Tag Archives: storytelling

You all know how much I like the idea of a video series. Instead of producing one long video, produce a series of shorter videos. It allows audience members to pick the things they’re interested in, and it allows you to roll out the videos over a longer period of time.

FORD’S GREAT IDEA

Well, Ford recently produced a whole series of videos while they were at the 2012 SEMA Show. According to the SEMA website, the show is “the premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world.”

I love that Ford produced a series there. They uploaded over 20 videos from the show. This is a great idea for any company participating in a trade show. It allows your customers and prospects to attend the show, even if they can’t get there in person.

Ford’s lousy execution

The only problem is Ford fell flat. The videos stink. There’s barely any production value at all. The camera work is weak, the lighting is bad, audio on most of the videos is terrible, we get minimal editing and worst of all… zero attempt at storytelling.

Some of the videos feature a woman doing interviews, but they’re totally lame. Again, no creativity or effort put into them at all.

Could have been soooo much better

Now listen… if you’re a smaller company and this is the only type of thing you can afford to do, okay, I get it. But this isn’t just any business… it’s Ford! How many millions of dollars do you think Ford spends on marketing!? How much do you think they spent on participating in this event alone?

I’m not saying they should have thrown money hand over fist at this video series, but for $5,000-$10,000 they could have put together some great content. These videos got thousands of hits. Imagine what viewership could have been if they had made an effort. If they had made videos those viewers wanted to share with friends.

On top of that, let me raise another issue. As a business leader, why would you ever condone putting something out for the world to see that represents your brand if it looks like crap?

The Ford video series was a GREAT idea, but it was poorly executed. I hate that.

If you think a videos series is worth doing, then it should be worth doing it right.

–Tony Gnau

I always appreciate when people enjoy T60’s work and want to refer us to friends and colleagues. Someone asked me last week what type of business is a good tip for us… big companies, medium or small.

The answers is… yes.

It’s about storytelling, not size

See… companies interested in video production run the gambit. It really has more to do with how interested a business is in storytelling than the size of the company.

I’ll give you an example. We’ve done work for Fortune 500 companies, Walgreens and United Airlines. We’ve done work for medium-sized companies, Goose Island Beer Company. And we’ve done a ton of work for small businesses.

All of them have varying budgets that they allow for marketing, but do you know one of the biggest areas of our business? Non-profits. Yup. Organizations that have tiny marketing budgets compared to the Fortune 500 big boys consistently have quality videos produced.

Non-profits “get it” better than anyone

Why? Non-profit leaders understand the power of storytelling and video. They understand producing a compelling story about their organization will help build trust and a connection with the people who are donating money. And in today’s social media world, they know they’re producing something that can be shared from prospect to prospect.

They understand the true value of video.

–Tony Gnau

And you thought I was done blogging about BrandSmart. Well… so did I, but I was going over my notes one more time and another blog post jumped out at me.

Encyclopedia Britannica. Did you think the internet killed it? Not even close. The company’s senior vice president and general manager of education told the BrandSmart audience Britannica has been changing with the times.

They no longer print encyclopedias, instead, the company delivers its content online. The internet hasn’t killed Britannica. It’s actually given leaders there a chance to make their content even more engaging.

Britannica Video

I know, you can see where this is going. The first thing you find when logging on to the website is video. Obviously, something the print edition could never do, but it speaks volumes about the medium about how it’s a powerful information tool.

Here’s a company that’s been in the information and printing business for hundreds of years. You read that right… hundreds of years. The company was founded in 18th Century, and after all that time they leave the printing business and what’s one of the first things that’s added to the content… video.

They understand the power of video. It has the ability to capture people’s attention, peak their interest and get them to seek even more information.

Seeing any benefit to business here?

–Tony Gnau

All week I’ve been highlighting some of my takeaways from last week’s BrandSmart conference. The event was put on by the Chicago chapter of the American Marketing Association.

Panel discussions… featured speakers… movers and shakers in the marketing world… all under one roof. It was a terrific event.

T60 is a Chicago-AMA sponsor, so we were thrown into the mix as a BrandSmart sponsor as well. We got to set up a display table and talk to people about our passion… storytelling.

BrandSmart Video competition

One of the things a lot of people commented on was that there were two other video sponsors that had tables. Nothing like a little healthy competition, right?

Wrong. We all talked with one another, checked out each others’ stuff and you know what? We’re totally not in competition with each other. All three of us clearly have our own areas of expertise.

One of the companies focuses mostly on 30-second commercials. The other company seemed to feature a lot of longer format videos. T60… short and to-the-point storytelling.

Production companies are all different

If you’re looking for someone to produce your videos, please keep in mind no two production companies are alike. Chances are the three of us at BrandSmart could all produce what the others specialize in, but in T60’s case we choose not to. We rather focus on our passion.

So… remember to ask the production companies you approach what types of projects they enjoy the most. The bigger the company, the more likely they dabble in a little bit of everything, but what are they best at producing? Look at their work and you should also be able to judge for yourself.

It’s important to find someone who lines up with what you’re looking for. I’ll tell you right now, if you’re looking for a production company that’s going to roll in for the day with a big production team carrying all sorts of fun video toys… T60 isn’t the company for you. We’re lean, fast and focused on telling good stories… short on flash and long on substance.

Figure out the type of video you want, the type of production team that fits with the project and pick a company that’s going to deliver.

–Tony Gnau

No surprise… a big topic of conversation at BrandSmart 2012 was the rise of mobile and what it means to marketing. A question asked during one of the panels is if video has a role.

Alex Kutsishin, president at FiddleFly mobile web solution said adding video to mobile is “brilliant.” He seemed totally on-board and liked the idea of QR codes in stores sending customers to mobile videos.

Mobile video is brilliant, but…

There was a little push-back from Ro Kumar, CEO at Digital Aisle. He cautioned the audience saying video in that situation needs special care. The issue… length. Mr. Kumar says the last thing customer are going to want to do is stand in an aisle watching a long video.

Agreed. I blogged yesterday about producing videos focused on your audience. That’s true when it comes to selecting your content, but it also means considering where they’ll watch the video.

Consider your audience

If you have a captive audience at a meeting or an industry conference like BrandSmart (virtually all the presenters used video), you can show a 3-4 minute video. If your audience is watching on a smart phone in a store, you better keep it short. I’d suggest 1-minute or less.

Mobile is here and video has a role, but you still need to know your audience.

–Tony Gnau

Probably my favorite moment from last week’s BrandSmart conference was a presentation by Second City. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Second City is the nation’s premiere training ground for improv comedy.

The group drew a comparison between comedy and marketing. One of the things they focused on is… audience. They talked about how they adjust their shows and performances based on how the audience is reacting. Certainly, very similar to what marketers do.

Who’s your audience?

It’s also a great comparison for videos. The number one question you should be asking when you produce a video is who’s the audience? Every decision on what goes into the video and how it’s presented should be pushed through that filter.

Why does this matter to the audience? How does it benefit them? You have to answer these questions.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in chest pounding when producing videos. You’re proud of your business, but remember… it isn’t about you, it’s about the audience.

–Tony Gnau

BrandSmart 2012 turned out to be an interesting education. The annual event thrown by the Chicago Chapter of the American Marketing Association brought together all sorts of marketing bigwigs.

It was an education for me because while T60 works as an arm of the marketing business, it’s only part of what we do. We’re not immersed in all aspects of the industry everyday, so it was interesting hearing about where things appear to be going.

Video was certainly discussed and I’ll blog more about that later this week (PLUG!), but today I’m going to touch on a simple observation. Virtually every presenter at BrandSmart used video during their presentation.

Now, we’ve done a bunch of videos for clients who wanted them specifically for a live presentation at meetings or conferences. Lincoln Park Zoo and Glenwood Academy jump to mind. Videos like these are great because instead of just delivering information from a presenter standing on stage, you can add dynamic and interesting storytelling.

Here’s the thing that struck me though at BrandSmart. The presenters were experienced marketers. They understand storytelling and how to capture an audience. They do it everyday. Their livelihood depends on it, and these people chose video to help them connect with the BrandSmart audience.

If that isn’t an endorsement for video, I don’t know what is.

Using video during your typical speech, presentation or corporate event can turn it into something special.

–Tony Gnau

Politics of Storytelling.

That was a CNN headline yesterday scrawled at the bottom of a TV screen that caught my attention. I didn’t get the full story, but the subhead said something about how important it is for politicians to tell their story and not let someone else define who they are.

Business Needs storytelling too

Anyone think that’s exclusive to politics? Of course not. Corporations… brands… small businesses… they all need to be doing this, and video happens to be one of the best ways.

Why? Because seeing is believing.

Video lets people see for themselves and form their own opinion. Whether you’re simply setting the everyday tone for your business, or you’re a company doing damage control, video gives you the ability to deliver your story in a way that will capture an audience’s attention.

Let them see and believe you.

–Tony Gnau

Anyone who knows me knows my football loyalties. My hometown Chicago Bears and my alma mater USC Trojans. Every week, I look at the videos each produces and there’s a stark contrast that really hit me this week as a great corporate video example.

The Bears run all of their videos through their own website and brand it the Chicago Bears Network. The videos range from the team’s radio commentator breaking down the upcoming game, news conference interviews with coaches and players and a feature where kicker Robbie Gould asks his teammates silly questions so we can allegedly get to know them off the field.

Blah.

There’s a tons of content here. The Bears clearly understand they need to be producing video, but they do it in the typical corporate way. Maximum control, little creativity.

Look… there’s nothing wrong with what they post. It’s more than what we get on the local news or ESPN, but it’s bland. They add some snazzy graphics, but there just isn’t much meat to the content. It’s typical… and forgettable.

Contrast that with USC. They produce just as much content for their YouTube channel, but there’s much more of an effort to provide authentic material. While they post some of the same type of stuff, news conference interviews jump to mind, they also loosen the corporate reins.

They truly take us behind the scenes… DEEP behind the scenes. Videos put us inside the locker room with them before the game, at halftime and when the game is all over. We follow the players around campus getting a real sense of their life off the field. And the team’s best player, Matt Barkley, has his own weekly feature.

Their videos are… fun. As an alum or fan, you want to watch. They provide a totally unique look at the team you can’t get anywhere else.

Big corporations tend to follow the Bears model. They want to do video, but they’re afraid to show behind the curtain too much. Smaller companies tend to be a little looser and willing to take a chance, producing original video content that might actually connect with an audience.

That’s the key to the whole thing. While I might peruse what they Bears produce this week, it isn’t something I’m waiting for. Depending on the video titles, I may or may not watch.

Not the case with my Trojans. I know they’re going to produce compelling stuff, so not only do I subscribe to their videos… I look forward to them.

Now, which approach would you want to employ for your business?

–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