My journey began with the simple idea of creating a video about an employee. Sounds easy enough right? When it comes to video, there is a lot of prep work that needs to happen before you can actually even think about shooting. You have to find times that fits everyone’s schedule, find the right crew to shoot the video, make sure the questions being asked are relevant to your cause, concepting, storyboarding, think about music, graphics…you get the picture.
When it came time to complete a piece on Eddie Rehfeldt, our new VP of Experience Design, I knew it had to be special. Not only because Eddie hails from a background of film and video, but because talking heads can be SO incredibly boring. When I started to concept some ideas, I got some inspiration one night while I was Value Village scouring for some vintage goods. There among the old bicycles, recycled picture frames and used wigs were the 2 rows of televisions, all of different shapes and sizes. I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to place Eddie within a gaggle of all these old TV’s? A commentary of sorts on how we view media now versus how we used to view it was my original intent.
As soon as I had this idea locked, I thought that having just the televisions was not enough. What if we were to green screen the actual picture portion of the televisions and place Waggener Edstrom related items inside to further the message? I’ve noticed a trend recently within videos like these that companies aren’t relying so much on the fast pace and pizzazz anymore. Viewers want to know this person, and understand the message, rather than a listen to music with 1,000 beats per minute then question what they even took away after. I pulled back from doing the same old song and dance with this video.
The shoot itself was a producer’s dream. Eddie was on point with every answer, and had different ways of articulating each one. The crew was able to capture over 2 hours worth of footage. Again, some people clam up in front of the camera. Mr. Rehfeldt was a natural. Eddie was a great sport and sat patiently for those 2 hours grilling under the hot lights. After the shoot was completed, we immediately began work on post production. There was a lot of work to be done considering the heavy amount of rotoscoping work within the actual television sets.
And speaking of crews, I booked a crew we use frequently within Studio D: Cardinal Media. They produce some of the best-looking stuff in the Seattle area and beyond.
A big thank you to everyone involved for helping to get this video off the ground.
Video is more and more the go-to medium for online marketing efforts. It has the crucial ability to increase a website’s stickiness and conversion rate, but merely posting a video online isn’t enough.
Take the e-commerce industry, for example. Sixty-eight percent of retailers have deployed video. (Forrester, 2009)
However, only 4 percent of the top 200 retailers manage to get more than 100 videos indexed by Google. This percentage is a staggering contrast with the importance of search-engine based traffic for those retailers, which typically report that such traffic accounts for approximately 30 percent of their total traffic. (State of Video in E-Commerce, Q2 2010)
Exceptions to these statistics include Amazon, Overstock and Apple, which all have tens of thousands of videos indexed by Google, and have likely employed some of the following video SEO tips:
- YouTube. Be there. Since YouTube is the No. 2 search engine and fourth overall Web property receiving 2 billion video views per day, your video should likely be on YouTube if it’s consumer-oriented. Other YouTube tips worth pursuing (via Mark Robertson):
- Your site. Make it easy.
- Incorporate video results within your own site’s search functionality.
- A thumbnail trumps an icon and/or “click here for video.”
- Embeddable players enable viewers to promote for you.
- Help them help you. MRSS Feeds or XML Sitemaps tell search engines where your video is so they can make it available in search results, and with a thumbnail when possible. (Learn more via Google, Yahoo! and Bing.)
Nearly everyone is on board with the idea that video is an integral part of marketing strategies because of the visual medium’s potential for high ROI, but few are in the driver’s seat with video SEO, truly realizing the benefits that video can bring. What’s your idea for extending video’s reach?
WE won a Telly Award for the work Studio D — in partnership with Microsoft — did on the Microsoft Enterprise Search campaign! The Telly Awards honor the very best local, regional and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions and work created for the Web.
ASK
Microsoft asked WE to create something visually appealing and engaging for IT decision-makers that would drive them to the Enterprise Search website.
APPROACH
Our strategic recommendation was a light-hearted video series — told from the customer’s perspective — wherein viewers could identify with the characters’ search problems and identify Microsoft Enterprise Search as a solution to their business problem(s). The approach was a hit with an interactive demo series that showcases three different areas of Microsoft Enterprise Search within an experiential website (click on each video and look for the “view demo” link in the right-hand corner). The site utilizes Microsoft’s Smooth Streamingtechnology, which enables viewers to engage with a seamless, high quality viewing experience —without the buffering. At the time of the site’s launch last fall, Smooth Streaming was a new solution for syncing two videos simultaneously, and the site’s simplicity speaks for how innovatively that solution was executed.
RESULTS
Success for this video series was achieved through increased engagement with the Microsoft Enterprise Search product, and the Telly Award makes that success all the more worth celebrating.
Special shout outs to the following integral people on this project:
- Microsoft Client: Art Pettigrue | WE Account Partner: Heather Gillissen
- Owner: John Weiss | Project Manager: Michelle Crowson
- Contributors: Kevin Murphy, Jeff Paries, Scott McAuliffe, Chris Kalani, Mark Hanson, Aaron Bear, Jessica Evans and many other great people that worked on this truly integrated project
- Video Vendor/Partner: Integrated Talent
Previous WE Studio D Telly Awards include Models Remixed and The Lone Server.
I was in my buddy Pete’s wedding this weekend. While standing around waiting to be photographed while wearing a tux in the sun, I got to thinking: In the age of the Internet, why can’t we share some of these photos immediately?
So, I pulled out my phone, shot a quick photo of the bride and groom and posted it to my blog.
Voila. I got the scoop. I was the first to publish a photo of the newly married couple.
That was easy.
Then I really got to thinking:
- There’s got to be interested folks from out of town who couldn’t make it
- We could have livestreamed the ceremony and reception
- We could set up a Flickr group for folks to share their photos
- We could capture video clips and quick interviews with guests and share them online
- We could treat this wedding as a major media event!
Could these new online capabilities spawn an entirely new industry — a “wedding Web content” industry?
All this helps prove my idea that content is all around us and all we have to do is capture and share it.
Originally published at foleymo.com.
I’m a sucker for time-lapse photography. In fact, the moment I come across the phrase “time-lapse” online, I’m already clicking through to check out the linked content.
Powerful, quality images are, of course, key assets to consider for any digital storytelling initiative. Stand-alone images serve their own purpose in drawing a user’s attention and prompting contemplation within the context of a site. Positioning a single image on a site’s home page and tying in a concise message or call-to-action can tap the pathos of a visitor as an entryway to perception shift.
On that same token, there are times when one image is not sufficient to help convey the full story and message you are trying to present. In such situations, time-lapse photography can serve as a powerful tool to help deliver your message.
Time-lapse photography is certainly not a new concept. Particularly in recent years, we’ve seen time-lapse used for a variety of purposes. It’s become a regular portion of news station weathercasts, serves as a tourism promotional tool and can act as a discussion catalyst to prompt change:
Recently, Walmart posted this time-lapse video showing activity in the store over the course of a 24-hour period. As simple as it appears, the video is a fantastic way to provide a strong visual representation of the high-level of activity within the store.
But, is this enough? Is there more that can be done to take help position a time-lapse spot as a key piece of content in your content-sharing arsenal?
Absolutely.
To help you get started, here are five key tips to keep in mind when tackling your own time-lapse project.
1. Strategize — Make sure you think through the primary message you’re planning to convey and map out your key visuals that are going to help drive that message. Get creative! Maybe consider using a time-lapse spot as a unique way to engage your employees for recruitment purposes or create a sizzle spot that recaps some great project work for a client.
2. Keep It Short — It’s called “time-lapse” for a reason. There’s no point in having a time-lapse video that someone has to watch beyond 1-2 minutes. The shorter, the better. You’ll need to capture an excessive amount of footage but keep in mind that jump-cuts can be played off very smoothly in editing together your final piece.
3. Make It Compelling— Though the Walmart video above is good, it doesn’t tell us anything about what we just watched. Walmart could have worked with the editing team to insert some key stats throughout the video. Adding a note at the end to show how many people passed through the store, tacking on interesting stats around which items were sold or possibly ending with a closing figure on sales would have beefed up the spot. Help your audience put context around your content.
4. Make It Shareable— Be sure to fish where the fish are, uploading your spot to Vimeo, YouTube and any other applicable audience-relevant video-sharing sites to make it easy for others to post across the Web.
5. Promote — Tweet it, post it, embed it, share it. Do everything possible to let people engage with this content piece. Is there opportunity to create a series of these videos to help tell a bigger message? Can you involve employees and tag them in the spot to help spur attention in your various publishing channels? Make sure you’re considering all options for promotion as opposed to posting and hoping others randomly discover your spot.
Have you tried your own time-lapse project for your company or a client? Feel free to share additional tips below!
David Patton, Editor in Chief, WE Studio D
Video is all the rage online. YouTube and Hulu are drawing massive audiences. Media sites are racing to build out their online video teams and expand their offerings. Inexpensive digital video cameras or cellphone cameras allow people to capture video and post it to Facebook or YouTube in moments.
But for organizations that want to use video as a storytelling vehicle I have words of caution: Video can be difficult and expensive.
While using a cellphone camera is fine for capturing a child blowing out the candles on a birthday cake or a funny moment with friends, it isn’t appropriate when used for corporate purposes. Even the simplest corporate video will need some level of editing. Audio quality is almost as important as the visual quality for video, and that’s another thing that cheap video cameras don’t do well.
But there is a great alternative to video: Still photos. A slide show can be just as effective a storytelling tool as video for online audiences. Media sites like the New York Times have perfected the use of the slide show to capture events or tell a story in a way that is easy to understand and navigate. And while they typically rely on professional photographers, amateurs can get similar results.
A corporate event, a key meeting or a product launch can make a compelling slide show. All it takes is a digital camera and organizational skills to keep track of who or what is in the photo.
Still photos can also be used to give a behind-the-scenes glimpse without giving away too much information. That’s the kind of content that customers and consumers are hungry for in the new media landscape.
Ian Benson, Product Marketing Analyst, Product Development
For all of the talk about what things are going to be like in the future, for online video, the future is definitely here. Today, Comscore announced a New Record: US Internet Users Watched 21.4 Billion Videos…. in July! That’s a lot of video — and it’s not just a little bit more than what it was last July, it’s 88% more. Think if all of a sudden you made 88% more money than you did last July — would you be happy? What if you got 88% more done at work, think anyone would notice?
The good news is, more than ever, there is the ability not just to share and tell in a dynamic format with near ubiquitous distribution possibilities with everything from YouTube to Hulu — not to mention bittorent. Of course, with greater and greater volume of video content, it means your content is going to have to break through the clutter and be findable amongst the volumes of stuff available.
Google and Bing are both clearly aware of the implications of this surge in video content. Recently, Google announced updates to its search infrastructure, codenamed “Caffeine,” that first and foremost brings video to the forefront. The message is loud and clear, content is king — especially video. And, it’s not just that these search results are designed to drive traffic to YouTube (already the number 2 search engine) it’s driving traffic across the web to other resources likeDailymotion and Veoh.
For PR firms and their clients, this is a great opportunity to dust off the old b-roll and put their best foot forward. Microsoft PressPass is a good example of a successful newsroom with lots of video footage. What are some other examples?
Tac Anderson, Digital Consulting Director, WE Studio D
At Gnomedex this year Micheal Foley and I set out with a goal of finding out what the biggest problem facing social media is. Why Gnomedex? This wasn’t a bunch of n00bs. This was a conference full of people who know the space well and have been executing for a while. Here’s what we found out:
I love the fact that there isn’t one answer and while there are common threads each answer is unique. Because the problems in social media right now are unique to each of us. Because social media is a unique personal experience for each of us.
We see each of these problems as huge opportunities. There are no answers yet. That’s the fun part.
My take: I think all these problems speak to the challenges of scale. Scaling to meet business needs is hard.
Mike’s take: The biggest problem facing social media is impatience with it. There are a lot of big brands dedicating resources to social media lately because it is the new “bright shiny thing.” I’m worried that these big brands may feel the need to shut down these social media business experiments if they don’t see results (meaning big revenue) in time for the next quarterly earnings report. It takes time to build relationships and develop trust, especially if you have been neglecting your customers for a long time (and most brands have). They’re already suspicious of you because you’re selling something. Real relationships aren’t built on the salesman’s need to move product on deadline. They are built on a mutual exchange of value over time. Don’t think of your social media presence as an experiment, but instead think of it as an investment so that you can obtain social capital in the long term.
What about you? What do you think is the biggest problem facing social media?
Matt Whiting, Senior Account Executive, WE Studio D
As we’ve been discussing with clients, on this blog, in the WE Influence Manifesto and with pretty much anyone else who will listen, we’ve entered into an unprecedented era where everyone has the potential to influence a vast audience with the click of the mouse. Naturally, the shifting communications paradigm has created an environment in which the amount of information that exists in the world is more confounding than it was just years before.
The thesis of the Influence Manifesto sums it up as follows.
The outbreak of new communication channels has gone from feeding people’s hunger for information and connectedness to overwhelming their ability to absorb information, data and points of connection. The information age has morphed into what could be called a Communications Cataclysm.
With more and more information competing for our attention, there is a need to return to the basics of storytelling in order to cut through the din.
On this theme, we were incredibly enthused to see the master storytellers behind This American Life post a series of informative videos about the building blocks of great stories on YouTube. Waggener Edstrom Chief Innovation Officer Marianne Allison has offered her thoughts on her always compelling Innovations Conversations blog and we invite you to check out the video (Part 1 of 4 below).
Among the many gems of wisdom Ira offers, below are the two elements he identifies as the essential building blocks of great stories.
- Building Block #1- The momentum of anecdotal storytelling is a tremendous force; especially when you are able to incorporate elements of suspense. Viewers want to feel that they are “on a train that has a destination.”
- Building Block #2- Offering a moment of reflection is critical to telling your story. “At some point someone has to say why the hell you’re listening to this story.”
Further, Ira goes on to offer a series of tips including:
- Don’t be predictable and/or waste people’s time by saying nothing new.
- Don’t underestimate the time it will take to find a good story and be ready to kill off stories that just don’t cut it.
- Don’t be discouraged if you feel the quality of your output is lacking at first. Everyone goes through those phases, which often take years to plow through.
- (And as your mother always told you) Don’t imitate others. Be yourself.
If interested, be sure to watch the full series (four videos in total) on YouTube.
Tac Anderson, Digital Consulting Director, WE Studio D
When asked what the next “hot” thing is in social media I say work flow. I know it sounds boring but tools that streamline the process of social media management and allow us to scale all this playing around on the Web we call social media *work* is so hot right now. That’s the main reason I geek out on Posterous.
@foleymo wanted to know if Posterous was paying me. No they are not. They are just have a really cool product that I find very useful and have been using for the last 6 months, ever since Zemanta (another favorite blogging tool of mine) started working with Gmail. (That and I like tools I get in early on to succeed because it makes me look really smart)
Yesterday I posted a quick Q&A about using Posterous as an internal collaboration tool. Today’s post is about using Posteruos as a corporate social media marketer’s secret weapon (say that 5 times really fast).
If you’re on top of things managing your social media, you have a Twitter, Flickr and YouTube account plus a blog. If not go do that right now. Even for the most conservative companies out there, it’s pretty standard now to have Twitter, Flickr and YouTube set up. If you don’t and you think your company/client won’t go for it, try asking, you might be surprised.
If nothing else YOU should have a Twitter, Flickr and YouTube account. If not, I don’t know why you’re reading this.
Now, to earning that Black Belt: (For the benefit of those with uber anal legal departments we’ll leave out blogs).
Assuming you now have all 4 of these accounts set up (Posterous, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter) go into your ‘Autopost to Everywhere’ setting in Posterous and enable posting to these other accounts. You can also set to post to Vimeo, Facebook, Delicious, your blog and many other services, but we’ll focus on the big three because they’re the ones I use the most.
Now take a picture or a video on your phone and send to post@posterous.com. If you sent a picture, you just posted to Posterous, Flickr and Twitter. If it was a video you just posted to Posterous, YouTube and Twitter. Score!
For PR/Marketing this is the killer event workflow!
Imagine being at corporate events (any event really) and with one handy smart phone you’re transformed into a live streaming Social Media Black Belt Ninja person.
Plus, bonus points, because during or after the event people only have to go to Posterous to see everything.
Double bonus points: If your company/client wouldn’t let you have a blog before, now you kind of have one, but instead of a blog I’d call it a “social media work flow and aggregation tool.”
Things to keep in mind:
- The subject line of your email becomes the title of the post, the title of your picture or video and the content of the tweet.
- You can also record short interviews or commentary as a voice note and send those. They’ll automagically be embedded in the post.
- Posterous has the ability to only post to specific sites depending on the email address you send to. flickr@posterous.com will post to Flickr and Posterous but not Twitter.
- Spend some time getting familiar with Posterous before using in the wild.
