Video content is a spectrum in modern marketing. Whether it’s a cinematic ad that broadcasts across cable television or short-form, LoFi smartphone footage on your social feed, choosing how video tells your story depends on how you want to reach your customers.
But how can you make sure your video content sticks the landing?
How can it actually matter to someone before they change the channel or scroll down to the next post?
You can craft an idea a million different ways… but what’s stopping you from making it the right way?
Create an Experience
Investing in a video project allows for a new way of showcasing your brand, transforming customers into an audience, and giving them an experience worth remembering. Usually, brands want something… but usually “something” is nothing without purpose.
A good video strikes at an emotional core with a combination of words, visuals, and sound purposefully structured to educate, entertain, or edify. It’s an opportunity for viewers to disconnect from their reality and focus on what you put in front of them.
It can be as simple as a documentary-style interview coupled with nostalgic footage, or it can be a comedic sketch with a clever joke centered around one of your company’s value propositions.
The experience you want to give viewers is framed by what you want them to feel about your brand.
Before your idea becomes a product-ready for the masses, it has to go through a reality check. Picture a triangle with each points labeled “Good,” “Fast,” and “Cheap”. You’ll often hear that you have to pick two, leaving you with either high costs, extended timelines, or underwhelming ideas.
While there’s always a different way to look at the original hopes and dreams for a project, restrictions can lead to a pivot to see an idea differently, evolving into something fresh and out of the box.
Maybe that means filming something with less lighting or camera gear and creating content that feels authentic and real instead of breaking the bank with an over-polished production. It could be fine-tuning an edit with a longer, more meticulous pipeline. Sometimes it’s challenging the need to have a huge idea and simplifying the imagery to focus instead on the feeling you want to inspire through messaging.
Restrictions you embrace allow you to focus your energy on sustainable creative and unleash the true power of your project.
Solve Problems with Creativity
Prep work is essential for creating a video project. Scripts, shot lists, call sheets, rehearsals… weeks dotting every “I”… then sometimes, you arrive to set and your sunny day exterior scenes are blanketed with dark clouds and sheets of rain.
Who are we to believe the process of creating isn’t going to be met with struggle? But with every problem comes the opportunity for a creative solution.
Murphy’s Law is a chance to keep your mind open and shape problems into part of your vision. With enough proactive planning you can learn to spot problems from a mile away. For example, if you can’t afford a huge cast for a comedic sketch, slim the cast to one actor and find ways to turn an ensemble script into an introspective piece or a visual gag that still invokes audience attention and response.
So when there’s no avoiding reality, you have to embrace its opportunities. This preparation gives you the chance to creatively find ways to turn problems into solutions and keep the engine running.
CURE Childhood Cancer
Partnering with CURE Childhood Cancer for multiple video types gave us the chance to tell stories for a good cause. Because of a the brand’s clearly defined mission and the core emotional message we wanted to convey, our teams were able to structure all projects to be rooted in the fight against childhood cancer.
And with a variety of budgets, timelines, and means of creating individual stories, we were able to set focus on our abilities instead of our resources; to craft purpose-driven content that served the brand best.
This led to authentic stories centered on the simplicity of emotion and relationships. It informed our creativity and structure through resonating pacing and visuals, connecting viewers with Cure’s mission of offering hope through difficulty.
Your brand should amplify strengths, address weaknesses honestly, and position you to win where the market is going, not where it’s been.
Harness your Creativity!
Video outcomes often depend on how much creativity you invest in an idea. Defining your brand’s core need sets a purpose for your customers and viewers, and embracing limitations can mean new opportunities for your project to grow. Always remember that proactive strategy and solution-focused planning are your best tools to keep a project moving forward.
So no matter your budget, your talent, or your timeline, creativity is a driving force you can harness that brings an idea to life. When you face a limitation in your video project, don’t forget to embrace the possibilities it brings.
