Now, more than ever, consumers want advertisers to speak WITH them, not AT them. A disconnect has formed between advertisers and consumers, because…

• consumers feel as though brands aren’t really listening to them
• that brands don’t really understand them
• that brands aren’t willing to adapt their products/services based on consumer feedback

So, the way in which companies approach commercials and marketing videos has to shift. This is illustrated well in a short video that we posted to this blog last year, entitled The Break Up. Based on this change in attitude and behaviors, marketers and video producers have to be more focused on providing viewers with an experience. Tell them a story. The old marketing strategy (shove your product front-and-center and brag about how awesome it is) isn’t effective in drawing viewers in. Don’t misunderstand: There’s still a place for showcasing all that a product or service can do for a consumer, but companies have to be a bit more creative in how that message is communicated.

Even before YouTube, BMW was already buying into this strategy by creating a series of short films, starring Clive Owen as The Driver. Each episode featured Clive Owen driving a BMW vehicle, but the car wasn’t the focus of the story. The car was simply IN the story. If you had taken the BMW out and put any other car in, each episode still would have worked. There’s a reason why ancient philosophers, prophets, and teachers used parables to instruct; it’s because people learn and retain information best through stories. Think about how you can utilize storytelling techniques in your own videos to market your company, products, and services.

In November 2009, we had an opportunity to provide production services and support for a producer based in Charlotte, NC. The video was for Microsoft and centered on the launch of the X-Box game, Need for Speed: Shift. Click here to read a more detailed description of the video production. Once the two-day shoot ended, we turned over all the raw footage to the producer who took it back for post-production. In these situations, we might not see the finished product. However, Porche uploaded the final video to YouTube and it was nice to see how everything came together.