The secret to making vibrant corporate videos

Kevin Lee

How do you turn boring figures and diagrams into engaging communication? During a recent breakfast seminar, Kevin Lee, Creative Director in the Video group at JG Communication, spoke about Cinderella, child soldiers and asthmatic wolves – but his main message was how you can breathe life into company videos.

Many companies want to squeeze as much information as they possibly can into their communication, and that is perhaps particularly the case when it comes to corporate videos. This often leads to a conflict between the customer and the agency, as the latter wants to focus on the inspirational side and on creating an emotional commitment. So how do you find the right formula to give a video that certain power that leads to it going viral and inspiring people all over the world?

One example that Lee gave during his seminar was Apple. When Apple releases a new product, most of us only see the short advertising clips and become affected on an emotional level. But then, of course, there is a small group of people who want to know every little detail. These people can sit captivated for hours watching live broadcasts of a company’s press conferences each time it releases a new iWhatever. And, of course, they should have their thirst for information quenched.

But you have to remember that relatively few people really care about the figures, diagrams and product specifications (even Apple’s) – and that there is a big difference between having an emotional commitment and having a special interest. The masses stop listening long before the conversation turns to retina displays, A5X chips and the number of cores a particular processor has.

Perhaps there are no simple answers to how you can create the kind of communication that people want to share with their family and friends. But at least Lee’s seminar gave both me and a bunch of early-rising customers a great deal of inspiration and plenty of useful tips.

In his seminar, Lee showed several examples of how some companies have used clever, engaging and entertaining ways to get their messages across. Here are two of those examples:
Intel
The Guardian

Join us at our next breakfast seminar, in April

Our third breakfast seminar will be held by Rachel Thölix, Senior Communication Consultant at JG Communication.

If you’re interested in receiving an invitation, send an e-mail to: christian.tarnholm [at] jgcommunication [dot] se.