Marketing with Video and Rich Media Blog

Can text compete with video in Pepsi’s Social Marketing Initiative?

January 5, 2010 By 2 Comments

When we look back many years from now to identify the seminal event, the watershed moment where video became the dominant media type on the web, this might be it. To be clear, I am not suggesting that text will ever go away, become meaningless or die (although those certainly make good attention getting headlines…) I am referring to the time when we chose video over text as the most effective way of communicating ideas online. Yes, I understand that context is everything so allow me to elaborate.

Pepsi has chosen not to advertise during this year’s Superbowl but instead is launching a $20 million social marketing campaign called The Pepsi Refresh Project. Pepsi is encouraging people to submit ideas for projects that will have a positive impact on their communities. These ideas will be promoted online and everyone will get a chance to vote on which ideas Pepsi should fund. It’s a very smart idea. Everyone wins with this marketing campaign. Not only is Pepsi associating it’s brand with a wonderful initiative it will also drive millions of people to learn about, submit and vote on this Pepsi branded project. The residual benefits to Pepsi of this project will be huge over time. Good for them.

People get to vote every month to chose which new project goes ahead. This is where things get interesting. If you go to the Project Refresh Blog you can watch some nicely produced videos that give people an idea of what a $5,000, $50,000 or $ 250,000 project looks like. Without meaning to Pepsi has already set a potential baseline for submissions. Lower down the page they also have some text summaries of other projects but I would bet that the video’s on that page will be viewed in much greater numbers than the text and photo-based summaries. If you were submitting an idea for a project to this contest how would you present it?

Will anyone bother to read a written submission and if they do, will the written submission be as well recieved as the onscreen voice of an impassioned community leader? Well written proposals stand a greater chance of winning than poorly written proposals, no question. Better quality videos also stand a greater chance of winning over poorly developed videos. Will viewers be able to judge effectively between a well written proposal and a poorly produced video proposal? Hard to say.

I’ll give Pepsi the last word from guidance provided in their Refresh Toolkit PDF: “While a video isn’t required, it’s probably a good way to tell the world about your idea.”

If you’re selling an idea online is video a better choice than text?

Filed Under: Corporate Video Examples, General, Marketing with Video, Social Media, The Future of Corporate Video Tagged With: , , ,

The 5 Most Effective Viral Video Ads of 2009

January 4, 2010 By 4 Comments

‘Popular’ is great, ‘Innovative’ is cool and ‘Most talked about’ is wonderful,  but if you are running a business,  ‘Effective’ is what really matters.  So what makes a viral video effective?
1. It has to be viewed by many people – some say 1,000,000 + to be ‘truly viral.’ (Ideally those people are your customers and prospects.)
2. It has to be obviously associated with your brand (otherwise it’s just entertainment) and
3. It has to achieve a measurable business objective (otherwise what’s the point).

Many companies have added or have considered adding viral video to their marketing mix. Patiently waiting for your child or pet to do something adorable or videotaping a funny skit the guys in IT created might eventually garner a lot of views on YouTube but it probably won’t move your business forward. A lot of planning and promotion and a bit of luck is what’s required if you want your viral video to have any measurable impact on your bottom line.

Here are my candidates for the most effective marketing viral videos of 2009:

1.“Will it Blend”

Company Blendtec

Why it’s effective. Blendtec has developed an ongoing series of viral videos that continue to be viewed by millions of people. These videos are effective because they do something that very few viral videos do – they drive sales. Blendtec has created a video series that is not only entertaining (who doesn’t like to see things being pulverized) but also demonstrates the power and utility of their product. Yes, most of these videos are not new – they originally launched over three years ago, but they continue to drive sales. The marginal cost to produce each new episode is minimal and there is an unlimited number of new things that people are keen to see vaporized.

2. Evian Roller Babies

Company: Evian

Why it’s effective. This video (and it’s various versions) have been viewed more than 35 million times – which sets it apart from almost every other viral video ad. As well, the video title ensures that the Evian name is directly associated with this video – a very important step in maintaining brand awareness. This is arguably one of the best (most popular, most engaging, most discussed….)  viral videos ever made so associating your brand with quality and success at this level is a very good thing.  Do I see an obvious connection between roller-blading babies and bottled water? No, but then again, the connection between girls in bikinis and beer isn’t that direct either.

3. Samsung HD Youtube Camera Trick Challenge

Company: Samsung

Why it’s effective. This video had smaller numbers than the rest of the videos on this list (just over a million) but was included because it did a number of things very well: 1. It demonstrated the quality of  the product – the video was shot on that camera; 2. It clearly mentioned the product name without seeming too ‘salesy’; 3. It was very clever -A contest to solve the puzzle presented in the video ensured good viral numbers and; 4. It was well done – it had a natural user-generated style but it was obviously very well planned. Unless you are Apple it is very difficult to get people to willingly share your product videos.

4. United Breaks Guitars

Business: Sons of Maxwell (Musicians)

Why it’s effective. Absolutely brilliant marketing by a relatively unknown band called Sons of Maxwell. Dave Caroll, the lead singer of the band was mistreated by United Airlines and decided to write three songs about his experiences in frustration. Whether this video was simply opportunistic marketing, motivated by revenge, the beginning of a new and growing consumer advocacy movement or just a way of escaping writers block we’ll never know. The outcome however is clear. The previously unknown band has gained a huge following and are booking shows all over the continent because of this viral video.

5. T-Mobile Dance

Company - T-Mobile
Why it’s effective. Sure T-mobile weren’t the first to film a flash mob, but they still hit this one out of the park. This video is clever, energetic, human, beautiful, entertaining and just plain fun to watch. It has huge numbers at over 17 million views and it does a great job of supporting T-Mobiles ‘Life’s for Sharing’ marketing campaign. T-mobile has smartly followed up with a sing-along video in Trafalguar Square and will undoubtedly continue the ‘Life’s for Sharing’ viral video series – a wise decision, but it will be tough to beat the magic of this video.

Which video would you add to the list of ‘Most Effective Viral Video Ads of 2009?”

Filed Under: Corporate Video Examples, General, Marketing with Video, Video Marketing, Viral Video, YouTube Video Tagged With: , ,

GM strikes out on YouTube

December 21, 2009 By

What is the marketing brain-trust at Government Motors thinking?

You’ve survived bankruptcy by taking in billions of taxpayers dollars and you are facing the lingering effects of one of the worst recessions in our lifetime – one that could potentially  hollow out a huge portion of this continent’s middle class (the folks that buy most of your cars). You’ve been building mediocre automobiles for years and there is little to show for your investments in innovation. You are now pinning a great deal of your credibility {insert sarcastic comment here}  on a (partly) electric car called the Volt. You need to hit this one waaaaaaay out of the park. What do you do?

Amongst other things you pen a feeble song, you stage a 1960′s style showroom dance promotion, you capture them both on cheaply produced video and throw them up on the YouTube channel you have specifically created to promote your new game-changing car to the masses.

Ouch.

(Kudos to GM for allowing comments on the Volt YouTube channel – that was rather brave)

Filed Under: Corporate Video Examples, General, Marketing with Video, The Effect of Video on Your Brand, Video Marketing, video production, YouTube Video Tagged With: , , , ,

This is not the new Apple iTablet…. but it could be.

December 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

This video is well worth watching for a number of reasons: It’s beautifully shot, it’s fascinating and it illustrates the potential of a well designed tablet.

Sweden’s Bonnier and London-based studio BERG have launched a video prototype of a digital magazine touch tablet call the Mag+. I have no idea what Apples  iTablet is going to look like but I imagine it won’t be that different from what appears in this video.

In the short term many companies will jump into this market but I would guess the shakeout will be quick and dramatic. A few devices will resolve around magazine / reading application, like this device, and a few of others will win the video and rich media / entertainment application space.

Best guesses – Apple will have the coolest rich media device, Sony and Samsung will compete, Google will back / promote the open source gTablet and Conde Nast and Amazon will probably own the magazine and reader tablet spaces.

Any takers?

Filed Under: General, Video Technology Tagged With: , , ,

A 2010 Prediciton – All companies will become media companies

December 17, 2009 By 2 Comments

iStock_000003042313future exit sign

As the year and decade come to a close we enter prognostication season.

Google’s Mike Shmidt kicked things off nicely a few weeks back in a Gartner interview where he stated, amongst other things that Chinese (presumably Mandarin) would dominate the web in  five years. Wow – that’s a doozy. Of course, what he didn’t provide was the context around that comment – it’s a numbers game, there will be more Chinese people on the internet in five years. What was unsaid is that this is likely Google’s single largest impediment to global domination in the near future – Microsoft being a fait accompli. (done deal)

I thought I would add to the 2010 prediction chatter by suggesting one of my own – 2010 will be the year that all companies become media companies. ( By ‘all’ I mean quite a few… trending to many…) Here’s why:

1. New rules – content is more effective when it is shared. Companies have to begin creating content that is intended to be shared and consumed by many people in many different ways. (i.e. your website isn’t that important anymore)

2. You have to own and influence your own story. You can’t rely on traditional media outlets to communicate your story effectively – they have their own challenges and priorities and they don’t care about your company. Other (non media) people are now starting to re-write your story and you have to engage them wherever they are. That means you have to begin creating the content to influence that story.

3. The authority of traditional marketing and communication channels is greatly diminished. How important is a press release today? Who do you trust more, someone you know/follow or a reporter for a magazine that carries ads for the same products they are reporting on.

4. The disruptive advertising model doesn’t work as well when there are alternatives. I want to program my own entertainment and I am now tuning everything out that is not laser-focused to my current interests… because I can.

5. Some traditional marketing activities are becoming less effective. Newspapers are disappearing, magazines are seeing their revenues challenged, broadcast television (networks) are hugely concerned with having to trade ‘analog dollars with digital cents’ and other traditional marketing methods (i.e. direct mail, call centers ) do not provide the same returns they used to.

6. Trust is the single most important key to success on the web. Authenticity, a genuine voice and real engagement matters.  You can’t hide behind a tag-line or a brand image any more – you have to create real value for your prospects before they engage you and then you have to continue to communicate with them in new, more engaging ways when they become your customers.

7. Everyone now expects immediate access to information. If I need to know something, anything, I Google (or Bing…) it. I expect to find a good answer to my problem and I usually do. If you don’t provide that information for the things that matter most to all of your constituents, someone else will.

8. Contextual relevance is everything. The web allows you to target your customers wherever they happen to be on the buying cycle. You can’t create just one micro site, or one video or one piece of product literature and hope it will capture all of your various constituent’s needs. You have to understand where your customer happens to be in the buying cycle and what specific issues need to be addressed at that moment and then you need to create  content that specifically targets those business issues.

9. Content Marketing will emerge as the most effective lead generation option. Creating content that does not contain an overt sales pitch, but instead helps your prospects solve their business issues will become one of the most effective ways to build trust and interest and ultimately engagement with your company.

10. The cost of media production continues to drop. Many of the media creation and distribution tools are free and the ones that are not continue to drop in price. Google continues to happily underwrite much of this forcing every other technology company to follow the same path.

11. It’s not about you or your company any more. Sure, the guys who wrote the Cluetrain Manifesto told us this ten years ago but a decade later we’re finally starting to believe it. The customer engagement focus means that you have to develop content / media that speaks directly to your customers concerns. That means you have to create a lot of content and engage in a lot of conversations if you want to stay in the game.

12. New media channels are being created every day. Niche services, industry portals, groups, blogs, social media sites and many other channels are being created each day and each has it’s own unique rules and priorities. One type of content will not address all of these channels and one engagement strategy will not suffice.

13. The nature of media consumption is changing. Read the 2010 predictions. Social Media, specifically video is going to be very important. The need to create engaging content that is relevant to your audience will be one of your biggest communications challenges in the new year.

14. Content will become the new currency of the web. The web used to be about design, then the focus changed to technology. Now great  content is what matters.  Having a website today is table stakes. Pouring money into annual redesigns and ever more complicated content management systems has kept you busy but it’s never really moved the needle. You will be judged by the content (or lack thereof) that you create for your various audiences, wherever they happen to be.

So what do you think? Will all companies necessarily become media companies in the near future?

Filed Under: General, Marketing with Video, Resources, The Effect of Video on Your Brand, The Future of Corporate Video, Video Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

42 ways to use video to grow your business

December 8, 2009 By 46 Comments

video wall


New visual languages, graphic interfaces, rich media content, lower video production costs and shrinking attention spans are changing how businesses communicate. In-house or outsourced, video is becoming a standard delivery medium for marketing and communications activities. Here are some examples:

Customer Reference Videos

1. Video Customer Testimonials (Popularity: Moderate  | Growth Potential: High)
Nothing is more compelling than seeing and hearing your customer (ideally in their own environment) extol the virtues of your products and services or explaining how you helped them achieve their business goals. These videos usually run from fifteen second snippets to a minute and are typically combined with or used to support other marketing material.

2. Video Success Stories (Popularity: Moderate  | Growth Potential: High)
Similar to a customer testimonial these videos run between one and two minutes and follow an interview format where the person on screen answers questions posed by an interviewer just off-camera. These videos are usually delivered as stand-alone marketing support materials and are often grouped with other customer success stories.

3. Video Case Study (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
A video case study combines customer testimonials with more a more in-depth explanation of how your company’s products and services helped your customer be successful. These case studies usually incorporate two voices – a narrator and the voice of your customer and can run anywhere from two to five minutes. The video structure follows the same “Problem, Solution, Benefit” format found in a printed case study.

4. Man-in-the-street Interviews (Popularity: Moderate  | Growth Potential: High)
These videos are typically done to promote events and to build buzz around coming events but can also be employed to capture ‘spontaneous’ responses to targeted questions that help promote your product or service or to help differentiate the benefits of your brand compared to the real or imagined problems associated with your competitors. Soft drink companies, phone companies, fast food companies often use this format in advertising. Sometimes they are genuine. Sometimes they are completely staged. ‘Authenticity’ is becoming a style…

5. Customer Presentations. (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Low)
If one of your customers is presenting at a conference, trade show or event or even in your offices and is talking about your products or services either directly with you or indirectly as part of a larger discussion this may be a perfect opportunity to capture the presentation of video (with permission, of course) to re-purpose on your website and intranet.

Product and Service Promotion

6. Product Presentations (Popularity: Moderate  | Growth Potential: High)
Product (or service) presentation videos are typically employed early in the buying cycle. Product or service presentations focus on benefits and talk from more from your customer’s perspective. They should speak clearly to how your product solves a specific business, personal or economic problem that your prospect is experiencing. They are used to help your customers and prospects differentiate between the benefits of your products and services to those of your competitors.

7. Product Demonstrations (Popularity: Moderate  | Growth Potential: High)
Product demos show how your product works and highlight the features that differentiate it from that of your competitors. Software screen captures, a 3D cut-away, or a high impact demo by a presenter are all excellent ways of showing how your product or service works. These videos are typically used to influence a prospect who is relatively far along in the sales cycle. In technology marketing these videos would be targeted at the technical approvers who need to understand how something works. In consumer marketing these would be targeted at buyers of larger ticket items who are further along the sales cycle.

8. Product Reviews (Popularity: Moderate  | Growth Potential: High)
The best product reviews are trusted third party reviews. Video reviews can be found anywhere from YouTube to various business portals. To the extent they help you, they should be referenced. You can also partner with trusted third parties to create product reviews for your own products.

9. Visual Stories (Popularity: Moderate  | Growth Potential: High)
Quickly rising in popularity, visual stories employ illustrations, animations and motion graphics with a voice-over to explain complex products or services in a simple and compelling manner.

Corporate Video

10. Corporate Overview (Popularity: High  | Growth Potential: moderate)
These videos are the video equivalent of the ‘company brochure’ for small companies – intended to give new visitors to a website a better idea of the company. Corporate overview videos typically company history, key products, executives/owners and other top level business info. As the cost of video production continues to decrease and the popularity of video increases you will start to see these videos being replaced by multiple, more targeted video.

11. Executive Presentations (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
Whether you are preparing for a quarterly update, responding to a major event in your industry or making a regularly scheduled presentation there is great value in presenting the “face” and “voice” of your leadership team to all of your constituents.

12. Staff Presentations (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
Social media and other Web 2.0 trends have caused companies to reconsider how they communicate with external audiences. Your senior leadership team should not be the first and only consideration to represent your company. It is becoming more imperative to consider showcasing the people that drive the day-to-day operations of your company. Customer service representatives, technical experts and legacy workers are all valuable considerations for this new category of corporate video. Surveys show that there is more trust associated with these employees than with senior management. When you are selling to influencers in organizations (versus economic buyers or decision makers) it is especially important you represent your company with people that your customers and prospects can relate to.

13. Corporate facilities or equipment tour (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Low)
Ten years ago corporate facility videos and equipment tours were popular. Down-sizing, off-shoring, outsourcing, a couple of recessions and a hollowing out of North America’s manufacturing base has change the priorities placed on these videos. Uniqueness is key to success here. That said, it’s really not about you any more.

Training  and support video

14. Training (Popularity: High  | Growth Potential: High)
Corporate video first gained prominence with training (service, support, sales, personal development etc.) and continues to be one of the best uses of video. Online Video is a cost effective substitute for in-class training. You can also easily integrate video into online training management tools.

15. Overnight expert videos (Sales Support)  (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
If you serve a large geographic area or sell through channels then it is well worth the effort to put together short ‘overnight expert’ sales support videos that highlight the key selling points, features, benefits, objection handling and follow-up issues to consider by your direct or channel sales force.

16. Just-in-time learning (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: High)
Contextual training videos are becoming very popular on the web. ‘How-to’ videos, video manuals, on-site video reference, quick assembly demos, and other types of video are being used to supplement or replace traditional training. Mobile video will increase the popularity of this type of video.

17. Post sale support and maintenance videos (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
No one reads manuals. You can save thousands of dollars of post sale support by creating informative assembly, installation and maintenance videos for your products and services.

Internal Communications

18. Internal Communications (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
In larger companies few people have the time or interest to understand what other groups or functions within the company do or even why they exist. Internal videos that highlight business plans, new business activities and achievements can improve knowledge transfer and lead to more effective communications. They are also a great way to show off your local hero’s.

19. Event/Conference and Trade Show Communications. (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
Most companies spend a disproportionate amount of their marketing budget on attending and participating in a variety of industry events and yet only a very small percentage of employees ever benefit from these activities. Share the knowledge gained at these events by capturing the presentation, demos, interviews, commentaries etc. on video.

20. Employee orientation (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
Once your new recruits are on board employee orientation videos are a great way to get new staff up to speed. Company history, structure, procedures, policies and codes of behavior can all be communicated effectively with video.

21. Health, Legal & Safety (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: High)
The cost of dealing with health and safety related issues within organizations continues to grow. Video is one of the most effective means of minimizing these costs.

Advertising , marketing  and promotion

22. Commercials (Popularity: High  | Growth Potential: High)
While advertisers are becoming more selective in how they chose to spend their promotional dollars with broadcast television, other venues for commercials such as online video pre-roll, online sponsorships, in-game advertising, event sponsorships and in-theatre advertising are starting to take the place of broadcast / cable commercials. A proliferation of video screens cropping up on every building, device and structure will create an even more diverse set of advertising opportunities. The challenge will be to create specialized content targeted to an ever shrinking niche audience.

23. Viral Video (Popularity: High  | Growth Potential: High)
A video is viral if it is so compelling that people want to share it. (Calling a video ‘Viral’ doesn’t make it so). Viral videos have to be extremely engaging, entertaining, shocking or meaningful to be successful. Unfortunately some of the most successful viral videos have little connection (and therefore value) to any brand. (Everyone references ‘Will it Blend’ but very few viral videos are remotely this successful in actually driving sales.)

24. Email Video (Popularity: Moderate  | Growth Potential: High)
Testing has shown that open rates can double if you include video in your email marketing activities. To be effective the video should be purpose-built to elicit a specific conversion activity such as requesting a demo, more info etc.

25. Infomercials (Popularity: High  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
Infomercials have been around forever. While they continue to be the primary focus of web-based parody videos they have remained remarkably resilient over time. The shopping channel is, in effect, a 24 hour infomercial. If done well, Infomercials can be very effective at selling certain consumer products.

26.  Content Marketing (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Huge)
This is a broad category that will become very important over the next months and years. Much of the content (video or otherwise) being creating today by companies is focused on selling. Focusing on solving your customers problems first and then associating your brand with those solutions will be increasingly more important and effective. (i.e. Home Depot could create a branded ‘how-to’ series that sits on their website and shows their customers how-to fix anything. They would, or course, reference tools and supplies available in their store but more importantly, they would generate tremendous value for their customers and prospects – value that would accrue to them over time.)

27. Landing pages and micro sites (Popularity: Moderate  | Growth Potential: High)
Video is beginning to replace or supplement text and graphics as a content element on many corporate websites. Landing pages can offer a more compelling call to action with video. Some micro sites on larger web properties are self contained, purpose-built conversion machines that have the singular purpose of generating a conversion activity (sign-up for more info, attend event, order something etc.). Video is becoming an important part of the conversion process.

PR Support and Community Relations

28. Video Press Releases (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: High)
The standard four paragraph press release is now being supplemented with video and rich media to tell a more engaging story. Video is now being purpose-built to directly support the important company announcements. The new challenge for press releases is to change the focus from the company to the customer.

29.  PR Support Materials (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)

Make it easy for networks, bloggers, news gathers and others to promote your business and also to talk about your industry. Smart companies are developing video support catalogues of company and industry related materials (b-roll, industry footage, sound bites etc) and offering them to news and business portals. The demand for video is everywhere. If a news agency (online or broadcast) is looking for stock footage to use in a story it might as well be yours. (assuming the story is positive, of course)

30. Community Relations Video (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: High)
If your company is out working in the community, being good corporate citizens, helping the environment or contributing to important causes you should be capturing those efforts on video. Show the world what you are doing, don’t just talk about it.

Event Video

31. Event Presentation video (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: High)
Events represent a unique confluence of expertise and opportunity – often under-leveraged. Trade Shows, meeting and conferences are usually attended by your top sales people, your corporate executives, industry experts and other influential business people. If you are speaking at an event or someone is referencing your company you should be capturing this valuable content on video.

32. Round table Sessions (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: High)
Take the opportunity at an event to corral four to six of your best customers and other industry experts, put them in room and video tape them talking about industry trends, business issues and the future of your industry. This content will be the most valuable content you could ever capture.

33. Q&A Expert sessions. (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
There are many opportunities to take specific event participants to the side and take them through informal Q&A sessions on various topics that matter to your customers. This content is valuable lead generation content.

Other Uses of Video

34. Recruitment Videos (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
Finding the best employees is the single most important function of any company and yet comparatively small amounts of time and money are allocated to this critical task. Recruitment videos that feature company employees, highlight corporate culture and promote the direction of the company can be very influential.

35. VLOG (Popularity: Moderate  | Growth Potential:Moderate)
There are many levels  and types of Vloggers today but for the sake of brevity I will identify two: 1. Pro Vloggers who have engaging styles, rich content and a growing list of followers who promote their vlog on their site and through various syndicated channels and 2. Regular Vloggers who have chosen, for whatever reason, to speak into a camera instead of typing on a keyboard. The problem today is that, unlike onscreen text, you can’t scan a vlog – you sort have to watch the whole thing to see whether it is worth your time. The other problem is that most people just aren’t that compelling on camera so there is little, to no value of a talking head – and often it’s a distraction. Of course everyone references Gary Vaynerchuck (from Wine Library TV) as the rule (rather than the exception) for video blogging in the same way that everyone references the success of Will It Blend as being what to expect when you launch your first viral video project. For individuals looking to gain notoriety from their passions vlogging can be a good option if you have a good on-camera presence and great content.

36. In Store Video (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: High)
Wal-Mart has its own profitable in-store TV network that makes shoppers aware of new promotions. LCD screens are ubiquitous. In store LCD’s will be networked and customizable offering you the ability to promote your own goods and services or make money by promoting other complimentary services.

37. Company Lobby / Waiting Room Video (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
HD video screens are popping up everywhere – why not in your lobby or reception where you can get a jump start on first impressions and also take advantage of a captive audience.

38. Mobile Video (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Huge)
Yep, ‘there’s and Ap for that’. Mobile video will soon be the largest video category outside of broadcast. In the short-run, mobile video will consist of hastily re-purposed video made to fit on a mobile device. It will quickly evolve into a much more specific format – five to fifteen second hyper targeted messages that are part of geo-located and micro-niched promotions.

39. Market research, focus groups and polling (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
Market research firms are now capturing the anecdotal feedback along with the raw statistics of their research. If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video of your customer describing her likes and dislikes of your new product is priceless. Go to YouTube to see how people are describing your products and services.

40. Website FAQ Video (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Moderate)
In certain formats video can be a suitable replacement for text where an authoritative voice, support materials or other visual references are required. A list of FAQ’s answered by a company expert is an example.

41. Video White paper (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Low)
Video white papers have evolved over the last years from basically a person reading a white paper on camera (what’s the point) to a professional delivery that is accompanied by charts, graphs and other visual references to make the presentation more valuable.

42. Video Magazine (Popularity: Low  | Growth Potential: Low)
Some video production companies specialize in helping companies deliver serialized video content to their customers. Like the name implies video content is created on a regular basis (usually monthly) that customers and prospects can view through a subscription service.

Have I left any out? Let me know.

Filed Under: Content Marketing, Corporate Video Examples, General, Marketing with Video, The Future of Corporate Video, Video Marketing, video production Tagged With: , ,

Adobe’s Bob Donlon talks about the evolution of corporate video

December 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Speaking at the Streaming Media West conference in San Jose last month, Adobe’s Bob Donlon offers his thoughts on of the power of online video for corporations for internal and external communications.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , ,

Web Video – a powerful way to make a point

December 1, 2009 By 1 Comment

“If I put the real price I don’t get any customer.”  Ha! Ouch.

Wind Mobile is in the process (pending CRTC approval) of launching a new mobile service in Canada. One of their key differentiators will be not locking people into ridiculously long service contracts. (I believe the good people at Bell, Rogers and Telus have currently all agreed to handcuff users for three year terms.)

Wind is pre-launching with promotions that go after the ‘mobile services indignation niche’ – that’s a big market in Canada.

Here is what Wind didn’t do:

1.They didn’t hire some Windbag to get in front of the camera and try to convince you that Wind will have the “best combination of mobile features in the country”.

2. They didn’t associate themselves with cute or exotic animals.

3. They didn’t clutter up their promotion with excessive information or complexity.

What they did do is present a single scenario that everyone can relate to and they associate that scenario with the frustration and absurdity of the current moderately competitive (at best) mobile  landscape that we all have come to accept as the status quo.

Simply telling your audience that things are out of whack and that Wind has a better way would have had limited value. Showing your audience your key differentiator by means of a simple, but powerful example is a far more effective method of soliciting a visceral reaction (and also a great way to highlight the key benefit of using the new Wind service.)

The video also benefits from being fun to watch. A great example of  ’show me, don’t tell me.’

Filed Under: General, Marketing with Video, Video Marketing, video production, YouTube Video Tagged With: , , , ,

Microsoft redesigns iPod packaging

November 24, 2009 By 2 Comments

Elegance and simplicity is tough to beat.

This video, which has been circulating for quite a while, should be required viewing for introductory marketing classes. While it picks on Microsoft (admittedly an easy target) the real point of the video is to illustrate that less is more. Anyone caught in the ‘design by committee’ death spiral will be able to relate to the added ‘enhancements’ that get thrown into this packaging exercise.

The challenge with simplicty is that it is really risky and most companies are risk averse. Complexity in packaging is just another way of hedging your bets – making sure that no group goes undifferentiated and that no bit of information goes unmentioned. Having the confidence and insight to be able to communicate to your target audience in a very clear and very simple manner is not the norm.

{As the story goes, this is an internally produced video by Microsoft to illustrate the unnecessary management layers that gum up the marketing process. Good for them if this is true.}

Filed Under: Marketing with Video, Video Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Have we reached the online video tipping point?

November 13, 2009 By

wsj

We may have just quietly passed the point of no return.

“The Wall Street Journal has moved its video player front and center with a twice-a-day live newscast on WSJ.com.” The New York Times recently reported that the iconic and venerable print publisher The Wall Street Journal is now featuring video prominently on their website. I think I just felt the ground shift a little under my feet.

Remember when the WSJ added color (colour) to its newspaper? That apocalyptic change was debated for months in media circles. This is a couple of orders of magnitude more significant and consequently will get much less attention.

Why did the WSJ do this? Well, as the New York Times explains  “A major reason is commercial.” Uh huh.

More and more people are going online to find what they want – information, news, entertainment, friends, etc. and video is quickly becoming the easiest and most compelling way to consume content online.  Online video advertising, while still small compared to TV advertising is growing quickly. The money will follow the crowd.

Many things could have signaled the transition from the ‘text’ web to the ‘next web’ such as rich media penetration rates, the number of  YouTube videos viewed per month or the percentage of companies using video on their websites. I think the symbolism of the worlds most prominent print publication prominently featuring video on its website is as good a signal as any to suggest that online video has finally  ‘arrived.’

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , ,
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