Tag Archives: corporate communication

Monday, I basically declared it “video in public places” week. The next day I passed on posting anything due to an early shoot. Today, I’m not posting anything on video in public places.

Someone clearly needs to teach me a lesson on following up on my promotional teases.

Well, timeliness… breaking news… they trump promos!

My shoot yesterday was familiar and unusual all at once, and it was certainly good lesson material. It was a b-roll shoot for  big company… familiar. But it also involved shooting video of something I never imagined I’d ever shoot. Twinkies. Possibly the last Twinkies ever purchased.

Hostess is bankrupt and closing shop, so that means the iconic treat is going away. Monday afternoon I got a call from a PR pro working for the agency representing JEWEL-OSCO. The grocery chain had just found out it was selected to receive the last shipment from Hostess, so they planned to put the snacks on the shelves the next morning at 5:30 a.m.

They knew this was going to generate media interest, so they wanted a b-roll package they could send to the TV folks. Picking up on the lesson?

They found out about the shipment, and one of their first instincts was to make sure they shot video. In JEWEL-OSCO’s case, it’s big time local and national media coverage, but it doesn’t have to be that to warrant a video shoot.

Is your company doing something noteworthy for customers, your industry… heck… for your own employees? Video is a great way to highlight it. You’d be hard pressed to find a medium that brings things to life better than video.

JEWEL-OSCO and their PR people know it. Now you do too.

–Tony Gnau

I feel like I should declare this “video in public places” week. I’ve been noticing video in some interesting places recently.

The first one I’ll highlight is a video I saw playing at a restaurant. Now you might be saying to yourself that isn’t all that unusual. You can walk into tons of restaurants and see TVs everywhere. What made this particular restaurant interesting was that I wasn’t at the restaurant. I was walking by.

It featured some flat screen TVs in the windows facing out, and they were playing video shot inside the restaurant. Shots from inside the kitchen, the dining area, and of course, shots of the food.

Standing out in a crowd

I have to admit, it caught my attention. The restaurant is in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. For those of you unfamiliar with Chicago, this is in the heart of downtown and one of the city’s main nightlife districts. There are restaurants on every street, every corner.

Pretty easy to get overlooked in a place like that, but the video made the restaurant stand out. At first I thought it might be a tacky indicator that this wouldn’t be a nice place to eat, but after peaking inside it looked like a nice, high-end restaurant.

My point is simple. Video is an attention grabber. The owners could have put up a giant photo of their food, but I would have walked right by. Instead, they chose video and it worked. They got my attention.

You can do this too

This isn’t just a tactic restaurants can use. Any business wanting to grab prospects attention can use video to do it. Whether it’s someone walking by, or surfing through the internet. Good quality video stands out.

Now, I’m sure the restaurant’s owners would have loved for their video to inspire me to stop in, but I had already eaten dinner. Video can only do so much.

–Tony Gnau

I was talking with a prospect the other day about how we would shoot interviews with his people when he asked if we have studio space. I said, “No.” He was confused and wanted to know where we would shoot the interviews, and I told him at his offices.

Not what he wanted to hear. In his mind, his offices wouldn’t look good, but I assured him we were capable of making almost any space suitable for an interview.

This is a common concern for a lot of business people… the interview location. Which is funny to me because when you’re a production pro and know how to light and shoot an interview, you can do it pretty much anywhere.

You have to be kidding

Here’s my favorite example. One of our first clients is California-based Sovereign Healthcare (watch their video). During our first shoot with them, we had a tough time scheduling the CEO for his interview… CEO’s tend to be pretty busy… so we agreed to meet him at his home one night.

It was a beautiful house, plenty of options for the interview location, only there was one problem. High ceilings and hard tile floors meant lots of echos. We did some audio testing and it was a mess, so we moved to the backyard. It was backed up to a road, so we heard cars going by.

Finally, we walked around to the driveway out front and it was silent. I picked a spot and started setting up. The CEO came out for the interview and was shocked. He said, “You have to be kidding.” I told him to trust us, and to his credit he did.

Take a look at the photo above. That wall behind him is a privacy wall for his garbage cans. Not only did he love the end result, he had a great story to tell people about the making of the video. Sovereign remains with us to this day.

I’m telling you… production pros can make just about anything work.

–Tony Gnau

It’s apparently day two of wife-inspired blog posts. She pointed out the video I blogged about yesterday, and here she is doing it again.

This one came via her employer. She teaches at a local college and school leaders sent an email encouraging everyone to support a recent grad competing for capital funding for her business.

The campaign features a video that caught my attention. Now, don’t get your expectations up. The video is pretty basic. What I loved though is the young entrepreneur and her storytelling.

Already storytelling

She doesn’t rely on facts and figures. She doesn’t talk about P/L or ROI. She tells her story.

Quality video will come later.  For now, she’s laying the foundation for storytelling success by simply telling her story.

–Tony Gnau

I love creativity, and in some case creativity can actually be when you steal… err… borrow… err… pay homage to another person’s idea.

My wife sent me this video the other day. One of our favorite shows is HGTV’s House Hunters. It also appears to be a favorite of the folks at Disney because they created a short parody of the show set to Beauty and the Beast.

Take a page from disney’s playbook

Businesses can use this sort of thing as inspiration. What are your favorite shows? Check that… what are your audience’s favorite shows? You don’t have to do a straight-up parody. Sometimes using the same production techniques works as well.

One of T60’s videos that jumps to mind is a recruiting video we produced for the Bloomingdale Police Department. The opening sequence is a total homage to the opening for each episode of the FX series, The Shield. We produced the video years ago, but I still love that opening to this day.

It just goes to show you, never underestimate how other people’s ideas can help drive your own creativity.

–Tony Gnau

I met with a new client last week who’s suffering from the same problem many businesses and non-profits suffer from. They do a lot.

This particular client sat in my office and told me all about their organization and what they do. It was a nearly two-hour explanation. What they wanted to know is how they can break all of that down into a 60-second video.

The answer can be uncomfortable for some people… you can’t. In most cases, you can’t fit everything about your business into a short video. Here’s the silver lining… you shouldn’t want to.

Video is about emotion, not facts

Video is a great information delivery tool, but so is print and digital. What sets video apart is that it can elicit a powerful emotional response. Video isn’t about listing off everything you do, it’s about convincing people you’re good at what you do, that you’re a quality organization, that you’re going to deliver.

Too much information clouds your audience members’ minds. It disconnects them from their emotions.

BREAK IT DOWN

So while many people try to cram as much as they can into a short video, I tend to narrow the focus as much as possible.

After listing to what this particular client does, I broke down their services into three core areas. Once you do that, the story becomes more manageable.

That’s one of the hidden benefits to hiring a professional storyteller. It’s the whole seeing the forest through the trees analogy. Sometimes people who work at a company are too close to it. It can take someone from outside to provide a fresh perspective.

Narrow your focus. It works almost every time.

–Tony Gnau

Another terrific Chicago-AMA event in the books. Wednesday morning we got to hear from Mark Achler, Senior Vice President of New Business Strategy and Innovation at movie rental giant Redbox.

As usual, T60 provided the preview video for Chicago-AMA. That means I got to pick Mark’s brain a few weeks before the event, and the thing I took away from our interview and video shoot is the same thing I got out of Wednesday’s presentation.

Simplicity

The simpler the customer experience you provide, the easier it is to earn and keep customers. Makes sense for a company renting movies, but when you think about it that theory rings true for most businesses no matter what they do.

In our case, we tell corporate stories. One of the biggest concerns for most of our new clients is that they’re going to have to sit down and create a script for us to follow. When I tell them that’s our job, it’s often followed by an instant sigh of relief.

How we keep it simple

We make the video production process easy on clients. We talk with them ahead of time to figure out what they’re trying to communicate. We conduct interviews to support that message, then we create a story that’s going to connect with their audience.

Simple.

I had never thought of it that way before meeting and talking with Mark, but now I see how simplicity is a big part of our service. It’s something I now feel like I need to highlight even more.

Is providing a simple customer experience a cornerstone of your business?

–Tony Gnau

I tend to email myself blog ideas, but occasionally they get pushed aside in the shuffle… doomed to a sad existence inside my inbox. But all is not lost! I cleaned out my email last night and found a gem.

Razorfish is a marketing giant, and I got to visit their Chicago offices early this summer (for this video). That’s why this Ad Week article last month caught my eye.

Video highlights innovation

Razorfish leaders have created a whole room dedicated to video and digital technology, helping them create demonstrations for clients. It looks pretty cool, but I like their promo video even better.

I know, me liking a video about video!? Shocker.

Anyway, the video is nice. It’s pretty flashy storytelling, but look at the subject matter… it’s flashy so the style is a good fit.

Promotion minus the sales-pitch

I just love the whole idea of a creating a video to promote things a company is doing that bring value to clients. This video is certainly about Razorfish, but it doesn’t feel that way because it’s so focused on showing how their innovations can help clients.

That’s how you do it folks. Focus on the audience. Lesson learned courtesy a marketing bigwig.

–Tony Gnau

Video can be pretty magical. First and foremost, it’s a communication tool, but maybe its most powerful ability is the way it allows your audience to emotionally connect with you.

As a young TV news reporter, I was frequently confused when people would approach me and start a conversation like we were good friends. At first, I would question myself, wondering if this was someone I had met before. After a while, I came to understand that these are people watching me every night. I’m a part of their lives, a trusted friend, even though we had never met.

You can be that to your customers, prospects and employees. The more they see and hear from you, the more they feel like they know you. The more they feel like they know you, the more trusted you become.

That’s the power of video.

–Tony Gnau

I went to log on to Facebook over the Thanksgiving holiday and received a welcome surprise.

Facebook has long featured a video on its login screen, but it’s usually some sort of motion graphics video demonstrating Facebook features. This time, however, it was some quality storytelling.

Facebook Storytelling

The social media giant has produced a segment called, Facebook Stories. It’s a series of videos highlighting some of the uses for Facebook.

I loved the first one I saw about a fish scientist (video: Speeding Up Science). The first half is all about what this guy does for a living, and then they hit you with the innovative way he’s using Facebook.

Smart plan for any business

This is something everyone can learn from. Find the people who are using your products or services, tell their stories, then how you’re helping them.

It’s “selling” without sounding like you’re selling.

That’s the power of video and storytelling.

–Tony Gnau