There’s no reason why commercial, or corporate videos can’t have the same dynamism and creativity as any other film. Our favourite brand story video of 2022 is B&Q’s ‘Flip’ advert.
Not only is it technically accomplished, it also strong emotion, connecting with the viewer even without words. Remarkably no words are said until 86 seconds into the 90 second long video. Without further ado, here’s the low down on how to bring brand stories to life over and over again.
1. Discovery
The first step is a discovery meeting, where the agency and client discuss the project details. This helps determine if they can work well together. You will discuss the challenges of the job, resources, background, project goals and confirm the deliverables. Listen closely in the Discovery meeting to ensure that the filming project is fully understood.
2. a. Connection
In the Discovery meeting you clarify the target audience for both the product/service as well as for the video. To successfully connect with your audience, it’s vital that a video is made to appeal to a specific audience. Whether your audience is key stakeholders, investors, existing customers, or new clients, content must be unique for them to succeed. Once you know that then you can research how other companies in the industry market their products. From there, consider what works and what doesn’t. This is also the point where you might need to go on a recces for inspiration. It’s also useful to see the client’s premises if that is where you will be filming.
2. b – Never underestimate the importance of a recce!
The Nomads often go on recces and love exploring new places to see where the stories are! It really helps us to bring a brand story to life by giving us a full view of the client and of the filming location (if it’s different to the client’s HQ), which means that we can plan the filming day thoroughly. The recce helps us identify any obstacles that could prevent our ideal version of the film shoot. Simple, comprehensive planning before a shoot can easily resolve small issues. This forward planning also means we know what kit we need to bring or hire in.
The recce we conducted for the Derwent shoot (pictured above) enabled us to plan what we needed to bring. There was a lot of stuff that was outside the norm of a typical shoot. We needed plastic sheeting, safety goggles and masks, syringes, pipettes, powder paint pigment, large white card and even a fish tank! We also had to hire extra kit in. It was during the recce that we also decided to hire a Phantom Flex 4k to capture the paint explosions.
The recce before the Renishaw shoot in 2022 (pictured below) showed us room lighting, size, and the need to control echo or switch rooms. Knowing this in advance means we can plan to dampen echoes, or even move the shoot to a smaller room without that issue.
Recce picture taken at Renishaw plc
Final shot used in video.
3. Creative storytelling with video
Once you have completed your recce and have agreed the terms and defined the deliverables of the filming project, then you can move on to focusing on achieving Creative Storytelling. To successfully bring a brand story to life you need to tell an actual story. That might sound like we’re stating the obvious but that really is what you need to do in order to produce a successful video. Your video needs a structure with one consistent message per video. Bombarding your viewers with lots of messages in each video might mean that your key message gets lost. This is best avoided by clear, well-thought-out pre-production work where detailed storyboarding and an engaging, dynamic script go hand in hand.
4. Perfecting your brand story building video with animation
Sometimes using animation can help realise a brand story’s unique USPs by further visualising what can’t easily be put into words. Animation can add the perfect final magical sparkle to a video. It can fully cement the client’s purpose for the video, whether by clarifying complex, technical information or telling a brand story. Here’s an example of how it can be used in this video of ours for Icon at The O2. In this video the animated sparkle creates the narrative, which brings the viewer around the Icon shopping outlet at the O2 arena following people enjoying retail therapy on the run up to Christmas.
5. Delivering Your Brand Story Video
The final part of the Brand Story puzzle is Delivery. In the pre-production period, consider what your approach is to getting this video in front of your customers. There are so many places you can share your shiny new video. A few popular ones are TV, Cinema, DOOH (Digital Out Of Home screens), Programmatic (mobile phone based advertising) to name a few. This means your deliverables might need to be broken down as follows:
- 1 x 3 minute long hero advert that’s played on YouTube
- 1 x 30 – 60 second cut for TV in landscape format
- 1 x 30 second square or vertical video to advertise on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, etc.
Social media edits usually have to be edited slightly differently to suit the formats of the specific platform they are going on in order to get the most user engagement. Across social channels you can do split advertising too, where you can send out 1 advert to a certain demographic and another advert to another demographic to maximise relevance. This is of course a vast overview of the advertising world, but having a solid marketing plan for the content will ensure it gets in front of the right people and produce a significant ROI (Return On Investment).
We hope this blog has given you a good overview of what it takes to bring a brand story to life with video. There’s a lot to think about!
If you are ready to explore how video can bring your brand story to life, call Nomadic UK on 01242 373942, email us on hello@nomadic.uk or fill out our Contact Us form.
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