Let’s sort out a common misunderstanding straight away: video is not synonymous with VHS cassettes. A video is a series of moving images. A corporate video is therefore a story in pictures that communicates a message about an aspect of your business. The images can be stored and displayed using whatever means is best to reach your customers. This can include DVD, the Internet, CDs the size of a credit card, SMS and film, as well as the ubiquitous VHS cassette.
Good video needs something to photograph, so any industry that relies on people and products can use video effectively. As Miles Latham, managing partner and chief editor at corporate video production company Affixxius, says, “They say a picture paints a thousand words – we have 25 pictures per second.”
Particular sectors where video is popular are events companies, which are heavily people-orientated, and the construction industry, where the end product can be particularly impressive, so filming before-and-after shots and using time-lapse photography work very well. As the rapid development of technology has brought down the cost of video, there has also been a significant increase in its use amongst SMEs.
Corporate video can include mini documentaries about individuals; instructions for training; as well as product demonstrations. It can be used within presentations to clients (and shareholders) as project diaries, for recruitment, staff induction and communication, at conferences, exhibitions and roadshows.
Lindsay Deering, creative director at Three’s Company, says, “We always start with a business case and then look for wider application to add value to the spend. Sometimes it’s possible to share the cost with other departments in the company.” The only time when marketers might be better off sticking to print is when trying to convey non-visual data, such as straightforward facts and figures.
What can video do?
Companies wanting to add a corporate video to their marketing mix need to consider two things. Firstly, what impression of their company – friendly, slick, cutting edge, traditional, etc. – do they want to leave with viewers?
Secondly, under what circumstances will it be viewed? Video shown on a loop at an exhibition stand for example, will need to rely on sound purely as background, while video showing what your customers think of you as a company will rely heavily on details being heard. Art Lewry, creative director at Show Presentation Services (SPS), explains, “Don’t think that one programme will work for all applications; you might need to consider creating different versions for different uses.”
Video only requires two or three minutes to make an impact. As a rule, viewers remember about 15 per cent of the content in reasonable detail, but gain and retain a strong general impression of the subject matter. Deering, at Three’s Company, comments, “You can say a lot about the business brand through direction, style, tone, choice of colours, pace, sound, music, voiceover.”
The testimonial video is one of the cheapest and easiest forms of corporate video to produce. Prospects often ask what other customers think about the products or services on offer and a corporate video, setting out such testimonial, provides customer comment immediately and without the viewer needing to make any effort.
A four-minute testimonial video, with comment from up to five customers, can cost as little as £1000 to produce. The price and ambassadorial nature of such a video means it is growing in popularity amongst SMEs. A corporate video can help a small company project the image of being a quality operation and also helps make the most of limited manpower. As Latham at Affixxius says, “One of the greatest strengths of the corporate video is that it can be you when you are not there.”
Use the Internet
Internet video has a very long shelf life, is of good quality, fast, inexpensive, and can be viewed by anyone, anywhere at anytime. Romina Rosado, MD at The Newsmarket, says, “With so many companies being multinational, with a global customer base, video is a quick and economic way of communicating across the world.”
To encourage the use of corporate videos, some producers offer to host their clients’ videos and make them available online via a linked connection between websites. In the past, video – like film – has been seen as an expensive medium requiring a large audience to justify it and not therefore associated with the highly-targeted B2B marketing agenda. No longer.
The main disadvantage of Internet videos is their physical size. Shown in a window smaller than the average computer screen, they’d be no more than about 14 x 9cm. Such videos are therefore only suitable for viewing by an individual or small group. The display size makes the use of text impossible, while viewers (and therefore video makers) are also restricted by the relatively poor quality of speakers, particularly in laptops.
Video on DVD offers better quality and can be projected onto a screen in a lecture hall. The cost of producing and printing each DVD has dropped in recent years to under 50p. When packaged up with company colours and logo, DVDs can represent quality. Latham at Affixxius recommends that the two media – DVD and Internet – be used together. “DVDs can be given to your best prospects, while Internet videos are available for customers who are searching the Internet for the company or product; details of the Internet video can also be included on business cards.”
Press play
Part of the reason why the marketing image of corporate video appears to be stuck in a timewarp, is that the industry has been undecided about the best vehicle for putting video on the Internet, so several possibilities have proliferated. Over the last couple of years the mismatch of incompatible software seems to have been largely resolved as most video producers have informally standardised on Flash. The explosion of the online video library YouTube has also raised the profile of corporate videos. Rosado at The Newsmarket comments, “Much of today’s business audience has grown up in a different media landscape and expects to be communicated with in a more dynamic way.”
The ROI of corporate video is potentially huge. The combination of technological development, ease of access, and falling costs has meant that they have really begun to take off. Lewry at SPS says, “Standalone corporate video production in the UK accounts for about £250-300 million per year. I think you could probably add another £150-200 million for use in events.”
Getting help
Companies looking to produce a corporate video should be wary of doing it inhouse, unless staff have video production skills and experience. It’s also probably not a good idea to expect the average B2B communications agency to handle corporate video production. You need a specialist. Word-of-mouth is the best recommendation, but an Internet search can often throw up useful contacts. Any good video production company should have examples of its work on its website; marketers can watch the videos and see if they like them.
Before taking a final decision, marketers need to interview the production company and insist on talking to the people who are going to make the video. Have a list of questions. Cost is an obvious one, but also ask what ideas they have for getting the message across, how disruptive filming will be, what inhouse staff will be required to do, how long the filming and the process as a whole will take, what equipment the company will use, and whether they can advise on the best distribution methods. Look at the costs; if they’re too cheap or too expensive, ask why. Make sure the production company agrees a firm price before they start; there’s no excuse for hidden extras.
“Corporate videos are in the position websites were about 10 years ago,” says Latham of Affixxius. “It’s taken a while before people began to explore what the medium was capable of.” The corporate video has huge potential and is already moving up the list of marketing options. It now shares a digital platform with, for example, computer-generated images, animation and CAD/CAM drawings. “Corporate video will grow exponentially over the next few years, particularly as mobile TV is a big growth area,” predicts Rosado at The Newsmarket. With so much potential for so little cost, can businesses really afford not to consider it?
