How Creative Should Your Corporate Video Concept Be?

When it comes to conceptualizing corporate video, one leading question is how creative the final product should be.

How far are companies willing to go in order to reach target audiences? And on the service end, how much creative freedom are they willing to give to corporate video production companies such as ourselves?

Photo credit: Keith Allison via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Over the years, we’ve come to realize just how creative corporate videos can really be. Typically when we’re approached with a potential new project, we’re often asked to drum up scenarios for online social media video campaigns or TV spots. This requires not only technical precision and skill (aka the real production side of things) but also forces us to look within ourselves to not only find our inner creativity but also to identify where our clients are coming from. Aside from setting a production timeline, budget, and equipment, we first focus on the goal, aesthetic, tone and message. Some questions worth asking are: what is the overall message you (the client) would like to send? How open is the client to artistic or creative ideas for their campaign? Who is their target audience? These are all valid questions that we, the production company, must ask before setting out to do any project.

Business2Community put out a fantastic listicle of corporate brands who’ve taken creative risks to create daring, but memorable, corporate video. One thing we’ve realized is that corporate video production companies are visual storytellers. With visuals and audio, we are conduits of your corporate culture and climate surrounding your brand. We are brand shapers and risk takers. We don’t think outside the box – we create like there is none for as much as our clients will allow.

For older companies with simple, straight-forward messages, we work with them every single step of the way to ensure that their brand is translated onscreen and will speak to their audiences. For start-up or younger companies, we focus on building relationships necessary to help and establish a strong, loyal audience through visual content. Depending on the type of clientele we deal with, we ensure that our creativity services their needs.

For more information on the services we provide, visit our website here.

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A Quick Look At Facebook’s Difficult Relationship with Video Advertising

Gone are the days when advertising could be determined by a number of buys from a newspaper, magazine or even TV set.

Now in the 21st century, advertising has become that much more difficult to measure.

Add in modern technologies (for video in film and television), and you’re left with a cluster of extra, uncurated data and an immeasurable amount of potential eyes viewing your ad.

For social media (Facebook in particular), this poses a specific problem – especially when it comes to video ads.

Photo credit: clasesdeperiodismo via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

With such a wide scale, narrowing down who is watching what and for how long can be extremely difficult when it comes to Facebook video advertisements. What constitutes an actual view on Facebook is difficult to determine. Facebook admitted that it miscalculated average video viewing times (by inflating performance numbers) when it failed to factor in those who watch videos for less than 3 seconds. Mashable pointed out that “an average that doesn’t account for the total number of viewers, whether they’re engaged or not, is probably not much of an average” and that Facebook had set 3 seconds or less as the benchmark for audience engagement.

Clearly, this wasn’t the case.

With the rise of social media, engagement is equated with success. Often pitted against each other are YouTube and Facebook, which, when you really break it down, have entirely different ways of measuring audience engagement. For example, YouTube is able to know when a video plays, how long it plays for, and whether or not it is stopped. Though it doesn’t know (and probably never will) whether or not you are physically tuned in behind your screen, it is able to offer some helpful metrics to better determine viewership and engagement.

Another thing worth noting is that YouTube opens up a separate page for videos, whereas Facebook’s videos are embedded on the main page. This makes it difficult to really determine who is watching what and why. It’s especially difficult considering Facebook’s recent video feature that rolls viewer onto other related videos without their consent. Autoplay then becomes a weak indicator of actual audience engagement, further affecting tangible Facebook video ad results.

As a corporate company struggling to find a home for your video, it might be best to consider what sort of impact you want to have on your viewers.  Are you in it for the tangible, easier-to-understand results YouTube brings? Or do you want your video(s) to autoplay onto your viewers’ feeds? Do you care about your content being grouped with a potential competitor?

If the latter, consider the ways in which Facebook can better improve its video advertising strategy. For more information on how Facebook can improve, visit here.

Here at Key West Video, we strive to create the best in corporate video production. For more information on the services we provide, visit our website today!

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Do Video Commercials for Live Events Even Matter?

In 2016, it no longer comes as a surprise that an influx of commercials air around the time of a major world event.

From the Olympics to FIFA to G20 Summits, we’re bombarded with a plethora images and video ads often with strong messages. It’s always interesting to note the influx of new content when it comes to a new [sporting] event. But do these video ads make a tangible difference?

Here we take a look at some of the metrics involved with different brands airing their video advertisements around game time.

When evaluating video commercials, it’s important to pay attention to widely publicized video campaigns that have been successful in the past.

Kia’s 2014 Matrix-esque SuperBowl commercial (starring Laurence Fishburne) did exceptionally well, with the car company have a great third quarter following the release of this ad.

Adidas UK did something similar for the 2012 London Olympic Games. Leveraging Olympic athletes and familiar faces (FKA twigs (30 seconds in) with a compelling voiceover, the commercial went viral.

Small Business Chron addresses one way to evaluate TV advertisements. Essentially, ratings depend on two things: video advertisement placing and the quality of said video. By promoting via video advertisements or commercials during highly-viewed programming is undoubtedly a great way to get your brand noticed and generate sales. And with compelling content? Even better.

And with compelling content? Even better.

We live in a dominant Internet era in which online viral videos sometimes mean more than televised advertisement. Companies would benefit from monitoring their website’s traffic and social media (with interlinks) to determine their traffic channels. Depending on the type of marketing campaign (e.g. a new product versus a service), one must strategize how an audience will receive your brand. A new product might be easier to sell at face value with compelling or engaging visuals, making it simpler to market through social channels. But a new service calls for more detailed information on how it can benefit your users, pricing information, and what credibility you offer as a company.

Here at Key West Video, we work with clients to develop compelling for both live events and individually-set marketing campaigns. For more info on the services we provide, contact us today!

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Live Event Videography: What Are The Benefits?

A lot of companies make live appearances at conferences, conventions, and shows.

Key West Video at Enterprise Toronto

And often, they have booths – both private and public – showcasing their product. By making these live appearances, they are able to advertise their product and increase their outreach to a multitude of people at once.

Here at Key West Video, we specialize in creating content that is easily accessible to your viewers. Whether it’s a live corporate event or a taped one, we make sure our clients are happy with high-quality video.

One of the things we’ve noticed when we head out to corporate events is the lack of adequate video coverage. Company organizers and corporate sponsors are only now investing more into quality footage of live events.

Consider this a reminder: invest in a proper videography company. Like us.

Not only do you want to be able to recollect your employees live and in action, you also want to use this for in-house marketing. Companies are typically represented at networking events by a few representatives (often HR). Much of what they do goes unnoticed company-wide. By having an event video, a company is able to distribute footage across the different departments in order to promote employee participation in live events.

If you’re a smaller company, live videography is still important. It gives you the opportunity to expand your platform via online streaming. Smaller (and often younger) companies can benefit from reaching tech-savvy audiences through online streams and give them “insider access”.

Ideally, apps like Snapchat, Periscope, and Blab are able to do something similar, but for professional, high-quality video, it is best to go with a professional video operating company. High definition cameras with a high resolution, give that extra “oomf” to otherwise grainy footage.

Live event streaming means your audience is wholly engaged. They’ve made the deliberate decision to tune in.

When it comes to creating exceptional video quality, Key West Video has what you need. Visit our website and check out our portfolio today!

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Is Transmedia the Future of Corporate Video Marketing?

Transmedia is making more and more companies reconsider the way they reach their audiences.

Gone are the days when media relied on a single platform to get their message across.

Though transmedia storytelling typically relies on just that – storytelling – a lot of corporate companies can take away the tactics transmedia uses. Often, companies with larger budgets are able to create a movement with their marketing campaign. This means reaching mass audiences with content marketable enough to make it easy to carry across platforms.

In the entertainment world, a transmedia marketing campaign could mean building an entire world. Think of the Matrix franchise or popular DC or Marvel; they’ve built an entire universe dedicated to continuing the world. Their franchise is carried through merchandise, books/graphic novels, films, video games and more.

If you’re grappling with whether or not you should take the transmedic approach, consider weighing your options first. 

Cons

First, let’s start with some of the reasons why companies would not want to go the transmedic route. One reoccurring reason might be that some companies fear their message not translating well across the different platforms. Undoubtedly, more work is required to format campaign messages to specific mediums. Some companies simply do not have a sizeable budget.

Understandable.

Another worry is when it comes to partnering up with other companies for marketing campaigns and promotions. It can be difficult to come up with a unified message in the first place when it comes to dealing with big corporations. When transmedia is involved, the message must not only be unified – it must be simple and strong enough to be understood by all parties involved.

This is the reason why a lot of artists operate independently with cross-platform market – it is easier to retain a singular, consistent message.

Pros

Some upsides to transmedia marketing are, of course, the reach. You are now reaching your audience in a multitude of ways. What’s more is that you are now also able to expand your audience. This means a wider range your brand can now access. It also means shaping your content for each platform in order to cater to different audiences. For example, if you were offering an online service, it would be safe to assume that a lot of your traffic would come from mobile users. This could translate to creating an app specifically for those users who are, on average, the Millennials and Generation Ys of our time.

Another upside is the idea of hiding clues in multiple areas. With a wider reach, you’re able to incorporate elements of your brand on different platforms. This adds a bit of fun to your marketing campaign; by planting ‘clues’, audiences are forced to participate differently in order to grasp your full outreach. Audience participation is essential to transmedic storytelling. It ensures that your audience is fully engaged. It gives the audience a sense of purpose by providing specific roles and goals for them to achieve. It is a way of fragmenting a message to really push your audience to think critically in a fun way.

Audience participation is essential to transmedic storytelling. It ensures that your audience is fully engaged. It gives the audience a sense of purpose by providing specific roles and goals for them to achieve. It is a way of fragmenting a message to really push your audience to think critically in a fun way.

So what will you choose? While transmedia comes with its own set of perks and downsides, it’s important to determine what platform(s) fit your message best and which audience you’re servicing. Here at Key West Video, we offer a multitude of services in order to best serviced our clients’ needs. To check out more on who we are and what we do, check out our website today!

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Corporate Video: Why Lighting Matters So Much

Don’t believe what they tell you – lighting is everything.

Despite what you may have thought, lighting can make or break your corporate video. You, a consumer of media (and probable selfie-taker), should know the importance of good lighting. It highlights our best facial features. It hides our loathed imperfections. It complements who we are…well, at least aesthetically.

Key Light

A key light is your main source of light. Assuming you’re doing an interview (or something to that effect requiring the use of a static subject on camera), you will need a strong light to pick up your interviewee. Many camera operators and cinematographers will state that the best area to place the light is roughly 45 degrees either side of the camera. However, because it is such a strong light, it will undoubtedly cause facial shadowing. Key lights must be counter-balanced with other lights, such as the following:

Fill Light

Placed on the opposite side of the key light, the fill light is also situated roughly 45 degrees from the camera. While sometimes it is impossible to eradicate all traces of facial shadowing, fill lights serve to eliminate as much shadowing as possible.

Back Light

This is the light that goes, well, at the back. Slated to light your subject from the rear, it is intended to help your subject stand out from the background. It is all too easy for your on-camera talent to become a ‘part of the background’, making it imperative that he or she doesn’t disappear into the scenery.

Diffused and Direct Light

For dramatic effect, direct light is the best way to go. More often than not, many corporate clients find that diffused light – light that requires a gel or diffuser – is the best way to go for informational and training videos, as well as interviews. Gels and diffusers reflect a softer, less harsh light on the subject.

Here at Key West Video we offer exceptional full videography services – including lighting. For more information on our services, visit our website here!

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The Need for Virtual Reality in the Corporate World

From virtual reality training videos to entertainment games, virtual reality (VR) has taken mainstream culture by storm.

Once viewed as just an underground gaming experience, the virtual reality experience has managed to crawl its way to the top as one of the most innovative ways to train and expand companies and businesses.

Quickly permeating corporate industries, it became a great training device for new employees. For example, in healthcare, medical professionals used virtual reality in their operating systems to master test medical procedures. By showing 3D human organs, practicing professionals were able to hone their skills with little to no risk. VR offered a safe alternative for companies looking to train employees without them having to conduct the actual physical task.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise with our current online social climate either. In a $2 billion-dollar deal, Facebook recently acquired the virtual reality technology company, Oculus. The goal? To make its users’ social experience as immersive as possible. By drawing in current Facebook users, Zuckerberg and his new development teams set the tone for other social media outlets to create the ultimate online experience.

VR has not only changed the tech industry – it has evolved it. With Facebook teaming up with Oculus, they’ve set a strong precedent in the virtual experience world. Users will one day be able to access virtual reality in-app through future Facebook settings.

But one does not shake the cage without awakening a few beasts. Oculus undoubtedly shook out a few contenders from the VR tree when it made its announcement last week.

When it comes to marketing, the mentality behind virtual reality is that the virtual experience will prompt customers to want the ‘real thing’. VR offers customers a new way to experience company products and/or services. With this new technology, it also gives older companies the chance to ‘catch up’ on their competition, without necessarily having to replace or alter their actual product.

And yet there are still very few companies really taking advantage of the VR experience. You’d think that with the ability to create holograms, virtual tours, and insider access, every company would want to take advantage of it, right?

Wrong.

Most Oculus VR sets start at $599 – and that’s before tax.

Nevertheless, certain companies like Gatorade and Lowe’s consider it an investment and have begun the process of using virtual experiences to capture young audiences.

What better way to do it?

When it comes to creating virtual reality and video, it’s important to note how to shoot video. A lot of amateur game makers have turned to GoPros. When it comes to shooting video for VR, you will inevitably end up losing half of your resolution anyway (which may be one of the reasons why a lot of VR games have that dreamy, out-of-focus look).

Here at Key West Video, we specialize in creating all sorts of video content. For more information on our services, visit our website today.

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The Truth About YouTube Ads and Corporate Marketing

It would seem as though YouTube heard us when we first complained about video ads back in 2007, and just did not care.

Since Google acquired YouTube roughly 10 months prior, ad revenue became the primary objective. Quickly, YouTube began testing out 20 second ad models on popular YouTube channels, finding that roughly 75% of viewers stuck around for the whole ad. In it, the ads played for 15 seconds and disappeared up to 10 seconds later if not clicked. Now, most ads play for either 15 or 30 seconds, and offer us the chance to “skip” after 5 seconds – sometimes.

In what many (accurately) viewed as the beginning of the end of a great thing, YouTube would later roll out non-skippable in-stream ads. This meant that for certain videos, you had no choice but to watch the whole video without the option to skip. Sometimes, these ads are accompanies by even more ads (in banner format) viewable on the right-hand side. In-stream ads have been proven to be wildly successful in comparison to side-bar ads, which is probably why they won’t be going away anytime soon.

Thus began the inception of AdBlock.

For Google Chrome users, AdBlock was designed to dissolve the viewing of all types of ads – including YouTube. However, it came with its own set of glitches that didn’t leave users entirely happy.

It might be safe to say that content sites like YouTube (in collaboration with Google) are getting smarter. By making it harder to avoid advertisements (especially ones catered to your interests based on your tracking history), we might just be inclined to give in.

Key West Video is a full service corporate video production company with over 26 years of experience in the industry. Our corporate video production crew has worked with large corporations, small businesses, start-ups, and non-profit organizations.

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Corporate Video and the Future of Online Marketing

A lot of people in the marketing industry spend endless hours pouring over online articles on video marketing. In a world that is constantly outdoing itself, it’s getting harder and harder to compete with changing trends and online buzz.

We’ve reached the point where the internet has become our primary source for information, entertainment (or as some would affectionately call “infotainment”), and connection with others.

The level of online users has rapidly increased over the past few years. According to tech company, Cisco, Global IP (Internet Protocol) traffic has increased more than fivefold in the past 5 years, and will increase nearly threefold over the next 5 years. This means an annual growth rate of 23% from the years 2014 to 2019.

We’ve mentioned before how important it is to turn consumers into brand evangelists (don’t know what that is? See our previous post). Companies create content curated for mass consumption in hopes that their videos will go viral. Ultimately, an engaged viewer is a sharing viewer, and our internet culture has made it all the more easier to accomplish this.

If you peruse viral videos, you will find certain common threads. Most online videos are easy to digest, tug on our emotional strings in some way, or are provocatively advertised to pique our interest on an otherwise mundane topic.

Research has shown that humans react better to visual stimuli. Images, graphics, and, of course, video play a huge role in drawing our attention and evoking emotion. According to the American Psychological Association, our brains are hardwired to read facial expressions that convey emotion.

That’s probably why the internet has blown up massively since the early 90s. We’ve been introduced to, bombarded with, and socialized to accept online content as our way of life. It has even become so normalized that we now unconsciously retain unsolicited advertisements from paying companies (but that’s a topic for another day)

That’s where we come in.

Here at Key West Video, we specialize in helping companies tap into their huge digital market. By offering exceptional video content, we work directly with our clients to ensure that their brand is reaching its highest potential. Contact us for a quote today!

 

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5 Misleading Corporate Video Ads

We’ve all fallen prey to misleading corporate video ads. Late-night infomercials, false daytime commercials – you name it.

It’s interesting to note how so many companies are actually willing take a legal risk in order to promote their products. Here we’ve compiled a list of some of our favourite misleading corporate video advertisements:

McDonald’s

Ironically, McDonald’s was a sponsor for Lebron James. But this didn’t stop him from calling the company out on its unhealthiness. By far, Mickey D’s is probably right up there with Coca-Cola when it comes to promoting a misleading sense of nutritional value. The chain has been long-rumoured to use everything from genetically modified animal meat in 2000 to earthworms in 1978. And since McDonald’s recently announced that they’ve officially stopped using human antibiotics in their chicken, they haven’t really put our minds at ease. We can’t help but wonder what else was actually in their other food this entire time.

Nutella

You’ve probably seen Nutella’s commercials as a kid. Through unsubstantiated claims, Nutella marketed itself as a taste way to get kids to eat nutritional food. The chocolate food-spread used an interesting choice of words to works its way into the pockets of unassuming parents: “[A] balanced breakfast based on fat-reduced milk, banana and hi-fibre white bread with 10g Nutella (per slice).”

Then in 2012, the company was sued by a Californian mother who was shocked to find out that there was no nutritional value in the spread. In the end, Nutella lost.

VitaminWater

While this video might be a little hard to understand, the general impression was that VitaminWater was good for you. That is, until this was debunked under claims filed by Washington (D.C.)-based consumer advocacy group the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). CSPI claimed that VitaminWater and parent company Coca-Cola took part in “deceptive labeling and marketing for the soft drink, which included claims that the drink could reduce rise for eye disease, promote healthy joints and support ‘optimal immune function.'”

Q-Ray bracelets

What is there to say? It’s surprising that something like this even made it to television. Here, Q-Ray exceeds being just “misleading”, veering more towards wilful deception.

Subway

Disappointingly, Subway also made it on the list of our top misleading corporate video ads. Though you can’t really argue about the substance of these subs, you can protest its size. Subway came under fire when their $5 footlong campaign proved to be a lot less than a foot. By offering sub-par sandwiches that were clearly not 12 inches long, the company then began measuring their sandwiches to ensure customer satisfaction.

Some of these companies had it easy. Online parodies and social media sharing make it harder to make a comeback from such heavy financial losses. Consider Chevron who paid a price when they refused to own up to their malpractices.

Here at Key West Video, we make exceptional, truthful and quality video content. Contact us for a quote today.

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