Tag Archives: corporate communication

I know I’ve blogged about this before, but the USC athletic department’s “Matt vs.” video series is pretty awesome.

For those of you new to the series, USC quarterback Matt Barkley and some of his teammates have been competing against other USC athletes in their sports. In this week’s video, Matt and defensive captain T.J. McDonald got some pool time with the 4-time defending national champion USC men’s water polo team.

You heard me… a couple of novices playing alongside the national champs.

I’ll be honest, none of the videos I’ve seen have been hilarious, but they’ve all been entertaining. The idea is to show another side of Barkley and his teammates, highlighting their personalities off the field. The end result is something business leaders need to pay attention to.

Businesses could do this too

Any business could do this sort of thing. Who’s the public face of your company? Why not a series of videos where that person takes on someone else’s job at the company? They go work in accounting, the mailroom, etc.

The end result is a double-barreled hit. First, it makes that public face more endearing. A little humility and self-deprecating humor go a long way to getting prospects and the rank-and-file to warm up to them. Are you listening CEO’s?

Second, the video highlights the work of other team members. How many times is Janet in accounting or Phil in the mailroom going to be made to feel special? They get a boost and other employees see their co-workers being singled out.

The whole series would be great for morale.

–Tony Gnau

Yesterday I blogged about an accountant, today it’s a financial planner. I swear… I didn’t plan it.

My wife and I met with our financial planner on Tuesday. The meeting went well and ended even better with us talking about plans to produce a video for him. He’d like to ease into video with an elevator pitch video, but eventually he like to do more.

Show people you’re an expert

Our financial planner actually serves as a great example. In many industries, people are getting paid to provide their expertise. In his case, it’s financial advice. When he decides to move forward with more videos, you can bet I’ll be talking with him about raising his standing as an expert.

Every business gets questions about what they do. Imagine producing a series of videos answering those questions. How many times do you think he’s asked to explain a Roth IRA? Or a traditional IRA? How they’re different from a 401k?

That’s three short videos right there. They provide people with some education, but at the same time they don’t give away his most valuable commodity… how to best use those tools to plan for retirement.

What about you and your business? Start thinking about the frequently asked questions you get about what it is you do. That’s a good start for your video production.

–Tony Gnau

I went to a networking event yesterday, and an accountant opened his elevator-pitch with the statement, “Someone told me once the best way to sell yourself is to tell a story.”

You can imagine… I perked up.

This is an accountant. Someone who’s comfortable with numbers, not stories. He told a nice story about a client he had helped. It was quite compelling.

Good lesson for corporate video

Now think about all the corporate videos you’ve seen. All the videos that tout the company’s numbers, but don’t really tell the story of how they help clients. It happens more often than most businesses would probably like to admit.

They can all learn from a humble accountant who appears to know about more than numbers.

–Tony Gnau

Wow. Still coming down after a wild Ryder Cup weekend. I knew exactly what I wanted to blog about and I’m kicking myself. I didn’t take a photo.

American Express was offering mobile video players to card members for $1. They were EVERYWHERE on the course. The units were streaming the tournament broadcast live. Totally cool.

Video is a part of mobile

I blogged last week about being ready to watch the same broadcast through the Ryder Cup iPhone app, but it didn’t happen. Too much mobile phone traffic overloaded the system. I spent a lot of time trying to look over the shoulders of American Express card holders.

All it did is reiterate the rise of mobile. It’s not all about Facebook and photos, there’s a real role for video in mobile. The trick will be figuring out how your company leverage it.

–Tony Gnau

I mentioned Wednesday about downloading the Ryder Cup app for my iPhone. When I’m out on the course I’ll have instant access to scoring, but that really isn’t that big of a deal because there’s a gazillion scoreboards all over the course.

No, the best part of having the app means I can watch highlights because the NBC broadcast will be streamed live through the app. I might be watching one group at the eighth tee, and hear a roar coming from the sixth or seventh green. Now I can see exactly what happened.

Mobile Video is huge

The takeaway… mobile is going crazy right now, but not all mobile apps include video and they should. eMarketer predicts more than 54-million people will watch video on their mobile devices this year. 54-MILLION!

What does this mean to you and your business? It means people are finding all sorts of ways to watch the content they crave, whether it’s on their desktop, laptop or phone. It means your video has the chance to be seen and shared across multiple platforms. It means you need to take your company’s video production seriously.

–Tony Gnau

Okay… I’m officially declaring this Ryder Cup week. With golf’s biggest event taking place in our backyard at Medinah Country Club, a lot of my interest is focused out there but I’m still finding blog material.

My wife, daughter and I made a family outing of it at yesterday’s practice round. I was struck by something. It’s a blending of old and new school.

Old school vs. new school

Golf loves its traditions, so head to a major tournament like this and you’ll find manual scoreboards. At the same time, you’re find huge video boards all over the course.

While walking the course yesterday I downloaded a Ryder Cup iPhone app, allowing me to see real-time scoring and video right on my phone.

Don’t get left behind

My point… you can find a place for tradition, but at the end of the day you better be on cutting-edge. Your PR/marketing/event planning better reflect what consumers are demanding.

In other words, you better be producing video.

–Tony Gnau

The 2012 Ryder Cup is set to start this Friday at Medinah Country Club. If you’re not a golf fan, imagine the Olympics and Super Bowl rolled into one. It’s golf’s biggest event, featuring a team of American golfers facing off against a team from Europe.

Medinah C.C. is one of the most well-known clubs in the world. It has hosted three U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships. The last PGA was in 2006, and T60 was thrilled to produce an event video for the members. The 20-minute DVD featured how members prepared for the event, then played host. It earned T60 its first Telly Award.

Video is an event planner essential

That video is when I began to realize that video is a must for anyone hosting an event. The video we produced for Medinah was a closed-door type of thing. It was for members only. But most events want, need, crave publicity. What better way to get it than by creating a video that takes people there.

Some invited guests might not have been able to attend. They can now. People who did attend might want to share the experience with their friends. Now they can.

Video transports viewers

Video is the medium that allows you to transport people to the event with them never having to be there. It allows the event to live on even after it’s over. Video allows you to take people back there when you’re promoting similar events in the years to come.

Video might just be one of the event planner’s most overlooked tools.

–Tony Gnau

Where were you on June 17th, 1994? It’s the date behind a short documentary I saw over the weekend as part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. I watched it late Saturday night via Amazon Prime video, and I was blow away. It really reiterated something with me about the videos we all produce.

First… the movie. There were some pretty interesting things happening in the sports world that day. The New York Rangers’ had a ticker-tape parade for winning the Stanley Cup, Arnold Palmer played the last round of his career at the U.S. Open, Ken Griffey, Jr. hit a significant home run, and the New York Knicks played the Houston Rockets in the NBA finals.

All of those events took a backseat to OJ Simpson riding in a white Ford Bronco.

The documentary pieces together the story from news coverage and some behind-the-scenes stuff surrounding all those events that day. The OJ material is familiar territory for anyone who followed the news that day, but the suspense builds and builds thanks in large part to the music chosen by the director, Brett Morgen.

Music sets the tone

Music isn’t something that should be overlooked or downplayed when producing your videos. Choose it wisely. Music is one of your most powerful tools when it comes to setting tone.

Morgen and his editor did a fantastic job with music in this documentary. It guides the audience through the story and helps recount the mood of the day.

So… where were you on June 17, 1994? I was interning in the WBBM-TV (Chicago) newsroom that day. What a crazy day to be working in TV news!

–Tony Gnau

I tell every business leader I come across they’re no longer just a retailer or service provider… they’re also a media company. The instant a business starts producing content, they’ve made the crossover, although many don’t seem willing to admit it.

Not Pottery Barn. The home goods retailer clearly understands they are now a media company. Take one look at their YouTube channel and you can tell. They have multiple playlists designed to attract various audiences.

What’s On Pottery Barn’s Channel?

There’s some self-promoting videos about Pottery Barn products, but for the most part the channel is programmed with all sorts of home decorating-related videos. If you’re a HGTV lover, Pottery Barn’s YouTube channel will be right up your alley.

Building and audience

It’s a wonderful example of a company that gets it. They have made a commitment to content. They understand by creating interesting videos, they’re building an audience. They’re building brand awareness.

Is it working? The channel has more than 3.5 million video views. I’d love to get a look at their ROI stats.

–Tony Gnau

The American Marketing Association of Chicago is getting ready for its BrandSmart conference. They sent out a video late last week previewing the event featuring Ted Souder, Google’s Head of Industry-Retail.

He talks about two things important for businesses to get a handle on… mobile and video. Souder says,

Video has really gone from the days of dogs skateboarding and kids doing back-flips off parking garages to real content, professionally done content.

It’s not just me

You get this from me four days a week here at this blog. Maybe you listen, maybe you don’t. Maybe you sometimes chalk it up to… there’s goes Tony again. Preaching about home important it is for companies to harness the power of video.

Google’s bigwigs get it

This time it isn’t me though. It’s a Google bigwig. Think they know something about business and marketing?

They see the value in video, and so should you.

–Tony Gnau

For the record… T60 is an official sponsor for AMA-Chicago and does produce event preview videos for the organization, but the video mentioned above doesn’t happen to be one.