Lately, I have had the opportunity to work with a couple of really easygoing and utterly fantastic clients, and one of the issues that I find keeps coming up over and over again is…. why are we even creating this online in the first place? and who is it for? You see because video is such a image-based medium a lot of people (myself included) want to make sure we include this really “cool” thing mostly because it’s so “cool” man, which is great but at the end of the day when the question is posed, okay what else do you want to include in this video to ensure that it speaks to your intended audience? there’s a blank stare and uncomfortable silence.
I think it’s really important before beginning the wild adventures of web/online video production to remember what the end goal is at the end of the day and not to lose sight because you are distracted by the cool stuff. Be forewarned that if you forget your overall goal and the video looks fabulous, but the message that you wanted to convey isn’t crystal clear, then ultimately that video just becomes a “nice” piece of work. That’s mucho dinero thrown at a great piece of work that won’t necessarily allow you to reach your objective.
A really great example is the new web-only Kellogg’s National Breakfast Week commercial. (Can’t find the video on YouTube so I am linking to it via the REALSEO article from which I found it) http://www.reelseo.com/kelloggs-video-advertisement/ Short simple storyline about the consequences of not eating breakfast, and to consider Kellogg’s Corn Flakes as a breakfast choice. Here’s what I like about it, it grabs your attention from the beginning, it uses cool elements (the split screen), it’s short and sweet, but more importantly it sticks to it’s overall objective. Why is this video being done? oh okay to eat Corn Flakes for breakfast, great! It doesn’t have to be rocket science it just needs to have a clear point about why your doing this and for whom.
Overall, to avoid wasting a lot of hard-earned marketing dollars when considering online video remember the following two rules:
1. Why are you creating this video in the first place?
2. Who are you creating this for, and what do they want to watch?
A little food for thought for ya!
To see some online video samples that I’ve created check out my site www.sofinamedia.com
Nicely done Sof.
Jess.