Tag Archives: video production

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I consistently am when it comes to all the ways marketing videos are being used and where.

I walked into a local locksmith yesterday, Ashland Lock and Security Solutions, and I was greeted not by one video monitor… but two. A pair of flat screens playing videos featuring two different products.

Two monitors, two brands

One of them was showing a durability demonstration for a particular lock system (VIDEO BELOW) and the other highlighted a bunch of different locks and the mechanics behind how they work.

The videos actually accomplished a couple of things. First, they provided me with some interesting stuff to watch. I’m serious… the content on each monitor was genuinely interesting. Second, my time in the store took a little longer than anticipated, but it didn’t feel that way because I had something to keep my attention.

Seems like a win, win to me. The store was able to market to me while keeping me entertained all at the same time.

Free content for the store

I asked the locksmith about the videos and he told me the lock companies actually provided and installed the monitors, as well as stream the content. That’s free content folks. Not a bad deal.

Turns out each of the lock systems are brands offered by the same company, Assa Abloy. A little further investigating and I found separate YouTube channels for each of the brands.

I love this company. It’s leaders clearly understand the power of video. Dozens, upon dozens of videos are on YouTube featuring everything from straight-up marketing videos to how-to install and operate the locks. It’s a great mix of how content marketing should look.

If you need an example of how a company can effectively use video to further a brand… this is it.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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There are all sorts of ways you can use video to help market a business, but there are few things as effective as client testimonials or case studies.

T60 is a sponsor for the Chicago chapter of the American Marketing Association (ChicagoAMA). One of our follow sponsors is the company Act|On. They sell a marketing automation software platform. I spoke with one of the reps at a recent event, gave them a business card and asked for more information about their services.

Follow-up email with video

Consider me impressed. They’ve been following-up with me on a consistent basis, and about a week ago I got an email with a subject line that immediately caught my attention… Video Case Study: Achieving real results with Marketing Automation (VIDEO BELOW).

The email drove me to a video produced by the company that features one of their clients singing Act|On’s praises.

I loved it. It looked good, sounded good and it told a nice story.

Testimonials benefit both parties

One of the reasons I enjoy testimonials like this is that it benefits everyone. Obviously, Act|On benefits from having a customer share their experiences, but that client gets a boost as well. As soon as I was done watching the video, I Googled both businesses to learn more about each of them.

Maybe the only critique I have with the video is that it probably could have been a minute shorter and still accomplished the same goal, but that’s really nitpicking. It’s a solid effort, and considering I am a prospective customer it obviously kept my attention throughout.

Anyway, just goes to show you that a quality video telling a compelling story can even reel-in a video professional.

Well done Act|On.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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You know me… I love event videos. Previews that encourage people to attend, and videos shot during the event to share afterwards. I think they’re a great way to get people excited about the event, and a way for the event to live on even after it’s over.

Having said that… you still need to deliver a quality video and tell a good story. Just producing a video isn’t good enough. Case in point… CDW.

The technology retailer launched a new campaign last week and bought some space on Facebook. One of their ads popped-up in my news feed, and while I typically sail over them this one caught my attention.

It featured a video, See the fun people had at Technoliner reveal day (video below). Sounded like a good example of an event video, so I decided to see what they cooked up. It turned out to be a major letdown.

CDW apparently is driving a bus across the country featuring new technology, and they’re promoting the tour hoping people will check out the bus if it stops in their town. Sounds like a good opportunity for a video, right? Well, it is but the story stinks.

It’s all about CDW. Look at our launch party. We had Charles Barkley there. We grilled out. There’s all sorts of technology on-board. In short… they’re totally full of themselves. 

Look… if all your event video is doing is capturing the scene to give people sense of what happened that’s all fine, but that isn’t the goal for this video. I think the goal is to get us to want to see the Technoliner. So here I am… Joe Viewer… thinking… who cares? How does this technology impact me? Why would I make an effort to see the bus? What’s the point?

I don’t have an answer for any of those questions because CDW is too busy patting themselves on the back.

On top of that… they want me to check out the bus, but they don’t say which cities it’ll hit. Okay, maybe it’s too many to list, but give me a call-to-action saying something like, “Check the website for when the Technoliner will be in your neighborhood.”

Just because you’re holding an event and you’re excited about it doesn’t mean the rest of the world will be as well. The video still needs to be focused on audience members and their needs.

That’s the foundation for a good video.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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Alright, we’ve been celebrating our 12th Telly Award all week by looking back on past winners for some good production lessons. Today’s the day we unveil this year’s winner and offer some insights for event planning.

Drum roll, please. Our 2013 Telly Award winner is… Heroin Abuse Awareness Seminar for Illinois State Sen. Matt Murphy!

Hugh!?

I know, you’re thinking… Tony, your videos always tend to be upbeat, happy and inspirational… what gives?

Well, call it a change of pace if you like, but this video is actually a classic example of what an event video can do.

Multiplying Your Audience

Sen. Murphy was hosting a pair of seminars in his district just outside Chicago to highlight an important issue facing his constituents, suburban heroin abuse. He brought together law enforcement officials, addiction experts and family members of addicts to give parents a wake-up call.

Certainly a worthy effort, but he knew the seminars would only draw a few hundred people. He represents tens of thousands and wanted to be able to get this message out to as many of them as possible.

Enter video. He asked for a short story highlighting the major points… something that would leave an impression on viewers. Once it was produced, he and the Illinois Senate Republicans used their social networks to share the video with constituents (VIDEO BELOW).

Put aside politics, and instead, examine that through your PR and marketing lens. They took an event attended by hundreds and turned it into something that could impact thousands.

That’s why PR, marketing and event planning pros need a new line item in every significant event they put on… video budget.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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We’re celebrating at T60 this week after finding out we won our 12th Telly Award. The honor got us thinking back to some of our past winning entries and the lessons they can provide. We blog a lot about marketing, but today’s post is all about public relations videos.

One of the issues I face with prospects and clients is the notion… we don’t do anything interesting… why would anyone watch a video about us? I don’t blame people for feeling that way. It’s hard to look past what you do everyday and see it with a fresh set of eyes… a different perspective… but that’s why business leaders need professional storytellers.

One of our clients recently retired, Illinois State Senator John Millner. I never used to blog about him because I didn’t want to invite any political discussions. None of the videos we produced for him were political in nature. They were straight-up public relations videos highlighting work he was doing for his constituents.

We had a contract to do a series of videos and it had run down to the last video. Through his lens, he couldn’t really think of anything else he was doing that would be “worth” highlighting. I asked him if he had any events he’d be attending in the coming weeks, and it turned out he’d be walking in a Labor Day parade.

I said, “That’s your video.” He didn’t get it. He said all he does is shake hands. I assured him we’d find a story in that, and we did.

What I noticed on the shoot was that all the characteristics that make him shine came through during that parade. Sen. Millner is a genuinely nice guy. He’s humble. He’s upbeat. He wanted to connect with the people he served. Why not a video highlighting those things?

The Telly Award judges apparently agreed with me because they awarded us for that story (VIDEO BELOW).

Businesses go about their day-to-day work not realizing there are stories all around them. Stories other people would be interested in if they were shared. A good storyteller can look at your company and help you find those stories.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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This week we’re celebrating our 12th Telly Award by looking back at past winning entries to pass along some valuable insights. Today, I’m blogging about an incredibly important element when it comes to storytelling.

People

The people you choose to include in your video might be the most critical decision you make for the video’s success. The mistake a lot of business owners make is thinking they need to hire actors or models to put a pretty face behind their company. That’s not the case.

The best videos tend to feature real people who are passionate about their jobs and their company or organization. We’ve done a bunch of videos featuring some pretty great people, but one of them definitely stands out in my mind.

Vashawn was a 13-year-old Glenwood Academy student when we met him (VIDEO BELOW). He’s a good kid from a bad neighborhood who’s getting a chance at a great education by attending Glenwood Academy in Chicago’s south suburbs.

On-Camera Stars

He was one of “those” people. The camera loves him. He is at total ease in front of it, and that comes through in the video. I can’t really explain it other that to say you’ll know these people when you see them, and when you do you better have the ability to switch gears to take advantage.

Vashawn was not meant to be the “star” of this particular video, but after we did the interview I told the school’s marketing director he had to be front and center. The whole video changed. His story and the way he told it was simply captivating.

I told my wife after that shoot we were going to win another Telly Award because of Vashawn. I hadn’t even looked at the raw material, but when you capture the right people on camera you just know it’s going to turn out great.

Every business has a Vashawn working for them. It might not be someone in the C-suite, but that doesn’t matter. Feature the people who shine, and so will your videos.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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I had a few things planned for this week, but I’m putting them on hold. I received word over the weekend that T60 has won its 12th Telly Award, so over the next few days we’re going to look back at some previous winners that provide video production lessons. Then, on Thursday, I’ll reveal this year’s winning entry and provide good insights to take-away from its production.

Okay… today I’m going to write a little about having a vision and/or having a plan for your videos. It may sound like a pretty basic concept, but the truth is a lot of people go into their projects with very little thought put into them. They understand the power of video, they want to put it to work for their business or brand, but they don’t have a vision for what that’s going to look like.

Client Case Study

Goose Island Beer Company is not one of those businesses. I’ve had the privilege of working with the Goose Island team on more than a dozen videos. One was a series of videos and a couple of them were just individual projects. The common thread among them was that Goose Island leaders had a plan. They knew their audience and they had a goal for the videos.

Those might be the two most important things you need when starting a project. We’ve won a few Telly Awards for our Goose Island work, but the one I’ll feature today is a good example of how planning makes a difference.

Know Your Audience, Have a Goal

The Goose Island team produces a lot of videos to better educate their wholesale and retail partners. In most cases, it’s educating them on the beers, but in this case they wanted to make sure they all understood the company’s dedication to promoting its 312 brand.

Makes sense… the more Goose Island promotes a brand to the public, the easier it is for the wholesalers and retailers to sell. The plan for the video was to highlight all the different kinds of events 312 is sponsoring. They had a list of events they wanted us to shoot and it was a project that would take all summer.

Goose Island leaders relied on T60 for the creative end of the production. They filled us in on the audience and the goal, told us they wanted to inspire confidence in the brand, and we were off and running.

Having a vision and plan for the video paid off. Being able to clearly identify the audience and what they wanted from the video allowed us to focus our creative energy on achieving their goal. The end result speaks for itself… the video is AWESOME! 

A vision and plan can take your video production to the next level.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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We’re finalizing a deal this week to revamp some marketing videos we produced for a client a couple of years ago. It’s something business leaders should think about as things change at their companies. The best part…  it’s something that can be done on the cheap without looking that way.

Think about it. This particular client is completing physical renovations to their facility. Heck… they’re adding an entire building. They could do a new series of videos on the project, but no surprise it’s not part of the budget.

Sales Team Saves The Day

The sales team is doing the next best thing though. They looked at the existing marketing videos and saw that they can simply swap out some old video of the site with newly shot stuff. It’s an economical way to freshen things up.

Once the update is done, they can start sending video links to clients and prospects touting the newly renovated facilities. They’re breathing new life into a existing video series that would otherwise be out-of-date.

Many companies produce videos and kind of forget about them once the new car smell has worn off. This client of ours shows how to re-imagine a past video and make it work just as well today as it did when it was first produced.

–Tony Gnau

 Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

It’s funny. I actually just revised that headline. I originally typed, “Number One Thing Killing Your Amateur Marketing Videos.” See, I’d like to pin this problem on all the companies out there producing their own marketing videos, but the truth is I’ve seen plenty of examples of pros who blow this as well.

Video can be a deceptive medium. We see it appear on our screen, so we immediately think it’s a visual medium when the truth is video is a marriage between sight and sound.

Many people do alright with the first part. Heck, the cameras these days are so good if you shoot off a tripod it’s nearly impossible to mess-up the visual aspect. That’s not the issue.

Your Audio Sucks

Audio, audio, audio! When something is wrong with it, your marketing video is doomed. At the very least, it pegs your video as amateurish. Neither is something you want when you’re promoting your brand or company.

I hate to pick on this this startup company, but it’s a great example and they’ve met their fundraising goal so I don’t feel too bad. I found it on kickstarter.com for Storytime Toys.

There’s a lot this video does well. Nice videography, pretty good graphics, but the audio is terrible. It sounds to me like the two entrepreneurs narrating are being picked up by the microphone mounted on the camera. They’re not wearing professional microphones that block out the hallow, ambient room noise. They sound like they’re in a tunnel.

Why It Matters

In this case, it’s no big deal. This is a video for a startup company. Our expectations as viewers are pretty stinkin’ low for something them. The tragedy is this is something a lot of companies do wrong… established businesses with reputations to protect.

They put all sorts of effort into making sure the video looks good, they completely fall flat with the audio. Whether they’ve produced it on their own or hired the wrong production company, it’s a big mistake audiences will pick up on immediately.

It takes what looks like a professional video and turns it into amateur hour.

–Tony Gnau

 Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

When people think of video, they often think marketing. It’s true… video is terrific for marketing. It also happens to be a great internal communications tool, and there are many subjects that can be covered (video examples).

Here’s the top five reasons you should be using video to communicate with team members…

Video creates interest. Anyone can send out a newsletter or email, but video captures people’s attention. How many dozens of newsletters go unread? How many memos get skimmed, but don’t receive the attention they might require? LOTS! You can communicate the same thing in a video that a memo or newsletter might explain. Detail company policies, feature your latest product or service, maybe even highlight the work of an individual or group. The difference is people will watch and pay attention to the video.

The accessible CEO. If you’re part of a small organization, chances are you’ve met the CEO. On the other hand if you work at a medium or large company, there’s a good chance you don’t know what the CEO looks like much less had an opportunity to interact with them. Putting company leaders out front in videos allows them to speak directly to team members. They are no longer the impersonal name behind a title. They become a real person others can relate to, which then empowers managers to energize the company culture.

Breaking down the silos. A lot of companies work in silos. One department separated from the other, people don’t know one another and certainly none of them can tell you what the other is doing. Video can change that. It allows team members to provide an inside look at what they’re working on. You can write about a new product or service all you want, but hearing from someone who’s working on that project and seeing them at work takes it to a whole new level.

Storytelling advantage. Using video allows a business to tell great stories. The medium incorporates images, sounds and words to create a rich platform for people to “experience” information. On paper, what’s happening around the company is simply a laundry list of activities. Put that same information into the hands of a skilled video storyteller, and it becomes a narrative that engages the audience. By incorporating information into a compelling story you capture the audience’s attention and make them more receptive to your message.

Leaves an impression. Storytelling also helps viewers retain the information, and after watching something they really enjoy they share it with other people. A company newsletter might garner mild interest. Videos will have people talking about them in the halls. They also have a cumulative effect. The more quality videos you produce, the more viewers look forward to them. They can even become a morale booster. Team member success stories are a pat on the back they’ll really feel.

All of these things add up to a good reason for corporate leaders to use video to communicate with their teams. A CEO vlog, a video newsletter, updates on projects and initiatives… all great ways to get your messages across to people.

–Tony Gnau

This post first appeared at ragan.com.

 Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.