Corporate Video production can cost as much or as little or as your budget allows.

You can borrow a flip camera, shoot some video and upload it to YouTube – all for free. Or you could hire James Cameron to write, produce and direct your video where you’d be looking at a budget just shy of  half a billion dollars when you include marketing costs and Hollywood accounting. Both options would result in a finished video but you’d probably need special glasses to watch the the more expensive option.

The good news for businesses looking to engage a corporate video production company is that many of the factors that affect the price of a video have been going down over the last few years. Some dramatically. Assuming you find a company that does great work (this is a critical first step by the way – if the company doesn’t do great work it’s not worth paying anything for) the first question to be answered is  ‘how much does a video cost?’ There is no simple answer to that question but here are 25 factors (ranked in order of importance to the overall quality of the video) that affect the price of a web video:

1. Corporate Video Production Experience. Doctors, mechanics, lawyers, videographers… whatever profession you care to mention, experience matters more than any other factor and, all things being equal, you do tend to get what you pay for. There are many, many moving parts in the creation of a video but at the end of the day you are paying for the expertise and experience of the key people responsible for your video. 
   Costs: You can pay $25/hour for a recent film school graduate or $250/hour for a top flight video veteran. On average most production companies will charge between $50/hour and $150/hour for the people involved in key activities such as shooting and directing.
2. Concept / Script / Storyboard –  Doing video for the sake of video is a waste of money (although it’s great for the video production industry!) What measurable business objective are you trying to achieve?  How is this video specifically going to achieve that objective? And of greatest importance, do the people creating your video have the experience or guidance to create a video that will help move your business forward? Lighting, sound, framing and editing are all important but they don’t matter in the least if what you are creating has no value to your intended audience. Like companies that spend $10,000 on website development and little or no money on content for the site, many companies waste a lot of money on nicely shot but otherwise meaningless video.
   Costs: Expect to spend between $60/hour and $125/hour for an experienced marketer (does it make sense to have an entertainment script writer or video production assistant develop your marketing script?) to develop a concept, script and storyboard that serves as the blueprint for you video.
3. Editing. The editing process is highly nuanced. Editing is where you create the style and substance of the video – you sequence all of the available assets into a cohesive story that communicates your key messages in a clear and engaging manner. Editors arguably should be the most highly paid (and skilled) in the entire process (quite often they are not.)
   Costs: Editing costs run between $40/hour and $125/hour.
4. Actors/Presenters. Do you need to hire professional presenters, actors or models to improve the quality of your presentation? Not everyone is good on camera. You may need to make difficult decisions about who should represent your company. In a broadcast commercial quite often it is not someone in your company. Even in a corporate video you may decide that hiring outside talent is the best decision.
   Costs: Presenters, models and actors can range anywhere from $50/hour to $500/hour or more depending on experience, demand and union costs.
5. Camera. The quality and flexibility of the camera you shoot with can make a huge difference in the finished quality and editing options for your video. Are you shooting on a $ 500 DV camera, a $2,500 DSLR, a $10,000 Full feature HD camera, a $25,000 RED, a $60,000 ARRI or are you shooting on Film? The pace of technology advancement in film and video is breathtaking and the features and capabilities of cameras are changing weekly.  Bottom Line: You should be able to see the difference in the final output quality in more expensive cameras. If you can’t, then it’s not worth paying for.
   Costs: You will spend between $25/hour and $250/hour or more depending on which digital camera is used. Film cameras, lenses and stock will take you well over $1,000 /hour.
6. Equipment. The more experienced video production companies tend to have a wide variety of tools and equipment on hand for each shoot. Do you need a track dolly or a jib-arm to create a shot with movement? Do you have a high quality field monitor to know exactly what you are getting (or not getting) as you shoot? Do you have all the necessary audio equipment (lav’s, direction mics, booms etc) to capture the audio you need?  Lighting and framing are everything in video. Do you have lights – lots of different lights to accommodate a wide variety of shooting scenarios? Do you have a variety of lenses to create the specific feel you are after – wide angle, fixed focal length or Cine lenses for narrow depth of field, etc?
   Costs. Equipment cost can run anywhere from $25/hour to $100′s/hour or more depending on what specific equipment is required.
7. Crew. If you’ve ever watched a movie or television show being filmed you might wonder why you need so many people standing around idle on a set. Most business web video productions don’t require more than two people (and sometimes one is enough) but depending on the complexity of the shoot you may require a crew of three or more. If you are conducting man on the street interviews as an example, you need a cameraman, a sound man and a directer or interviewer. Concept videos like commercials will often require more people to help with the logistics of the shoot.
   Costs: Expect to pay between $ 25 and $75/hour/person for experienced crew.
8. B-Roll / Cut-away shots. Most videos benefit from the addition of footage that supplements what is being said on screen. If you are interviewing a business owner who is talking about their new equipment you should cut away to shots of the equipment as they speak. Showing the viewer what is being described in the video is more informative (show me , don’t tell me) and also helps to keep the attention of the impatient viewer.
   Costs: The length of time and equipment used to capture the b-roll will increase production costs. You can add anywhere from 10% to 50% of the total shooting costs if you need to supplement interview footage with b-roll.
9. Locations and production time. Where are you shooting? How long will each scene/interview/shot take?Are you shooting in one location or many? What are the specific requirements and constraints of each location? Are you indoor or outside? If you are shooting outside is weather a factor? If so what happens if it rains? How much set-up time is required? Are the locations close together? The most important factor is the total amount of time required for production. There are few economies of scale for time – but with good planning you can do a lot within a specific period of time.
   Costs: This cost is arithmetic. Two days of shooting is twice as expensive as one day. {If shooting extends for many days or is regularly scheduled then most companies offer a discount}
10. Studio shooting. Do you require the use of a sound stage or studio? Do you need a controlled environment to shoot in? Are you shooting green screen and keying out the background in edit? The use of a studio has to be factored into the overall cost of the production one way or another. Larger companies may include studio time in their shooting costs and other companies include it as a line item as studio rental time.
    Costs: Factor in between $100/hour and $ 400/hour depending on the size of the studio. (If you need a studio you will be charged for it – one way or the other)
11. Set, props, equipment, extras. Aside from video production equipment are there other special props or pieces of equipment that need to be included as part of the costs? Do you need to rent a van, rent furniture, hire extras, hire a plane or helicopter for an aerial shot or bring in special equipment for the shoot? These all have to be factored in to the cost of the shoot.
    Costs: Depends on what is required.
12. Stock footage Do you require supplemental footage or images to support the video? There are many websites that sell high quality still and video footage. Some videos are comprised completely of stock footage, text and voice-over.
    Costs: Stock images can be as cheap as $3 and great quality HD stock footage can cost as little as $50, but for high quality images you will pay considerably more.
13. Narration Do you need a voice-over to tell your story or to tie the video together. Video is a powerful medium but it is even more powerful if you take full advantage of audio to support what is being shown on screen.
    Costs: Voice-over costs have dropped dramatically over the last five years. Many voice artists work from home and can produce great work for almost any budget. $100 – $400 for a 2 minute video is reasonable depending on the experience and demand for the specific voice artist.
14. Audio files. Do you require a music bed, special sound effects or other audio to supplement your video?
    Costs: Good quality music for video starts as low as $30 for a two or three minute track. Custom audio can cost $1,000 or more depending on the experience of the musician and what is required.
15. Teleprompter. A teleprompter can save a shoot. Even the most experienced speaker can be intimidated by lights and camera. It’s true that you can usually tell when someone is reading a teleprompter but that may still be preferable to the agony of a shoot spiraling out of control because the CEO can’t remember his lines.
    Costs: Teleprompter and teleprompter operator usually cost between $350 and $600 for a half day.
16. Geographic Location. New York is more expensive to shoot in than Central Lake, Michigan because the cost of living is higher in New York. Half day rates don’t exist in some large cities today.
    Costs: Expect to pay between 25% and %50 more if you are shooting in a large city.
17. Digitizing, transfers, rendering and uploading. Video takes on many forms during the production process. If you shot on film you have to transfer it to a format that works in your editing system. After you edit it, you have to render it to a presentation format (for web, for broadcast, etc.) and depending on where it’s going you may have to upload it somewhere (your web server / YouTube / The Academy Awards, etc). All this takes computer and human time and you generally have to pay for both.
    Costs: Sometimes these costs are buried, sometimes they are line items. Tape transfers are still very expensive ($100′s of dollars).  Rendering and uploading time are usually buried in the costs but can also be charged out at an hourly rate ($30 – $75 per hour).
18. Length of the Video. The longer the video the more it is likely to cost. Web videos tend to be around a couple of minutes although this varies considerably depending on the type and purpose of your video. Filming an articulate talking head (limited editing) for 10 minutes is much cheaper than creating a 30 second commercial. So…
    Costs: All things being equal (they never are) consider longer to be more expensive, but it’s not arithmetic. An extra minute of video might only cost you %10 more if you have planned the extra requirements into the overall workflow.
19. Licensing/Union Fees. Are you using any media assets or talent that could be subject to ongoing licensing, usage or union fees? The web continues to drive all costs down including licensing fees – but they still exist. The best talent is usually a member of  SAG, ACTRA or some other union.
    Costs: Varies depending on the project and talent.
20. Direct or Third party. Are you dealing directly with the video production company or are you going through an agency or other middleman?
    Costs: You should expect that you are paying at least a %30 mark-up if you are going through a third party.
21. Interactivity. Are you creating linear video or are you building in interactivity? Is there a direct call-to-action that you want to get the viewer to follow? Do you require flash programming do build the video into a special player that will sit on a specific landing page? The future of video is interactive video.
    Costs: Expect to pay between %10 and %30 more to develop interactivity and flash support elements into your video. Back-end, database work will cost even more.
22. Hosting. Your video is going to live on the web. Where is it being hosted? You might end up hosting it on different servers (your own, YouTube, a business portal, etc.) depending on your business needs.
    Costs: Hosting is either free or relatively inexpensive ($ 5 – $10 / month/video depending on bandwidth usage.)
23. Formats. How many different formats does your video have to be rendered in? Where is it going to be seen? Do you need a short version (editing down) and a long version? Does it sit in a multiplayer or is it in three different players? Should you break it up into pieces to make the length of it a little less evident and also to allow the user a bit more control?
    Costs: Adapting multiple formats for a video could add %5 to %10 percent to the cost of the job depending on how much editing is required.
24. Language and translation. Do you need close captions? Do you need language versioning? Do you need onscreen text to change per language? Do you need to dub in different narration for different markets?
    Costs: Language versioning can add %10 to %20 to the overall cost of the job. (Editing and proofing of different languages is usually much more time intensive than one language alone.)
25. Miscellaneous fees. Ya, everyone hates lawyers ‘disbursement fees’. Video production has the equivalent in ‘Miscellaneous fees’: Travel costs, meals, mileage, hotels, transportation, out-of-pocket… it all adds up.
    Costs: Usually in the $100′s and sometimes in the $1,000′s of dollars on larger shoots.

Bottom Line?

Taking all of the above into consideration there are reasonable ballpark figures that you can use as a guidepost for budget purposes. A two to three minute web-based corporate video presentation might cost between $2500 and $7500 depending on the variables mentioned above. If you use the time honored “$1,000 a minute” for a professionally produced online corporate video as a starting point, that will give you a reasonable idea of where to begin in the budgeting process.

Budgeting Tip # 1: A reference video is a great place to start.

The best way to get a quick estimate is to have a reference video to compare to. (I.e. “How much would something like ‘this’ cost.”)

Budgeting Tip # 2: Share your budget

Every business has a budget and yet many are reluctant to share them.  I’ve been on both sides (client and agency side) and I always had better results when I said ‘Here’s my budget, here are my business objectives,  what can you do for me?” If you don’t declare a budget then the production company will have to guess at a budget. (I recently lost a job because the budget I guessed at was too high – even though the client really liked the concept that I had proposed. Does the company that guesses closest to your undeclared budget win?}

Budgeting Tip # 3: Be open minded.
Many businesses begin the video development process with; 1. A specific video type in mind, 2. A prepared script and/or 3. Specific creative approach in mind.  That said, it’s still a good idea to listen to alternative approaches.

Did I miss something?

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.

Q. What’s the difference between a salesman and a marketer?
A. Salesmen know when they are lying.

{Full disclosure: I love Starbucks, I go there quite often. I just find it silly when people take themselves too seriously.}

Caleb Hannon wrote a recent article in the Daily Weekly that  concluded with directions on how to “cleanse yourself of the stench of Pfeiffer’s corporate-speak.” I’m not sure if the self-important proclamations he refers to are quite this egregious but you have to admit that Pfeiffer and many other marketers do tend to take themselves a bit too seriously.

Starbucks is opening new custom designed stores that attempt to blend in with their local environments. That’s it. Unfortunately that sound bite would only last for a few seconds so Tim Pfeiffer, Starbucks VP of Global Magnificence felt he needed to fill that void with over three minutes of Starbucks marketing dribble.

The following is a guide to help you better understand what Starbucks is trying to say in this video:

“Cafe Presence” – A store.
“Open the Throat” – I believe he is either referring to an in-store tracheotomy procedure or perhaps this is a euphemism for increasing cut throat business practices… not sure which.
“Major Coffee Theatre” – A clear indication that everything he and the company does and says is an act, they don’t really mean any of it.
“Elevate the offering” – The religious connotations are self-evident here.
“More bespoke and one-off” -  ‘Mcdonald’s started building customized/localized stores a while back so we thought we’d copy that idea.’
“Availability of the interaction of the Barrista” … I got nothing here. It’s English (and he’s a marketer), so he was probably trying to make a point about something.
“The go-forward” - All marketing men of action are legally required to include ‘go-forward’ at least once in a conversation.
“Great coffee messaging” - Ads.
“Our coffee authority” – Starbucks will continue to crush all competition (in an environmentally responsible fashion.)

So Tim, keep up the good work… but get over yourself, it’s just coffee.

We tend to take most things in life on face value. The earth is round, the universe is expanding, the internet is slow, but improving. This slow progression and acceptance of our ‘realities’ also tends to stop us from seeing what’s just around the corner. An example:

Imagine if television in the 1950′s evolved the same way that the internet has.  What if TV in its infancy was little more than radio with text – much like the early stages of the web.  What if television started with many, many channels but they all offered slow text, perhaps a few graphics. Over time, maybe ten years or more the television broadcast networks evolved to allow some blinking graphics, then motion graphics via flash files that allowed you to see moving images accompanied with text. How powerful a medium would TV have been up to that point. Would it have consumed our lives the way it has? Would it become the focal point of our entertainment, our advertising, our news consumption?

With the Internet today we are close (but not quite there) to where television started over fifty years ago.  Video is widely viewable today online around the world but the experience varies considerably. That will change over the next few years as good or great quality video will be delivered to any screen you want it on (tv, computer, mobile devise). When that happens this will have a profound effect on how business communicate and evolve. Like the frog in the slowly warming pot of water, many businesses won’t even notice the change.

What makes the impact that much more significant is that all of the televisions are connected, everyone is creating their own television shows and you can watch what you want, wherever and whenever you want. Context is everything and the companies that win in this game will be the companies that can produce contextually relevant video products for their audiences. Content that has real value (not commercials), content that people want to share and content that changes how people see and do things.

No, text isn’t going away (in spite of the recent pain in the print industry) in our lifetime but we are entering a time where new visual languages, graphic interfaces and video content will change how businesses communicate.

Websites don’t matter. The content on them and the content that gets consumed and shared (wherever) is what matters.

I recently responded to a blog article that posed the question “are corporate websites dead?”  My take was that the purpose and function of corporate websites is changing – they will still serve as a repository for corporate information but the days of websites being a ‘destination’ for information about the things you do are long gone. An Example:

Recent changes to driving laws where I live now make it illegal to hold/use a cell phone while driving. I needed to pick up a good quality Bluetooth headset. While scanning some recent tweets I noticed a comment about a new Plantronics Bluetooth headset. I followed the link to a YouTube video. It sounded interesting but I wasn’t convinced. I then viewed a number of related reviews on YouTube that seemed more credible and decided that this was indeed the device that suited my needs. I Googled to find the best price and ordered the product online. I never went to the Plantronics website – there was no reason to. I know the company and have purchased products from them before so there were no credibility issues to investigate.

The user generated videos I viewed provided good general information but ultimately the more professionally created videos sold me. The whole process took ten minutes and at the end of it I felt very informed and very comfortable making a purchase decision.  Would I have been as confident if I just went to the Plantronics site and consumed their literature? No way. Would I have been as comfortable if I went to my local electronics store and waited to listen to an inexperienced sales clerk sell me on equipment he may or may not have a lot of real experience with? No.

We are moving from the ‘text web’ to the ‘next web’ ( or ‘web something dot something’) and many companies still don’t see it coming. I’d rather watch a video review or video product demo than read product literature because video and other rich media content show me things that a document cannot. It’s also easier to make value judgments about the presenter and the content.

There is huge value in showing your product/service being used, showing people talking about their experiences with the product and showing how it clearly benefits the potential buyer.

It’s the content (and where that content is seen) that matters, not the website and the implications of this reach far beyond simple consumer products. All companies have to take into account how social media, rich media, mobile engagement, word of mouth, and especially the creation of truly valuable content is going to affect their brand and their business. Even companies with long sales cycles that involve complex buying decisions need to consider how they are going to engage the ‘next web.’

Video is a very powerful and effective way to communicate.  We’re going to be seeing more videos like this one.

Brave New Films is an organization at the leading edge of video activism. It creates news magazine style videos that examines / ‘exposes’  a range of political issues. Recently it has turned it’s sights on the ‘socially conscious’ Starbucks. The above video details a variety of anti-union activities that Starbucks has allegedly taken part in recently and it encourages viewers to spread the word. The production values are very good and I’m certain it has Starbuck’s full attention.

In a previous post I talked about how Dominos had used YouTube to respond to a PR crisis it was facing. Domino’s was harmed and the CEO spoke out honestly and emphatically that his company was doing everything it could to make the best of a bad situation.  This new video calls out Starbucks and directly challenges CEO Howard Shultz. Should Starbucks respond to this video with their own video? Yes they should, but in a very different manner than Domino’s had chosen.

Shultz won’t respond directly to the accusations in this video because it’s a discussion he can never ‘win’. Some topics – abortion, gun control, the death penalty etc. are emotionally charged with as many advocates as opponents. Most politicians / business leaders chose to avoid these types of issues wherever possible. Should Starbucks avoid this issue? Of course not – the social media channels are alight with this discussion and it isn’t going to go away. Starbucks has to find a way to communicate its position on employment (unions) without getting sucked into a vortex of angry politics and vitriol (check out the comments on YouTube to get a sense of the passion behind this topic). Starbucks is a business – it would prefer not to have unions operating in its stores – no surprise there. The self-inflicted added burden that Starbucks carries is that it has tried to position itself as a caring and socially consious company. (WalMart, by contrast has never been hobbled by this positioning.)

The timing of this video coincides with a major marketing campaign by Starbucks that attempts to position the company as rethinking and resetting its goals and reaching out to its various constitutiencies. In other words, the timing couldn’t be worse. So what would you do if you were leading Starbucks PR team?

When you own a premium brand you have to spend premium dollars to support it.

Channel has just released their newest commercial / mini-movie and as before, have done a wonderful job. Last time it was Nicole Kidman in a three minute short film (or a three minute long commercial). This time around Audrey Tautou – one of France’s national treasures – graces the screen for Channel. North Americans might remember her as ‘Amelie’ in one of the few French films to get theatre time back in 2001. The Director of that film – Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs this commercial and was given a free hand in creating Channel’s newest filmette. Naturally he cast his favourite actress (it didn’t hurt that Tautou is also playing Coco Channel in the recently released film ’Coco Avant Channel’ in France) in the lead role.

The story (not that it matters a whit) centres around a chance encounter on a train to Istanbul. Tautou spends the remaining two minutes waiting and hoping to hook up with the handsome stranger. A sudden romance on a night train to an exotic destination – ya, it`s cliche. Romance and mystery and the promise of adventure – that`s what you buy when you drop $100 or more for a little bottle of purfume – the promise of something exciting. That`s exactly what Channel is selling, and they are quite good at it.

You have to give Jeunet top marks for his direction. He spared no expense (watch `the making of` to see what kind of coin they dropped on this little video) at creating some asbolutely stunning sequences. He`s come a long way since his last big North American film - he directed the last Alien film (I think it was called Alien Abomination). Like the perfume Jeunet is selling, this video won`t be for everyone  but for those who it targets, he hits the mark perfectly.

Who would bother forwarding an infomercial on to a friend?

Millions of people as it turns out. The above video is a rap remix of the original Slap Chop video that already has 1.4 million views. This video has been seen by close to 900,000 people and other versions (they’ve ‘sliced and diced’ the original into a variety of styles and formats) have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. These numbers don’t include  the  parody videos that are now starting to surface. That’s millions of views for an infomercial.

Vince Shlomi- the presenter who helped to make the owners of the ShamWow product a lot of money is back with another over-the-top delivery that heralds the glory of this new kitchen chopping device. It’s campy, it’s silly, and it’s exhausting but it does something that most other viral videos do not: it sells. It demonstrates the features and benefits of the product very clearly. And it is memorable.

The top commercial viral video at the moment is the Samsung Extreme Sheep LED Art video. (8 million views) It’s clever and fun to watch but has little, if any connection to the Samsung LED monitors it ‘promotes’. Most viral videos are really ‘sponsored entertainment’ with a very weak direct link to the product or service they are supposed to promote. Viral video producers are very careful to point out to advertisers that being to ‘salesy’ will turn viewers off (and also lessen their chances of winning awards).

The  T-mobile Dance video by contrast is absolutely brilliant and does what many viral videos do not – it includes the product and the experience (in this case – people sharing the moment with their camera-phones) as part of the video. Certainly the connection is not overt – but at least there is an obvious connection. Going from the hearding of  light-suit adorned sheep to large screen television screen is a bit more of a stretch.

Entertainment should never be the goal – if it is then you should sell tickets. Effectiveness should be the measure of success. Did your video sell product, inform your customers and prospects or ‘support the brand’ in a meaningful way?

Will Slap Chop win any awards?  No way. It will be ridiculed by ‘serious’ marketers.

Did it entertain?  If you are a big ‘kitchen demo rap’ fan – then it delivered the goods.

Did it help to raise awareness of the product?  Absolutely!

Was it memorable?  I won’t soon forget it.

Did it help to sell product? I don’t know the numbers but I would have to say yes – if for no other reason than all of the Slap Chop parody video creators having to rush out and buy the device to use in their parody videos. (Perhaps that is a new sub-market.)

I posted yesterday about the unfortunate circumstance that Domino’s Pizza found itself in having been the subject of a horrendously inappropriate ‘prank’ video that will likely cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue and PR fees. While Domino’s acted quickly and dealt with the issue head on it is less clear how a business should respond if they are the victim of something more subtle – the parody video. 

Microsoft found itself the victim of a very well produced parody video that took a shot at the marketing video they had created  to promote their new Surface technology. Microsoft’s video was very well produced, the subject matter was fascinating and it positioned Microsoft as leading a new generation of communication and interactive technology. The video received over 2 million views on YouTube. A success by any measure… that is until the good folks at Sarcastic Gamer created their own version of the video that closes with the delicously sarcastic line ”The future is here, and it’s a big-ass table… take that Apple!” Ouch.

To add insult to injury the parody video has received more views than Microsoft’s original video. Double ouch.

When I originally viewed the Microsoft video my first thought was ‘cool.’ Months later when I saw the parody video I have to admit I did revisit the rationale for my first impressions. The parody video did an excellent job at turning many of the purported benefits into something much less, even to the point of causing some of those benefits to now appear trivial or even counter-intuitive.

I’ll assume that Google or Apple or Dell or… whoever, didn’t pay Sarcastic Gamer to produce the video to ridicule their competition. (Would it surprise you if they had?) You can’t anticipate where or why these things will happen, but you do have to be aware of the possibility and think through how your company should respond.

So what do you do when parody strikes your company? Stick to your guns and continue to make your case clearly and positively without letting your detractors set the communications agenda? Or do face the issue head on and deal with it as a serious and competitive threat that could have an immediate and significant effect on your brand?

There was no grey zone in Domino’s response to the prank video. They had to act. That said, the line between prank and parody can be rather fuzzy. This is new territory for most companies. The ability of a single individual (or group) to affect a company’s brand has never been greater. That should be a huge wake-up call.

TechFlash – a Seattle tech news site posted a story about Amazon’s plans to add streaming video to it’s IMDB property. What they plan on streaming could shake the network and online video entertainment industry to the core. Col Needham, founder of IMDb (The world’s largest movie trivia and information site) said the site aims to stream it’s entire database of movies and TV shows (1.3 millions movies). So when you go to look up that bit actor in an episode of your favourite sitcom – you can immediately watch that show or movie.

How do these two unrelated stories affect business marketing? The two fundamental drivers behind all marketing activities – behaviour and expectations are changing quickly for video as a media to deliver content. The entertainment industry is driving these changes – as it does for many things. Video consumption is growing significantly. This behaviour is focused on entertainment today as that is where we have traditionally consumed most of the video we watch. With fast Internet connections, costs of video production decreasing, the advent of user-generated content and the proliferation of video screens everywhere and anywhere the behaviour of increased video consumption shows no signs of slowing.

More significantly in the near term, you will also start to see a change in the expectations of video consumers - again driven by video entertainment. IMDb could have an even larger impact on video consumption that Netflix or iTunes. Imagine going to IMDb and searching for a person, a movie and being instantly gratified by being able to see all or part of what you were looking for. This will become the new standard – instant access to what you want (where you want to consume that information). This won’t happen tomorrow – but it is the direction, the new reality. This change will drive new online expectations.

Just a few years ago a lot of companies couldn’t imagine why they would ever need to be online. (I remember many of these conversations). The next wave of change is going to be instant access to important information for your customers and prospects. A “web presence” won’t help you. You will have to provide real value (not just marketing literature) to your audience before they purchase your goods or services. You will have to engage them where they are (online) and you will have to give up a lot to keep them engaged. If you don’t your competitors will.

Most of this content and value will be in the form of video or some other interactive media because that is what your customers will want. That will be the easiest and most efficient way for them to consume the information, solve their problems and make business decisions – wherever and whenever they want.

Online expectations and behaviours are changing. You need to think of how your comapany will adapt to this new reality.

 
Microsoft has introduced a new application called Songsmith. It may well be a great application but the “High School Musical” style video promotion for the new software has to make you wonder what they were thinking. 

Perhaps they are smarter than everyone. Maybe they figured that if they made it just bad enough, if they appealed to virtually no one,  and took campy to new levels of lame that the blogosphere would light up talking about this new promotional video. If that was the plan - mission accomplished.

Maybe this was the plan too when they spent a cazillion dollars on those confusing and spectacularly unfunny Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld  promotions.

Microsoft’s official line is that it was a low budget marketing viral video created by two of the guys who coded the product (and who also starred in the video – good for them) . Of course ‘Low budget’ is a relative term. You have to know that they still spent more time and money on this ‘low budget’ diddy than most companies could afford.

The takeaway -  calling it a viral video doesn’t excuse it and certainly doesn’t mean the affect on your brand will be negligable.

Other notes:
1. Interesting APPLE references:  The little girl – who’s name is ‘LISA’ is using a Macbook Pro!
2. I think the most astute label I have read in reference to this video is “Craptastic.”
3. They should attempt a ‘Death Metal” version next.

“Online video”, “web video” and “Internet video” are terms that will soon fade from our lexicon. They will simply be shortened to “Video”. While the portable bandwidth of DVD’s and now Blu-ray will continue to be used for some time, faster broadband and wireless speeds will result in all media moving “online”. Broadcast television will become just one piece of the Internet. Video will be the dominant marketing media format for business. Throw rich media and social media into the mix and the result is a profound transformation to the way that companies promote themselves.

Your company website will soon house a variety of different video and rich media assets that will be used to differentiate your offering, educate your customers and influence your influencers. Here are 26 examples of how video is being used by companies today to help move their businesses forward:

1. Customer Testimonials
Nothing is more compelling than seeing and hearing your customer (in their own environment) extol the virtues of your products and services and explaining how you helped them achieve their business goals.

2. Video Success Story
It is often challenging to get customers to agree (especially larger customers) to go on camera to talk about your company. You can still present the customer success with your own presenters speaking specifically about the customer win or talking more generically about a company win in that industry.

3. Video Case Study
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. These usually follow the “Problem, Solution, Benefit” format – very similar to their print equivalent.

4. Product Demonstrations
Show how your product works – highlight the features that differentiate it from your competitors. A software walk-through, a 3D cut-away, a high impact demo by a presenter are all excellent ways of showing how your product or service works.

5. Product Presentations
Product demos shows the details of how your products work. These are best used in helping your customers and prospects differentiate between your products and services and those of your competitors. Early on in the sales cycle you need to talk more about benefits – from the customer”s perspective. Product presentations explain how your product can help your customers solve their business problems. Determining where your customers are in their buying cycle is just as important as segmenting your audiences.

6. Corporate Overview
Corporate overviews are often the starting point for companies using video to promote their services. Corporate overviews are usually brief (2-3 minutes) and can include a short history, some location/facilities shots and introductions from your senior mangement team.

7. Executive Presentations
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.

8. Staff Presentations
Social media and other Web 2.0 trends have caused companies to reconsider how they communicate with their external audiences. Your senior leadership team should not be the first and only consideration for representing your company. It is becoming more important 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 the decsion makers it is especially important you represent your company with people that your customers and prospects can relate to.

9. VLOG
Video blogging has been gaining popularity on personal and expert blog sites and is now carrying over to corporate blogging as well.

10. Corporate facilities or equipment tour
While corporate overviews serve many purposes a corporate facilities or equipment tour can be used to highlight the unique characteristics of your building, and infrastructure, to show the breadth of your operations and reach or to highlight special equipment that sets you apart from your competitors. (Uniqueness is certainly a key to success here)

11. Post sale support and maintenance videos
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.

12. Overnight expert videos
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.

13. Training
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 to in-class training. You can also integrate video into online training management tools.

14. Health & Safety
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.

15. Internal Communications
In larger companies no one has the time or interest to understand what other groups or functions within the company do or why they exist. Internal videos that highlight activities, procedures and best practices can save money and lead to more effective communications. They are also a great way to show off your local hero’s.

16. Recruitment Videos
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.

17. Employee orientation
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 behaviour can all be communicated effectively with video.

18. Marketing
Outbound programs like email marketing and direct mail are taking advantage of video and rich media as a more engaging way to capture and keep the attention of customers and prospects.

19. Landing pages and other web pages
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.

20. Event Video
There are many ways to leverage the considerable amount of time and money spent on events and trade shows with video: Capture demos on camera while you have your experts assembled in one location. Capture speaking opportunities from your execs and re-purpose them on your website. Use the opportunity to video short testimonials from your customers while they are at your booth. Capture the event or trade show activities and share with the employees back at the office.

21. Video Press Releases
The standard four paragraph press release is now being supplemented with video and rich media to tell a more engaging story.

22. Viral Video
Many companies are testing viral video as a means of promoting their brand. Striking the balance between maximizing entertainment (pass along) value and minimizing blatant brand promotion is the challenge.

23. Commercials
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 entertainment, online sponsorships, games, event sponsorships and in-theatre are starting to take the place of broadcast and cable commercials. Expect more and more video screens to crop up on every building, device and structure offering an even more diverse set of advertising opportunities.

24. Company Lobby Video
HD video screens are popping up everywhere – why not in your lobby or reception where you can get a jump start on first impressions.

25. Market research, focus groups and polling
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.

26. Community relations
If your company is out working in the community, being good corporate citizens, helping the environment, contributing to valuable causes – you should be capturing those efforts on video.