Video is one of the most powerful communication mediums to use today. There is a growing wave of video enabled by cheap bandwidth and bigger/cheaper phones. In 2016 more than half of the views of online video were on mobile phones. Over 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube by over 30 million visitors every day. In spite of all this, only 9% of SMEs in the United States are on Youtube and we are even further behind in South Africa!
The standard approach to video in the business world is mediocre at best. There is a smorgasbord of sites that offer a generic video where they wrap up your product features in a “cookie cutter” animation style cut to free stock music. The video is then let loose onto a templated corporate site where the hope is that it will magically generate millions of views and lead to a massive sales pipeline. If you are looking to disappear into a malaise of generic content on the internet, this is the route I would suggest you go. But, if you truly want to make an impact on your sales by using video you should NOT take the generic route. Instead, you should look to the companies that are using the medium effectively, analyse what they are doing and then use those insights to leapfrog the development time of your outputs.
One of the stand-out examples for me is the latest video (amongst a series of videos like this one and this one.) by Pornhub. They are encouraging people to do it “Panda style”. The premise, Pornhub are very concerned for the Giant Panda who is has a very hard time reproducing. Male pandas spend 90% of their time eating or sleeping and female Pandas are only in season for 2–3 days a year. The net result is that they are not breeding. Pornhub’s solution creates a revolution of Panda style porn. Watch the full video below. Please note the look on the sloth’s face…
This video builds their brand in a clever way. Why do I think this video is good?
- Firstly it encourages the behaviour they want to see: website visits
- It tells a compelling story about how they care about something bigger than themselves
- This is reinforced by the fact that it is tied to a charity
- The donations to the charity amplify more behaviour they want to see: video views
- They encourage user generated content, supported with professional examples
- It is at its core Pornhub have created something entertaining that people will want to share
- Their true genius is that the illustration and animation style is comical and friendly. It wraps a sensitive topic in a nice palatable way allows people to share without incurring any of the negative backlashes that might be associated with pornography
The best part is that the video ends with a very clear call to action:
“Make love, save Pandas and don’t forget to upload to PornHub”
If you want to use video in your company you need to learn from Pornhub. Here are a few easy steps to sense check your video against:
- Know what behaviour you want the viewer to perform after the video — your strategy
- Get people to care by telling a compelling story
- Build authenticity by giving away something. This could be IP, money, toolkits or anything
- Make sure your video is in keeping with the tone of your Brand
- Stand out in some way. This can be done with tone, style or message delivery
- Wrap up with a simple clear call to action
Let’s get out there and fill the internet with great brand video content. If you want help with your video my company Nicework has a very talented animation team.
If you want one piece of free advice about your brand, catch me on twitter.
