The internet age has made information a commodity and bred a new, savvier type of consumer who has access to a wealth of material; material that ten to twenty years was hidden in the deepest, darkest repositories away from public view.
Today however the commoditisation of information has meant we have access to limitless amounts of it. Transforming us all into authors and editors, who roam the internet in search of nuggets of information that we can re-write or stitch together in order to gain an understanding of something. The upside of this has been a profound democratisation of information. The downside is the fragmentation of information, the erosion of authority and (for corporations) loss of control of their story.
This latter idea has resulted in companies realising they need to take control of their message and the way it is being communicated. This is so consumers have a clear, informative and credible idea about what a company is saying, which doesn’t rely on the printed word.
A time for change
BergHind Joseph’s 2012 Global Players study emphasises the importance of taking control of a corporate message. The study not only demonstrates how companies in the Fortune Global 500 are responding to this idea, but also how video is playing a pivotal role in achieving it:
– Nokia is currently using video to give a human story to the strategic move behind Nokia’s Lumia 800 smartphone. Within their corporate website, they’ve developed a well-paced video in which members of the Microsoft and Nokia design teams tell us what they had in common when they collaborated in designing the new handset.
– AXA has developed a series of videos which talk about various topics from their ‘Global Forum for Longevity’ – an initiative that looks to share knowledge between experts and the general public to create a better understanding of the mechanisms and issues that increased life expectancy will create in the future.
– Deutsche Post DHL use video exceptionally well for their ‘Working Abroad’ feature, where three interviewees– one British, one Indian and one American –are shot on location, and tell their story about working for the company. What’s more, their stories are told at their own pace, complete with ‘ums’ and ‘errs’ to create a passionate and authentic-sounding portrait of the business.
Can video really deliver?
But whilst these large multinational organisations have the budget and ability to develop videos for purely informational and brand enhancement purposes, can other (smaller) organisations afford to invest in video to? And if they do, will they ever see a return on their investment?
The reality is with the tools that we use to communicate growing in sophistication, so to have the results we want to see from them. That’s why – when referring to tools such as video – the results you want to reap should no longer relate to the financial gains, and instead should refer to what you want a video to achieve once somebody has watched it. A notion that (once realised) makes video a much more viable tool to invest in, and has resulted in creative communication agency BergHind Joseph developing a variety of videos that fulfil a plethora of objectives; from effectively communicating a new brand, both internally and externally across a global community; to helping the CEO communicate the new strategic changes being made in a business; to recognising, communicating and celebrating employee’s contributions within a multi-national business.
Gauging success
Whilst the intangible results a video delivers can be powerful, some businesses need analytics to monitor the success of a communication campaign. And for video, the metric tools that are now available have developed considerably.
Video intelligence tools now make it possible to guarantee traffic to a film; to observe and measure the demographic a film attracts; and even make footage clickable to encourage audience participation and direct purchases. This level of intelligence means that video is no longer a tool for simply pushing out messages; it offers a new level of engagement for viewers and offers fantastic market intelligence.
The real return
The time has come for companies to invest more time, imagination and resources into their communications. Whilst there’s still a place for the printed word and the more traditional communication platforms, businesses now need to be savvier in the way they communicate – and video is proving to be one of the most effective tools to fulfil this.
