday it’s open
• about 100,000 people watch every video that’s produced

Talk about expanding your reach. Think the leaders at the Field Museum are happy with those numbers? How would you like that kind of exposure for you business or organization? Is this video content thing starting to sound a little more interesting?

Your first step to video content

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No doubt… the future of content marketing is bright, and video is going to be a big part of it. If you have an idea for a series, there are some things to think about. You need a strategy.

• who’s our audience?
• how will we deliver it to them?
• how will you promote the video?
• how will we measure success?
• who’s going to produce the videos?

Those are just some things to get you started. If you need help, feel free to ask me some questions of your own.

I’m not going to promise that if you create a video series it’s going to explode like The Brain Scoop. They found a niche. They committed to producing quality videos. They’re doing a lot of things right.

I will say if you have a similar commitment, work on a solid strategy and develop a realistic definition of success… you’ll be on your way.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 12 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

I hope everyone had a terrific Christmas. The entire season was pretty fun for us. Now, it’s time to gear-up for 2014, so I just thought I’d briefly fill you in on what quality content we’ll have for you in the new year.

• the blog  you know and love about video, PR, and marketing will continue right here. We’ll be blogging one day a week and currently plan to release posts every Tuesday morning.
• there will also be some guest blog posts. We’re going to get some of our PR and marketing friends to contribute content here at the T60 Blog, and I’ll also make sure to re-post any blog posts I have writen for other blogs (spinsucks.com comes to mind).
• we’ll also start producing a monthly vlog. We’re planning to post it the last Tuesday of each month and we’ll do that right here at the T60 Blog.
• our newsletter (sign-up) will also drop once a month during the first week of the month. It will contain additional thoughts and case studies based on the previous month’s most popular blog post.

2014 is all about quality content

I’m going to do my best to make sure everything we churn out this year will be helpful to anyone who’s trying to do a better job of marketing their business. We’ll offer video examples as well as our commentary.

Also, we’re always looking for suggestions on what we should cover, so we encourage you to participate. If you have any video-related questions or subjects you’d like to see covered here at the T60 Blog, please feel free to send me a note (tgnau@t60productions.com) and let me know. We’d love to create content focused on what you’re interested in.

We hope to hear from you in the new year.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 12 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

One of our clients is pretty big in the convention industry. Okay, they don’t get any bigger or better… it’s Chicago’s McCormick Place… the nation’s largest convention center. We’ve been shooting in and around the facility a lot lately and it has led to all sorts of thoughts surrounding why video content needs to be a part of your convention services.

There are many ways you can incorporate video into your convention presentation. Sure, you can put up huge displays pumping out video during the event, but I’d like to focus on video you can use to market your business and brand throughout the convention.

Before the convention

Your very first video should be in the can before you ever get to the convention site. It’s the preview video and there are various ways you can handle it.

• customize your existing About Us video. You should already have a video at your website that tells people who you are as a business and what you stand for. Take that same video and add a sound bite or two that focuses it on the convention. Since you’re building off an existing video, this should be an inexpensive option. If you don’t have an existing About Us video, now’s your chance to kill two birds with one stone. Produce one for the convention, but make sure it’s something you can also use moving forward at your website.
• produce something from scratch that previews what people will find at the convention. You don’t want to give away the farm here. It’s an opportunity to tease people with what you’ll highlight at the convention. Feature issues or problems facing your customers, then talk briefly about how you’re about to solve those problems. The key word here is “briefly.” Give them enough information to get them interested, but not enough that they know the full story. Remember, this video is supposed to entice them to visit you at the convention.

With either video, you can then use it as a promotional video through social media and email. It’s something that you can distribute in the weeks and/or days leading up to the convention, but you can also continue to send it out during the convention as well. Adding the event’s hashtag will help with exposing it to a relevant audience beyond your own database.

During the convention

This is becoming more and more popular among conventioneers. I was just at the Radiological Society of North America‘s convention, and Philips Health was producing videos all week. Having a video crew on-site during the show works on many levels. It allows you to spotlight whatever products or services you’re pushing at the convention. Those videos might inspire attendees to stop-by. Even better… it opens the convention doors to people who couldn’t make it.

Think about how amazing that is. Conventions were once only for the people who were attending, but not anymore. Producing videos at the event and sending them out via email and your social networks turns your convention audience into anyone who has online access. It also allows that audience to share the experience with their colleagues and friends.

The thing to keep in mind here is that you have to continue to focus these videos on your customers. Fight against the trap of simply promoting yourself. Don’t just interview the C-Suite and sales force, also make sure to involve the people who are visiting your space. Interview them about why they’re there, what they do and what they think of the solutions you’re providing them. Get their email address so you can send them a link to the video. Think they’ll share it?

After the convention

Here’s your chance to wrap-up the whole convention experience. Create something that captures the spirit of the event. You want something that’s going to remind attendees about what a good time they had and how much they learned, as well as providing people who couldn’t attend a sense of what went on.

This is also an opportunity for you to give people a sense of where things are going now that the convention is over. Talk about the future of your industry and how your company is going to be a part of it.

Adding video to your convention services

This really is an incredible time for companies that participate in conventions. Conventions have always been a great opportunity to meet customers and prospects one-on-one. Video can help you draw them to your convention space.

The really great part though is that you can now share the convention experience with all of those people who aren’t attending. You may not get a chance to speak with them face-to-face, but it still gives you an opportunity to market to them. It even helps attendees share what they’ve learned with decision makers back home.

Adding video to your convention plans can take the experience to a whole new level.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 12 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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I’m really loving AT&T’s commercial series that features various kid focus groups, and it has me thinking about how to turn the idea into a focus group video series.

The latest AT&T commercial centers around Thanksgiving. It follows the same pattern as the others… four kids… one man asking questions… and typically a cute comment that’s turned into a fun joke.

How can we turn this into an effective online marketing series?

I don’t know… I’m brainstorming here.

• maybe put together a focus group using a company’s team members’ kids… have them test company products and then comment on them?
• how about having someone in sales do a pitch to a group of kids and then ask for questions?
• it could be an internal video series… a focus group of kids asked to talk about various company policies and initiatives?

The series doesn’t even have to focus around kids. You could do the same thing using the company’s team members as the focus group. I just like the idea of getting people talking about products or services and seeing where it leads. As a professional storyteller, I know I could get a conversation going that would result in something interesting.

Focus group video serves as inspiration

What am I getting at here? Simple. I’m trying to get you to think like a video producer. You see something you like on TV or online and reshape it into something that might work for your company.

The idea is to find a series idea that will grab an audience’s attention. A series that will keep them interested in the information being discussed. A series that will have them looking forward to the next video.

That’s how a video producer thinks. In my case, it’s turning a fun commercial series into something that might work for one of our clients. For you, it might be a music video, a TV show or a movie.

It’s not stealing. I’m not talking about producing something identical to what you like. It’s a way of finding creative inspiration.

Look at the videos that entertain you and find a way to put them to work for your business.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 12 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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A very, very cold bike ride yesterday had me thinking of a viral product video that’s been making the rounds.

Winter time in Chicago is tough as a bike rider. Finding a hat that’s warm enough but still fits under a bike helmet can be a challenge, which brings me to the video. It’s called, The Invisible Bike Helmet. It uses a technique that when done well, can be a really effective form a storytelling.

The Jaws Technique

How you seen the movie, Jaws? If you haven’t, it’s a classic and a must-watch. The behind-the-scenes stories about Jaws also happen to be just as good as the movie itself. One of them is about the shark used during the production.

The shark didn’t work. Steven Spielberg had so many problems with it he even altered his storytelling approach. Instead of showing the shark terrorizing people, he teases us. The audience sees the results of shark attacks, but we never actually get to see the shark until the final act. It was a smart thing to do because Spielberg plays on our imagination to help build suspense.

This technique is used in a similar way during the bike helmet video. We don’t get to see the helmet until the end of the video. The story behind the invention is compelling enough to keep us interested, all the while building our curiosity.

Will it work for your product video?

It’s a technique to consider as you’re thinking about your own product videos. It takes a bit of bravery, a lot of people are so excited about what their company is working on that they want to show people right away. They don’t have the storytelling patience to delay showing the product.

Every situation is unique, but I’d say if you have a product that a lot of people are going to be interested in… and you know that… the Jaws technique might be right for you.

This strategy is outside the box and could heighten excitement around your launch even more.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 12 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

 

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How do you take a public relations hit or joke and turn it to your favor… have fun with it. Take Chicago pizza chain Lou Malnati’s and their new PR video.

How it all started

As you may or may not be aware, One World Trade Center in New York recently unseated Chicago’s Willis Tower as the nation’s tallest building. While Willis Tower has more floors, 1 WTC’s spire atop the building makes it 47-feet taller. This led to a funny story on The Daily Show that evolved into Jon Stewart ripping Chicago pizza.

Okay… it was all in fun. It’s not like this was some serious critique or condemnation of our beloved deep dish here in Chicago, but that didn’t stop one of our local chains from having some fun of their own.

The pizza PR video response

Lou Malnati’s owner Marc Malnati flew to New York and shot a video to counter Stewart’s rant. Now… let’s be clear. The folks at Lou Malnati’s are much better at making pizza than comedy, but the video is still fun.

Lou Malnati’s took something topical and used it to promote their own PR message. CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA IS AWESOME! Okay, it’s something I feel passionate about as well. Again, it’s all in good fun. New York… Chicago… we love the back-and-forth debate whether it’s pizza… sports… politics… whatever.

Well, no surprise the whole exchange has been a big hit on social media. Stewart’s video went viral last Friday receiving hundreds of thousands of views. Lou Malnati’s launched it’s video yesterday (Tuesday) and has already racked up nearly 30-thousand views.

How would your company like that kind of publicity?

Well… here’s your challenge… keep your eyes and ears on fun things happening in the news and social media surrounding your industry. Have a video budget ready to take advantage of the right situations. Establish a relationship with video pros who can act fast.

If you do all of that… there might be a PR video you can create to get in on the fun.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 12 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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Let your team carry the company torch through internal videos. If you run a quality organization, they’re ready to do it. They want to shout to all their friends about how much they enjoy working at the company.

I blogged yesterday about attending the Ragan Communications 2013 Best Practices in Video for Communicators Summit, and a lot of the conference was focused on producing internal videos. It’s a good idea for a couple of reasons.

First, producing internal videos is a great way to boost morale. Featuring team members and bragging about the job their doing, well, who doesn’t like a pat on the back?

The second reason is the one I’d like to focus on today, and I’ll use my alma mater as an example.

Lesson courtesy USC football

I went to USC. If you know anything about college sports, you know that USC is a football powerhouse. The last four years have been rough on the school after the NCAA imposed some harsh sanctions, accusing USC leaders of losing “institutional control” over their student-athletes. I won’t get into that, but the majority of the sports community continues to scratch their heads about it considering other schools have done far worse and received lighter penalties.

But I digress… it’s been a rough four years. So there we were in an unfamiliar role on Saturday night, an underdog playing at home against 4th ranked Stanford. It was the game of the week on national television. The entire college football world was focused on the L.A. Coliseum.

The Trojans slugged it out with the Cardinal for four quarters, and with about 20-seconds left… they kicked a game winning field goal. The stands emptied onto the field starting a party that raged all night.

It was the kind of thing that highlights why college sports are so much fun. If only there was a way to capture that moment and share it with alumni and fans. A way to show them all the things they didn’t get to see like what it looked like from the sidelines, the raw emotion from inside the locker room, the pure joy of that winning kick.

Oh wait… there is a way. USC released a video yesterday afternoon on its YouTube channel featuring all of those things. 

Lesson for your internal videos

Now… think about all of this in a different way. USC is your company. The alumni and fans are your team members. Think they’re going to share that video with people?

What are milestone moments on the horizon for your company? Are you launching a new product? Closing in on your 1,000th sale? Are you about to set a new safety record? Open a new facility?

The list could go on and on. The point is you should be documenting a lot of these things, and there’s no better way than video. Producing a video around these types of events will provide that morale boost I mentioned, but it will also allow your team members to spread the word via their social networks about all the great things you’re doing.

That’s good HR, PR and marketing all rolled into one.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 12 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

Last week, I attended the 2013 Best Practices in Video for Communicators Summit put on by Ragan Communications… thanks for the invite Jenny Fukumoto! It was mainly geared towards HR, PR and marketing people, but I looked at it as a chance for some professional development. My biggest takeaway was a terrific reminder as to the importance of video strategy.

Most of the speakers talked about strategy, but the person who really stressed it was George Wright. You know him as the man behind the hugely successful video campaign for BlendTec blenders… Will it blend? Side note… he concluded his presentation by pulling out a BlendTec and blending a tape measure. Pretty cool!

Anyway, he talked about the strategy behind that campaign, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

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Hoping to provide inspiration today for some fun marketing videos by using a recent Sports Illustrated production.

Earl Thomas is the starting free safety for the Seattle Seahawks. Sports Illustrated decided to have some fun with him… dropping him at Pike Place Market and asking him to give people passing by free safety advice.

Get it? He’s a free safety. He’s giving free safety advice. Clever, right? Note to Mrs. G… “free safety” is a football position. I’ll point it out during the next Bears game.

Anyway, adding to the fun is that taken out of context nobody recognized him as a pro football player. I’m sure he just seemed like a random dude.

You don’t have to laugh out loud

The video isn’t hilarious, but as I mentioned it is fun. Comedy is hard to do, fun is a little easier.

If you’re a content creator for your business, I’d love for you to take a cue from Sports Illustrated. Start thinking about your company in a different way. What are some fun things that take place around the office, factory, et cetera? Start featuring those things in your marketing videos.

Is there someone who likes wearing funny ties? That’s a video. Do people go all out decorating their cubicles? That’s a video. Any good superstitions surrounding people’s jobs? That’s a video.

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Fun marketing videos case study

Outtakes are another fun thing you can add to your videos. We recently produced a post-event video for Content Jam here in Chicago. We were getting speakers at the event to answer the question, “What’s the future of content marketing?”

Kind of a tough question to answer without some thought. Knowing we wanted the video to be “fun,” we hit record and let the camera roll during their time thinking about their answer. We then used those outtakes to set the tone for the rest of the video.

Business can be about big ideas, big solutions and even big bucks… but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun from time to time.

If your company culture allows it, adding the occasional fun video to your other content will spice things up and reinvigorate your audience.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 12 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

I met a woman yesterday who’s facing a common problem… getting the C-Suite to think like their corporate video target audience. Sometimes the two groups operate in opposite ways from one another and it can be a problem.

How it happens

An executive hands down a directive… make a video about “X.” It should include this “Y” and “Z” information.

Unfortunately, they walked right past the first question that needs to be asked. Who’s the audience?

Without that information, their video about “X” that includes “Y” and “Z” information is pointless. Who’s going to watch? That question will shape everything else, even the information you decide to include.

Another situation might be where production has started and an executive wants to add something to a video that you know won’t connect with the intended audience. Sometimes it’s a random statistic, sometimes it’s a company initiative. Whatever it might be, they’re pretty pumped about it and want it highlighted in the video.

Aligning executives with the corporate video target audience

The first thing I ask the executive.. again.. is who’s our audience? Then… if you were a member of that audience, why would you care about this statistic/initiative?

When they can’t give an answer, I immediately follow it with… so if the audience doesn’t care, why are we going to include it in the video? You don’t have to be snarky about it, and whatever you do don’t do it in a know-it-all tone. Be gentle, but still ask those questions.

I know there are some hard heads out there, but most people get it when you start breaking it down for them like that. In cases where someone still insists on doing it their way, you can continue pushing back but your good points will probably only have them digging in their heals even deeper.

I always try to instill in our clients upfront that it’s not “their” video they’re creating. It’s their audience’s video. Some choose not to see it that way, and that’s their prerogative. In the end, you need to find a way to make them happy while still staying true to a story that will connect with the audience. It can be a difficult balance, but it’s one talented producers can manage.

My advice… the more you talk about the audience and its needs and desires upfront, the easier the process will proceed. Keep asking that question about the audience over and over… who’s our audience? Why do they care about this?

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 12 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.