Tag Archives: Memorial Day

Originally Posted: May 29th, 2012

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Yesterday was Memorial Day and it provides me with a perfect reason to share my all-time favorite commercial.

That’s right… commercial. A one-minute spot created by Budweiser that ran only once. It’s the 2003 Super Bowl ad titled, “Welcome Home.”

Here’s a few reasons why it’s a great example to learn from for anyone who’s producing videos…

• there’s a surprise. The spot starts in an airport. It’s a familiar setting, but just when we the audience settle in to this “normal” scene we get hit with something completely out of the norm.
• there’s no dialog. I come from a TV news background, so I’m all about sound bites and dialog. This spot is a great reminder that you don’t need either to create a video with impact. Sometimes images, natural sound, and music are all you need.
• finally, this spot puts on display what video does better than any other medium. It stirs emotion. Video allows you to tap emotion and capture the viewer’s heart.

Not every video is going to be as powerful as this one. Heck, there are very few videos that will be as powerful as this one. However, the lessons learned from it can put you on a path to creating better videos… and that’s a benefit for us all.

–Tony Gnau