Tag Archives: Romney

I really thought I’d write more about political videos, but this is only my second post on the subject. Guess I’m just election-ed out… and I don’t even live in a battleground state.

Anyway, PR and marketing pros, the c-suite, business owners… everyone can learn from our political leaders in at least one way. They produce some darn good videos, and the main lesson is a frequent topic here.

Important Lesson

Video isn’t about facts and figures. It’s about emotion.

The presidential campaigns know this which is why their videos are aimed at pushing our buttons. Forget the negative ads. Chances are you’re not going to create a video with the express purpose of trashing your competitors. Instead, take a look at how the campaigns try to inspire enthusiasm.

• Obama Video– The Final Push: It’s On Us
• Romney Video– Red Rocks

I love both these videos. Inspiring speeches set to inspiring music and covered with inspiring images. It’s all an effort to get you pumped up about each candidate.

Video works

If you support President Obama, look at that video and try to tell me it doesn’t get you fired up.

Mitt Romney supporters, take a look at his video. I’ll bet you sprint to the polls today.

Companies can do this too. You may not inspire so much enthusiasm you’ll have people chanting your name, but it might make a sale a little easier.

–Tony Gnau

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

As the election draws closer, I’m sure I’ll be blogging more and more about the candidates’ web videos. The good, the bad… the pointless. Today, we take a look at the latest Obama video.

I have to say, it’s a letdown. President Obama’s videos during the 2008 election were pretty darn good. Okay, they were great. He clearly has some talented storytellers working for him. I think that’s why this one surprised me.

It’s titled, America the Beautiful. The White House rolled it out for Independence Day, but it’s just a hodgepodge of clips set to music. It’s like they couldn’t decide if it should be a campaign video or just something patriotic for the holiday.

It’s a good lesson though. You should have a clear vision for your story. Once you do… commit to it. You might have some great raw video, but if it doesn’t support your story it doesn’t belong in the final product.

Commit to the story and stay away from the hodgepodge.

–Tony Gnau

Here we go. It’s August 2011, but the presidential campaigning for November 2012 is already here.

Wait! Don’t go away. This post doesn’t have anything to do with politics. Instead, it has everything to do with promoting you and your business.

Subscribe to any of the candidates’ YouTube channels, and you’re going to start getting their videos on a regular basis. They put a lot of time and effort into creating videos they think will appeal to you, and there’s a good reason they produce so many.

The more video you watch, the more you feel like you know them. The more you feel like you know them, the more likely you’ll be to vote for them.

Same thing applies to businesses. That’s why I encourage clients to produce a series of short videos released over a given period of time instead of one long video. We’re trying to capture that same feeling with audiences that politicians covet.

Want to see how it’s done? Check out this Mitt Romney video. It’s not an attack ad or a long internet video. It’s a short look at Romney, and I’m sure one of many to come… from the GOP… as well as the President.

–Tony Gnau