Tag Archives: Republican

Okay, last week it was the Republican National Convention, this week it’s the Democrats. But before we put the RNC in the books, we have to look at Mitt Romney’s introduction video. It aired Thursday night, and since I blog Monday-Thursday and Monday was a holiday… here we are.

First, put your politics aside. I’ll be reviewing Romney’s videos leading up to the election, and I’ll be doing the same for the President. The reviews will be about the videos and what we can learn from them, not the politics.

Bad Beginning

So… Romney’s intro video at the convention. It was… good. Not great. Good. I think the only thing holding it back was the opening and it provides a lesson. It’s like we just jump into the story with Romney taking over leadership at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

It took me a minute to get my feet under me while watching. Once I caught-up, the Olympic story was just okay. We hear about a controversy, then Romney taking over and turning things around.

So… as the video is rolling… I’m trying to recall what the “controversy” was about the 2002 Winter Olympics. I remember it was something before it started. Something about… oh yeah!… bribery! There were allegations of bribery to get the Olympic bid.

Good for me. I remembered. Bad for the video because while I was working that out in my head, the video was rolling along and I’m missing everything that’s being said.

Audiences Disengage

That’s why storytelling is so important. If you make a misstep, you lose your audience. Include something in your video that jostles viewers, and they miss the information you want them to get.

It can be the way you tell the story, a funky looking graphic, even something weird in the background of an interview. Anything that potentially disengages the viewer from the story is a no-no.

The rest of Romney’s video… awesome. Once I got past the opening, I re-engaged and thought it delivered.

Take a look at the video and let me know what you think.

We’ll take a look at President Obama’s video on Thursday and report back here on Monday.

–Tony Gnau

Good stuff yesterday from David Meerman Scott. His blog focused on Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, and how Huntsman isn’t too interested in social media.

He might not be focused on it, but Huntsman or his staff actually came up with a really good idea. They’re letting his daughters have some fun on YouTube.

Jon2012Girls only have a couple of posts, but they’re far from your standard political fare. One is a parody song and the other mimics an infamous Herman Cain ad.

Huntsman might not be too interested in social media, but I’ll bet his girls are. That’s why I’m glad to see him letting them run with this role. I’m sure it’s still being orchestrated by his campaign, but at least the first two videos show a little spunk.

Think about all the business leaders out there who are in the same spot. They don’t really care about social media, but probably know enough that they need to do something. It’s smart to turn it over to people who a) care about it and b) will bring some creative ideas to the table.

I don’t know how far Huntsman is going to go in the presidential race, but I hope we get a few more videos from Jon2012Girls along the way.

–Tony Gnau