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How to Find the Best Explainer Video Company

7th May 2019

written by George Hughes

Explainer videos can relay important information about your brand and provide customers with easily digestible content. And using a great explainer video company will ensure that you tell a short story to your audience that highlights your brand’s product or service in just one or two minutes. 

How to Find the Best Explainer Video Company

Did you know that the average attention span is… oh look at that new meme… sorry, we were distracted. Now, where were we? Ah, yes, the average attention span is just eight seconds, down from 12 seconds 15 years ago. It tells you that we’re becoming more disengaged even though it’s easier than ever to access information. It’s no wonder that explainer videos are becoming so popular. 

You don’t have much time to capture your audiences’ attention, and using an explainer video could be the difference between someone enquiring further about your brand or scuttling off to some other corner of the web. The faster you can get information across to your audience, the higher your chances of success. 

But just what is an explainer video, how does it work and how do you find the best explainer video companies? In this guide, we’re covering everything there is to know about explainer videos for your brand.

What is an explainer video?

Explainer videos are short-form content and are typically used by sales and marketing teams to engage audiences. The videos contain information about a company’s product and service, breaking down the core concepts into easily digestible videos. 

From the consumer’s point of view, explainer videos are appealing: they just need to click play and watch. Videos often feature on website homepages or landing pages and last for around one to two minutes, making them nice and easy to consume. 

However, explainer videos aren’t limited to your website and can be used across social media, whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. A good explainer video company will be able to help you create a strategy for leveraging your explainer video in the most effective way.

Why you should use video explainers

User engagement is higher with videos than any other form of content and by 2022, videos will make up 82% of all internet traffic, so it’s an extremely fast growing medium. But explainer videos take things that one step further, breaking down vital information and relaying it in an easily digestible way.

Explainer videos are:

  • Concise – You get all the information needed about a company in a short amount of time
  • Value-adding – use customer testimonials, animated statistics and any other evidence for the benefits of your product or service like reviews or awards.
  • Problem solvers – show how your company provides solutions to consumer problems with live actions.
  • Personable – showing off your brand’s personality through an explainer video is easier than doing it with the written word.
  • Creative – a short video lets you flex your creative chops, using animations, music and voice-overs to add life and colour.
  • Flexible – your core explainer video may only be a couple of minutes, but you can add footage and tweak things to use it for other mediums. You can also update your explainer video at a later date without starting from scratch.
  • Social media friendly – explainer videos don’t need to be rooted to your website or landing page; you can also use them across social media.
  • Reminders – while the function of an explainer video is to attract new customers, they can also be used to remind established customers about your offering.
  • Cost-effective – compared to longer videos, explainers are relatively more cost-effective. 
  • Show first-hand benefits – you can show off the benefits of your brand first hand through product demonstrations and short guides.

With so many plus points, explainer videos make sense for lots of brands, and the stats back this up: 95% of people have watched at least one explainer video to learn more about a product or service, and 56% believe that a company should have one on their website.

Different types of explainer videos

Not every explainer video is the same – some are animated, while others require live actors. Before hiring a video explainer company, first you need to decide on the type of content you want to implement in order to find the right option for your brand. Fortunately, there are plenty of options. 

Animation

Animated videos are popular choices with many companies. It’s more affordable to use voice actors than hiring ones for live-action videos. Animations can also be affordable, especially if you’re using pre-designed characters and assets from stock libraries. However, if you want to take a more bespoke approach with unique designs, then you’ll need a bigger budget. Options for animated explainer videos include:

  • 2D animation videos
  • 3D animation videos
  • Whiteboard animation
  • Motion graphics or Infographics videos. 

 

Live Action Explainer Videos

Using a live-action explainer video can be more immersive and relatable. In this approach, expect to use either a member of the team to talk about your product or make use of actors to demonstrate the product. If you feel that human touch is necessary to engage with your audience, then a live-action explainer video is a solid choice. 

Typography

Sometimes all you need is words, especially when they come in the form of moving typography. Using some form of people or animations is generally preferred, but if you have a simple message to convey, implementing moving typography in your explainer video can be a successful option. It’s also potentially one of the more elegant options for a lower budget. 

Screenshot videos

Screenshot videos are great if you already have customers and want to give them a tutorial for how your product or service works. They’re especially popular with software brands but can work across different mediums to provide an easy-to-follow guide for customers. 

How to find the best explainer video companies

Now that you know about the effectiveness of explainer videos and the different types available, it’s time to decide how to make one. Most companies opt for a video explainer company to craft something that will resonate with their audience. However, there are many explainer video companies out there, which is why it’s important to know how to choose the right one. 

Video explainers are short, which means you want to make every second count. Therefore, you should hire a professional company who knows how to craft a succinct message in just a couple of minutes. 

Look at previous examples and which areas the company specialises. For example, some may be experts at animated videos but don’t have experience in live-action filming. And vice versa. Try and assess what they’re good at and where they excel, which you can do by seeing their previous work. It’s also a good idea to look at companies that specialise in your particular sector. If they understand your business and have case studies of working with similar companies, then it will make the entire process go much smoother.

It’s also important that you’re both on the same page. A video explainer ultimately works to increase your bottom line by attracting more customers, and any company that you work with should understand your core objectives. 

Make sure that you create a very clear but simple 2-page briefing document that includes things like your objectives, key points of information to convey, creative styles you like including examples of other videos, your timeline and in an ideal world, your budget. Then gather at least 3 quotes from companies at similar budget bands so you are comparing apples with apples.

How much do explainer videos cost? 

Many factors go into the costing of an explainer video, from length to style. A professional company will be able to break down the costs involved, especially as prices can vary. As a rule of thumb, the more content you need and the more ambitious the project, the higher the budget. 

There’s a lot that goes into producing an explainer video and there are factors that you may not have considered. There are all the “must have” elements like script writing or storyboarding, filming and editing or animation. But your project may also require things like locations or a studio, actors and voiceover artists and additional crew members like makeup artists or specialist filming equipment. Because of all these variables, it’s no surprise there is also huge variation in cost. It’s not unheard of for someone to receive quotes ranging from a few thousand pounds up to £20,000 for the exact same project. That’s why it’s absolutely essential that you provide a very clear briefing document and a general expectation of budget. 

Examples of explainer videos 

Explainer videos vary in presentation, but they have one key concept: to explain, whether that’s a product, service or breaking down information. Here is a list of our favourite explainer videos that perfectly hit all the right notes, from style and presentation to conveying their message:

Slack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2JuAa6-ors

SafeDrive

Infabode

Shameless plug but here’s one of our own explainer videos that we really like.

Amazon

Tripcase

Explainer videos are a great way to emphasise your business offering while keeping things short and sweet. They can condense pages of information into just a few minutes of video while building up interest with potential customers. 

No one likes having to explain things. Fortunately, a video explainer means you won’t have to, as it’ll do the job for you and convey an important message to your audience. 

George Hughes is a former television Director and the Founder of video marketing agency Small Films. His company helps brands to communicate with a wider audience using strategic video content.

Want a professional hand in creating compelling, authoritative video content as part of your marketing? Get in touch today.

 

We have all seen the adverts. The pouring of a refreshing drink over a mountain of ice in slow motion; bursts of colours that make food look tantalisingly tasteful. There’s something about watching ingredients come together visually that gets our juices flowing.

Food imagery is big business. In 2018, pizza received around 35 million hashtags on Instagram, which was more than Beyonce and Kim Kardashian combined. We clamour around food to take pictures as if Brad Pitt had just stepped on the red carpet.

On YouTube and Vimeo, top-down cooking videos are one of the most popular video types. It turns out that food really is the key to our hearts, and food & beverage (F&B) filming is a primary way to get us in the mood for culinary delights.

But how do food and drinks companies create such high-quality videos,  and how can your brand master the concept of filming it to make it irresistible to your customers?

There are so many more ways to use food filming now but we still love the M&S food adverts.

Why filming food is so popular

Much of the pleasure that we get from food, and drink, of course, comes before we’ve even tasted it. Appearance is everything, and seeing a well-prepared meal is enough to get our taste buds tingling. Filming only highlights this, making us salivate at the idea of an ice-cold beverage or a tasty pizza. 

Filming accentuates the colour, texture and movement, whetting our appetite for what’s to come. Food filming also caters to such a wide audience – we all get hungry and we all need food. Therefore, the interest around cuisine is higher than other popular video content, such as gaming and fashion. 

For example, Buzzfeed’s “Tasty” page generates two-billion-plus views per month. We just can’t get enough food imagery, be it stills or video. Food is covered at length in the media and is a surefire way to start a conversation online.

Food filming helps to create a sense of community too, whether you’re a pasta lover or a vegan. Eating food is a social activity, and food imagery and videos have crossed over into the digital world while carrying on that sense of socialisation. 

If you want people to interact with your content, after cute animals, food is the best way to engage with people.

How to nail your food filming 

We’ve established that food has a high capacity for interaction. But if you’re a brand, how do you create great-looking content? It’s all about the look and feel when it comes to filming food and drink. Fortunately, there are a few tips and tricks that you can do to ensure that your video stands the best chance of succeeding, such as getting the lighting right, careful editing, telling a story and styling the food in the right way. But more importantly, you should explore the different filming and platforms types available. 

>> Contact us about our food videography services

Best platform for your food content and how you should film on it

Instagram/Facebook adverts
Brands tend to target specific audiences with more personalised content on Instagram and Facebook, catering to a particular demographic. Short and sweet is often the best way to go, with ads on the big social media platforms generally much shorter in length than TV advertisements. 

TikTok
Most of the food videos are stylised as homemade content on TikTok, and you have a 60-second limit to showcase your food.  Many brands go down the route of encouraging their followers to partake in challenges, especially as TikTok’s audience is primarily made up of Generation Z, who are increasingly interactive. 

>> Read our blog on 7 food and drink brands nailing TikTok right now. 

Recipe videos
If you’re looking to inspire, recipe videos can do the trick. How-to- guides that are simple to follow and full of style are a big hit on online platforms. They work well as YouTube videos, and can even be good content for live streaming on Facebook and Instagram. 

TV adverts
Despite the rise of social media, TV advertising is still a popular method for many food brands – if you can afford it. The ads cost a premium, and audiences are quite broad. But TV advertising is an effective way to get your product in a prime-time spot. 

TV/cookery show sponsorship
Sponsoring popular cookery shows – either online or on TV – and events can inject some zest into your brand and ensure that you’re aligned with a popular show. People will come to associate your offering with the show, which can prove to be beneficial for your brand. 

Case studies and documentaries
Case study videos and documentary-style videos can be a great way to showcase the inner workings of how your food or drink products came to fruition. From following local farmers to looking at production of how an ad was made, viewers can gain extra insight to your brand and enjoy a more personalised experience. 

Brands who nailed their food filming

So who are the brands absolutely nailing their food video content? Fortunately, there’s lots of inspiration to draw on, whether it’s successful social media campaigns, high-end food videos or great cookery content. 

Greggs

Everyone’s favourite bakery doesn’t take itself too seriously on social media. The result is high engagement, with the now infamous Greggs vegan sausage roll making its way to prime-time morning television. It all started with a simple YouTube ad that was replicated across other social media channels and lasted for just 36 seconds. Some 5.3 million-plus views later, and the Greggs vegan sausage roll is now legendary.

Chipotle

Fast-food giants Chipotle were one of the first brands to excel at TikTok, using the social media platform to create several challenges that went viral. Using popular internet culture, the brand received a myriad of user-generated content by asking followers to try challenges like #GuacDance, which broke records on the platform with 430 million impressions.

Heinz 

When you’re an international brand, it’s important to cater your content to different demographics. Heinz Brazil did just that, using adverts to showcase its natural ingredients. The sauce company replaced the traditional logo on its packaging with a shortlist of ingredients that make the sauce. It then made an accompanying ad to promote transparency. Not only did the bottles stand out from the crowd, but the advert generated significant interest and Heinz offered transparency about its ingredients with customers.

Tomato ketchup

Summary

If you’re in the world of food and beverage, you can’t afford to miss out on the opportunities that come with video marketing. From short and snappy videos on social media to longer creations that showcase your brand’s culinary ability, nothing can bring the look and feel of food and drink to life like a well-filmed video.

George Hughes is a former television Director and the Founder of the London video production company, Small Films. His company helps brands to communicate with a wider audience using strategic video content.

Want a professional hand in creating delicious looking content with our food videography services,  Get in touch today.

 

Food and Beverage (F&B) is big business on social media. This is reflected by F&B brands getting the most mentions on Twitter, with a 32% share of tweets. Coinciding with the food and drink social media boom is the growth of influencer marketing, which has an estimated worth of $15bn. 

Marry the two together, and you have an opportunity to exponentially grow your audience while improving the bottom line. It bodes well for food and drink social media influencers, but who are these influencers making waves in the world of F&B?  The Small Films team check out the top food and drink influencers to watch. 

1) @elavegan

With more than one million followers, Michaela Vais is one of the biggest food bloggers around. She creates vegan recipes and shares them with fans. Since starting her food blogging, she has gone on to become an author, photographer and one of the most recognised influencers in F&B.

instagram picture of elavegan account

2) @memysmoothiesandlife

Sweden-based Anna Lindberg is the queen of the smoothies. Her Instagram page, memysmoothiesandlife, has amassed more than 84k followers as she creates eye-catching imagery based on delicious-looking smoothies. Anna covers everything from superfruits to easy-to-make smoothie recipes.

colourful smoothie bowls with fruit

3) @uglyproduceisbeautiful

As one of the first influencers to monetise social media, Sarah Phillips knows a thing or two about influencing. Her platform showcases food art, using items like watermelon to create fruit grids and oranges to display hanging citrus. It’s easy to imagine Sarah’s works in galleries and exhibitions.

4) @transatlanticfoodies

Sonia, from Switzerland, and Vishnu, from India, form TransAtlanticFoodies, an Instagram page that explores the best foods from around the world. So far, the duo has 30k followers, who log in to see the latest dishes that feature on the account.

5) @nobread

Nicole Cogan built her 200k-plus following by finding tasty gluten-free desserts from around the world. She uses social media to display her latest gluten-free findings, as well as travel around the world and her own recipes. Nicole has a large following on Instagram and TikTok.

Instagram picure of nobread account

6) @jancisrobinson

Being one of the Queen’s personal wine consultants clearly wasn’t enough for Jancis Robinson, who has gone on to build up quite the following on social media. Jancis is also a BBC producer when she’s not advising the queen or advising her 81k followers about the best wines around.

7) @themodernproper

If you’re looking for versatile recipe creators, then look no further than Natalie Mortimer and Holly Erikson. Their account features a wealth of recipes that use favourites like pasta, soups, gluten-free options, meat dishes and more.

burger, soup and noodles

8) @davidchang

When Vogue describes you as “America’s most relevant chef”, you know you’re onto something. David Chang, food experimenter and restaurateur, has captured the hearts and minds of many with his Asian dish tutorials that have seen him build a following of 1.7 million on Instagram. 

9) @joshuaweissman

The majority of F&B influencers have mastered Instagram, which isn’t much of a surprise considering its image-led appeal. Joshua Weissman, however, has achieved a following of three million people on TikTok, a social media platform still in its infancy when it comes to F&B. The chef uploads short and snappy recipe videos that don’t take themselves too seriously.

@flakeysalt

Instant ramen will never be the same. #foodlover #fyp #foryoupage #food #cooking #ramen #got2bStyled #skills #flex #howto #recipe

♬ original sound – Joshua weissman

10) @mondomulia

Guili Mule records her travels, where she partakes in fine dining and plenty of coffee tasting. When she’s not jet setting around the world, Guli creates her own recipes and shares them with her 57k fans on Instagram.

11) @gizzierskine

The super-talented chef Gizzi Erskine has an Instagram full of her own luscious recipes, her new haunt in Margate and delicious meals she’s tasted around London and beyond.  This is a page to visit if you want to see drool-worthy comfort-style food. 

12) @winingawaytheweekend

Named by The Telegraph as someone who is ‘shaking up the wine world’ Georgie Fenn is a wine influencer who educates her audience about anything from chablis to pinot noir. 

Cooking up a storm on social media

Influencers are continuously coming up with new and fun ways to depict recipes and grow their audience. It’s no surprise that many F&B brands desire to work with them, so they can tap into their audience and increase their social media outputs.

George Hughes is a former television Director and the Founder of video marketing agency Small Films. His company helps brands to communicate with a wider audience using strategic video content.

If you’re looking for a London video production company and want a professional hand in creating compelling, authoritative video content as part of your marketing strategy? Get in touch today.

 

TikTok is embedded in the cultural zeitgeist and is the fastest-growing app in the world. With more than 1.5 billion users worldwide, it’s a great platform to get noticed – especially if you’re a brand in the food and drink industry. 

Why food and drink, you ask? Because there are few things as visually stimulating as well-prepared, mouthwatering ingredients and thirst-quenching beverages. Just watching a well-put-together video of a culinary dish is enough to get the taste buds going. 

If you’re in the food and drink industry and would like to use TikTok to enhance your audience, you’re in luck. At Small Films we’ve put together seven inspiring ideas that show you how brands are making fun videos that resonate with their audiences and get them in the mood for some grub. 

1) Pepsi India

Pepsi India broke the world record for consumer engagement with its Swag Step Challenge. The challenge received more than one million uploads and 30 billion views for short videos that asked people to synchronise their salaam, namaste and swag to the beat of the music. 

Pepsi found a way to make it look like their drinks had the relative “swag appeal” while engaging with their audience through Bollywood-themed dances.

https://www.tiktok.com/@shehnazgill1/video/6831963212511055106?lang=en

2) Chipotle

The company whose TikTok byline is “less Tok more Guac” is consistent with its social media output. Campaigns include holiday themes, such as Halloween #boorito, which received more than four million views. 

The brand is continuously finding clever ways to keep people tuning into their content and raising those engagement levels. As a result, Chipotle is becoming synonymous with a whole new audience. 

3) Gushers

Fruit Gushers is a popular US candy maker who has excelled at TikTok recently. It has amassed more than 2.5 million likes during its short time on the platform, thanks to entertaining content such as Mega Gushers. The fun play on the size of its candy managed to generate over 500k likes and more than 4,000 comments.

4) Sabra Hummus

The beauty of TikTok (and the right creative mind) is that it can make something relatively dull like hummus seem interesting and inspiring. Sabra Hummus goes about this by creating unique and engaging content that makes you want to rush to the cupboard and find something edible in a tub of delicious hummus. 

From little kids trying hummus for the first time to funny videos playing to the backdrop of popular songs, Sabra Hummus has utilised the platform and built up a strong following in a short space of time.

@sabra

Priorities #hummus #sabra #fyp #4u #food #howimmus #vegan #tiktokfood

♬ Cuz I Love You – Lizzo

5) KIND Snacks

New York-based KIND Snacks make healthy snacks for when you’re feeling peckish but don’t want to splurge on unnecessary calories. And they’re pushing those products on TikTok with engaging content like #kindsimplecrunchcontest, which sees users emphasising a particular bar’s crunch sound in a fun and smart way. The contest has generated an impressive 73 million views.

6) The Real Freal

Shakes and smoothie maker, The Real Freal, has hopped on the TikTok bandwagon to promote its drinks range. So far, it has garnered more than 10 million likes with snappy videos that play on their different styles of shakes, such as thin, regular and thick options.

7) Kool-Aid

“Ohhh yeahhhhhh” is the famous Kool-Aid catchphrase that’s been referenced in just about everything, from TV to posters. Now it’s taken on social media form with Kool-Aid content on TikTok via hashtag challenges and prized giveaways. 

Users were encouraged to post videos of themselves using the tag #OhYEAHChristmas for the Christmas challenge. The Kool-Aid beefed-up marketing with videos featuring rapper Lil’ Jon and the brand mascot. It also worked with other influencers who had strong followers so that the campaign received wide-spread traction.

man holding cds
Source: cnn.com

Making the most of TikTok with your food and drink brand

Even with these examples, there isn’t currently a large volume of food and drink brands using TikTok to reach new audiences – especially in the UK. This means you can be an early adopter, creating fun content that appeals and gets new audiences talking about your brand. TikTok is experiencing a meteoric rise in popularity at the moment so it’s the right time to get involved. 

If you need help creating any video content to bring your brand to life on TikTok then why not give us a shout at Small Films. We’d be happy to help you with your TikTok strategy.

George Hughes is a former television Director and the Founder of video marketing agency Small Films. His company helps brands to communicate with a wider audience using strategic video content.

Want a professional hand in creating compelling, authoritative video content as part of your marketing? Get in touch today.

 

Every now and then something explodes onto the scene and captures everyone’s attention, instantly inserting itself into the cultural lexicon. That’s certainly the case with TikTok, a social media platform that’s taken the world by storm. 

You might know it as “those short videos of people doing entertaining things”. But in reality, it’s so much more. 2019 saw TikTok become the second-most downloaded app globally behind Whatsapp, and it currently has one billion users. 

TikTok’s rise to prominence hasn’t gone unnoticed in the marketing world. A growing number of brands are looking at it to see how they can reach new audiences. And it should definitely be part of your marketing strategy, especially as there are so many active users on the platform.

women with confetti having photograph taken

Another bonus is that, unlike Instagram, TikTok is a platform where it’s possible to achieve organic reach. However, you’ll need to get involved in the TikTok revolution soon because it’s highly likely the algorithms will soon change and make it harder for people to go viral organically. 

In order to help you better understand the world of TikTok from a marketing perspective, we’ve put together this ultimate guide for brands. So, read on and find out everything you need to know about TikTok. 

phone screen showing all the apps

How did it start?

What started as an app called Musical.ly became TikTok when Chinese company Bytedance acquired it. The video-sharing app’s primary audience consisted of Generation Z, younger demographics who were instantly drawn to its short and snappy video clips. 

These initially came in the form of people lip-syncing to music artists. Much like any trend on the internet, however, creativity took over, and users started experimenting with the app to create everything from viral challenges to comedic clips. TikTok (or Douyin as it’s known in China) has more than a billion users in China, with a further 800 million in the rest of the world. While the audience currently sits on the younger side of the spectrum, like any platform that gains huge popularity, the age will increase as it appeals to older generations and goes more mainstream.  

How does TikTok work?

After signing up for an account, you’ll be able to change your generated username, add a profile picture and a short bio. This part may seem somewhat mundane, but all top brands know the importance of making profile information snappy for people who come across their profile. Don’t worry, you can also change your username later if you aren’t sure what to choose.  

The app is divided into two primary feeds: For You, which is an algorithmically generated stream of videos; and Following, which is the accounts you follow. You can like videos much in the same way as you do on other social media networks. Sharing a video is pretty straightforward too. Tap the plus sign at the bottom of the screen and start recording.  The brilliance of TikTok lies in its short video bursts that last for 15 seconds, though users can blend those clips together to create 60-second content. 

How TikTok works for brands

The success of TikTok with younger audiences is no surprise: Gen Z is a video-first generation. By 2022, online videos will make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic. TikTok is part of that revolution.

Brands quickly saw TikTok’s reach and wanted in on the action. After all, Generation Z is set to command 40% of all consumer shopping by the end of 2020. Major players like Google, Nike and Coca-Cola have all embraced TikTok and created content for the platform.

Here’s how to make it work for you…

Advertising

Advanced targeting and unique creation features make TikTok Ads particularly appealing to brands who want to create compelling campaigns. If you’re struggling to build an audience, TikTok Ads can provide a boost to get you up and running on the platform.  

Sponsoring influencers

Much of TikTok’s beauty lies in the creatives who continuously churn out content. Tapping into their fanbase can be a great way of getting your brand in front of thousands (perhaps even millions) of followers. Of course, it’s necessary to have synergy with any influencer, but it’s certainly a route worth exploring to gain exposure. 

Starting hashtags

Like any other social media platform, creating hashtags can increase your visibility and reach. They’re also beneficial for recognising competitors and collaborators (see above). You might even get great content ideas from similar hashtags to yours and notice important trends that can propel your brand forwards. Oreo hit the mark with #cookiechallenge, Guess found success with #InMyDenim and Samsung successfully promoted their Galaxy A smartphone with #GalaxyA. 

https://www.facebook.com/OREOUnitedStates/posts/856069871529026

 

Brands who have cracked TikTok

If you’re after proof of TikTok’s appeal, then look no further than these brands who have successfully marketed to new audiences on the most addictive social media app. 

NFL

America’s favourite sport, the National Football League appeals to a variety of different demographics. And it tapped into TikTok to tell a multitude of stories, from heartfelt player profiles to fan-player engagement.

Chipotle

Chipotle has always been a trendsetter when it comes to marketing, and it carried that success over to TikTok. The Mexican food brand placed emphasis on engagement, creating fun challenges like #ChipotleLidFlip. The video currently has over 300 million views.

Fortnite

Video Game Fortnite has always had its finger on the pulse when it comes to interacting with audiences. Its most recent venture into TikTok asked fans to create a bespoke dance move, with the best ones ending up in the game.

Sony Music

Sony went down the route of influencer marketing for its TikTok campaign. Working with Nicky Jam x Sch to promote the song Atrévete, Sony contacted 12 influencers on the platform to create TikTok videos set to the backdrop of the track. The result was eight-million engagements, 1.2 million likes 10,300 user-generated videos.

@poki

i can’t believe i’m saying this but i have my own @Fortnite Emote! 🤯🥳 you can get one too by entering a dance with #EmoteRoyalecontest #EpicPartner

♬ original sound – pokimane

Top Tips
  • Don’t make your videos too polished; it’s better for them to be shot in the same style as user generated content, using a smartphone. 
  • Break your videos in half with the first video teasing the next in the series. 
  • Look for what’s trending and jump on the bandwagon.
  • Use hashtags effectively. Putting hashtags in the comments of your videos will help with visibility. 
  • Like other people’s content who are in the same space as you
  • Interact with other accounts where possible and leave comments

Tik, tik, tock

There’s no doubting TikTok’s power. The app is proving to be popular with all ages, and will only become more embedded into the cultural zeitgeist. As a brand, you have the potential to master the platform and create engaging and fun content for your audiences. 

George Hughes is a former television Director and the Founder of video marketing agency Small Films. His company helps brands to communicate with a wider audience using strategic video content.

Want a professional hand in creating compelling, authoritative video content as part of your marketing? Get in touch today.

 

Interactive video is a digital or linear video that supports user interaction through clicks, touches, taps and movement and goes beyond the ordinary play and pause technology.

Viewers become the creator and navigate through the video choosing the narrative, selecting the storyline and making decisions based on their interests.

Interactive video for online advertising can be extremely rewarding. You can achieve a much more detailed and personal account of your viewer’s personality, and it has the potential to be worth a lot more than linear video or targeted marketing combined.

Interactive video first started as a simple click on a video advert that would play before an online TV show or on a pre-roll ad on YouTube. The ad would ask the viewer to click on the product or image they would like to learn more about, and the brand then captured this information.

Brands like Maybelline, Burger King, Mcdonalds and Volkswagen are already using interactive video in advertising to understand better and engage their customers. But there should be a lot more brands using it, especially in 2020.

Interactive video offers a lot of opportunity and creativity. And it’s not just online but also out of home devices where interactive video can be used. For example, McDonald’s are constantly doing outdoor interactive advertising like this Poster Puzzle display that encouraged the public to solve the puzzle to “sort their heads out”, which promoted their €1 large coffee.

 

Interactive video online is still new territory for many brands and with just a few early adopters. However, this does not mean that interactive video doesn’t work – it just means that it is not a well-trodden path. And because the internet isn’t saturated with interactive videos, this means that there is a lot of space and opportunity to harness this medium and gain some great engagement.

Here are some examples of interactive videos from brands that have worked well.

This is an interactive video Deloitte made for their recruitment scheme. The viewer is taken on an interactive experience of someone’s first day at Deloitte, and they need to make important decisions throughout the day that will reflect whether you will fit in at Deloitte.

This is another example of an interactive video made by Maybelline New York. It’s a tutorial video to help people use and apply makeup in the right way and allows the viewer to choose which type of makeup style they are interested in learning about.

As well as allowing the viewer to choose the video’s narrative based on their personality you can also create interactive videos that allow viewers to select products to purchase or learn more about.

You can also use interactive video to understand your viewer’s touchpoints, interests and needs. A video made for GSK by Wirewax where the viewer can choose what part of the body they are having athletic difficulties with. The video will show the viewer a workout routine to help that area of hindrance from the choice made.

Do these videos work? They definitely help engage viewers and get them to pay more attention to the video, the brand, the products on display, and the message of the video. But do they work at capturing information and converting a viewer into a customer?

We know that 82 percent of all web traffic is predicted to come from video by 2022 (Cisco) so, the need for video content that stands out from the crowd has never been more poignant. We also know from research that Interactive video content generates 2x more conversions than passive content (Kapost), 4-5x more page views than static content (LinkedIn) and, 93% of marketers say interactive content is somewhat or very effective at educating the buyer, versus just 70% for static content (Demand Genreport). A study by Wyzowl found that 23% of video marketers have used Interactive video as a channel (up from 20% in 2018), and out of those, 83% say it’s been successful for them (up from 78% in 2018).

Interactive videos work great as internal videos for recruitment, induction and training, B2B explainer videos and B2B marketing videos, and they work well as B2C online advertising and social media marketing. The best thing about interactive video is the amount of data you can capture and how precise that data can be. Because you are leading the audience into a set of options and based on their decision, you can understand them on a more personal scale. With every click, you learn more about your audience. You can then group them more effectively into categories based on interest and values and then better market to them at a later stage (Kaltura). Because your audience controls their video experience and their experience with your brand, they are a lot more receptive, open and ready to engage, making them more willing to give up their time and information. 

If you are thinking about interactive video, then play around with the ones out there already and see whether you can imagine your brand using this form of marketing. If you don’t want to go straight into interactive video, then do something similar to Buzzfeed on Youtube and try some interactive quiz adverts that ask the audience a few simple questions about the market. Buzzfeed gets over 75% of its Quiz traffic from social media, and many quizzes used in marketing work exceptionally well at engaging and capturing customers (Mashable).

To find out more about using interactive video, contact us.

Small Films is a London video production company. We create results-driven films for the likes of Aldi, EDF Energy and Eton College. 

Summer is a really important time for many FMCG brands – it’s a happy time filled with a lot of fun and excitement, good weather, holidays and late night sunsets, and is therefore a massive selling point for both businesses and consumers. Some brands depend solely on their summer campaigns and will spend the whole year working towards the months of July, August and September, where they release new products, run promotions and do big advertising online and out of home. For food and drink brands especially summer is a massive highlight of the year, it’s when all of the big food shows roll around like Taste and Lunch, and when consumers are more eager to be out and about, which unsurprisingly means they eat on-the-go a lot more. In fact, consumers are prepared to spend more on things like food in the summer because they spend more time outside and last year we saw a 5% rise in consumer spending during the summer holidays (Barclays). Because of that, the months of “summer”  are some of the best times to be making video content and getting your brand as much attention and exposure as you possibly can, so that when your customers are out and about, they will spend their extra cash on your products. 

 

Digital marketing during the summer can be very loud, fun and exciting, and your content can be as colourful and summery as you like. Using a season to help promote your brand is an easy and effective way at engaging customers and reaching new audiences And making video is an even better strategy as it can be cheaper, more versatile and a lot more engaging. Consumers already prefer watching video to static imagery and text and during seasons of fun like the summer holidays they are even more receptive to adverts that reflect the positive and happy vibes they are trying to achieve during the summer months. Here are some examples of videos your food or drink brand can make this summer…

 

Social Media Videos

You can go really basic with Instagram video ads like this one from Costa Coffee – Iced Coffee Range. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Sr9x6FEBw/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Really simple but yet very engaging; they’ve made the coffee and the foam look like the ocean and placed it in front of a blue “sky” background. It’s eye catching because it looks like the beach and reminds you of summer holidays, vacations and calming times spent looking at blue skies  It instantly gives you a positive feeling.

These Instagram videos from Holland and Barrett work well at promoting products using a happy and summery vibe.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxanpcYhxK7/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxalW-CB2pF/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

 

Summer Campaign Video

The great thing about a summer campaign is that they can be as extravagant or as simple as you like. They can range from a massive stunt in Waterloo Station, to a pop up shop on Oxford Street, to a simple out of home billboard or online advertisement. Either way if your food or drink brand has anything planned this summer you’d be a fool not to film it. If you’re attending an event then you should film it, if you’re handing out samples then you should film it. Even if you’re going on a work outing to the Zoo, you should film it! We did a summer campaign video last month for UpBeat Drinks for the launch of their new juicy protein water products and to promote their new re-brand. The video was a 22 second social media advert and a 6 second cut down version for YouTube pre-roll as well as a 15 second version for out of home digital display.

 

 

Filming your street sampling is one of the quickest, easiest and most effective ways at getting great customer feedback, market research and providing audiences with a first hand, genuine account of what people think of your product! We created this video for Emily Crisps last year to promote their Whole Foods front window display on Kensington High Street! 

 

 

Promotional videos

Promotional videos are a really effective way at targeting and engaging consumers and work really well across all forms of social media and online advertising. These can be as short as 6 seconds and can advertise your products online to target audiences that you really want to market to. They can be short and snappy and therefore really eye catching, like this promotional advert by McDonalds which is promoting their iced coffee range.

 

 

It’s striking and definitely takes you into a summer hypnotism. Really cheaply, you could film your cold drink bottles close up with water slipping down the side – its eye catching and reminds you of summer – great for an instagram video.

 

Video adverts

So, Boot’s isn’t exactly a food and drink brand but they do stock and promote a lot of food and drink products. This advert they’ve recently released called “Summer” created by marketing agency Ogilvy is a great example of the types of promotional video adverts you could make online. Whilst this had significant budget behind it, you can still take aspects of this video advert and utilise in your own video marketing on a much smaller budget. This is a montage of a child’s summer experience, from the school summer dresses to watering the plants in the garden. A food and drink brand could make short video content for online advertising that shows a child in the garden playing with water and mum calls them in for a snack. Or, people in a park playing frisbee and reaching for your product.

 

https://youtu.be/wR1TRKYdZFs

 

Event videos

If you are exhibiting at an event this summer then 100% make sure to film it and make sure to create some promotional content around it. Exhibitions are the perfect place to get video content for your social media pages, online advertising and even for your brand film, because you have first hand footage of consumers sampling and trying your products. Event videos make great case studies and customer testimonials. Don’t be afraid to ask the visitors what they think of your product and film their reactions. It’s great to show your audience that you are out there, attending events, making the most of your summer and keeping them in the loop. Event videos work well at developing your brand identity and personality. You can live stream these events, take videos for your instagram and facebook story or you can get a professional to film it and get interviews.

 

Be creative this summer with video and get your brand out there, show off your fun personality and engage with as many audiences and customers as you can. Summer is a huge promotional attraction to any brand, influencer and consumer, so regardless of the budget just make sure you’ve got a lot of summer related posts and videos going up onto socials, through your stories and feeds. This way you can effectively stay at the front of people’s minds and slot into their news feeds with relevant content.

 

 

A brand that is dominating the world of  content marketing right now is the notorious Nike Inc; the world’s largest athletic footwear and clothing brand. Over 55 years, Nike is risen to become a shining example of a brand that has it all; market share, $34 billion yearly revenue, contracts with world renowned sportsmen, factories in over 40 countries and selling worldwide in over 170. Nike is doing phenomenally well and shows no sign of slowing down.  Competition is fierce in this space, with brands like Adidas, Puma and New Balance all taking their slice of the market however, something about Nike and its strategy has placed them at the top of the playing field and has kept them from being overtaken or outshined. So what is it that makes Nike different?

 

Founded in Oregon in 1964 by young entrepreneur Phil Knight, Nike started off as a reseller of Japanese running shoes selling to well known sports brands across the US. Knight wrote a paper before the inception of Nike called “Can Japanese Sports Shoes Do to German Sports Shoes What Japanese Cameras Did to German Cameras?” After that Knight went on to create the company Blue Ribbon Sports, which we now know today as Nike Inc. Hard work, luck and determination were not the only forces that turned Nike into a world leading manufacturer of sportswear but also a superb and unique marketing strategy, one that encouraged people to think differently about athletic footwear and oozed the “Just Do It” mentality.

 

Nike has been a brand that always challenges the boundaries of sport, sportswear and athletic principles. So much so that today Nike is worn and bought by billions of people around the world who aren’t even interested in sports. They decided early on that their products would be constantly redesigned and reimagined with their customers in mind, pushing the traditional running shoes as far as they could using crazy inventions like waffle machines to design the soles. Very soon Nike became less about the shoes and more about fitness. They didn’t want to sell you a shoe but instead a mantra of being fit, active and staying healthy. Their shoes were sold as a way to stay in shape but the fact that they were comfy to run in and more stylish to look at was a bonus. Nike very quickly became the fitness brand selling a way of life, an image, a feeling and a lifestyle – their customers and audience then became the most important thing to the business.

 

So, in the 21st century what is it that Nike offers us that makes them so irresistible? To reach their new, digitally savvy audience, Nike put a lot of attention into their content creation, focusing on their social media channels and video production. Through their brilliant use of advertising Nike offers all generations, gender and races across the world this feeling of empowerment and energy. Their marketing strategy is to empower people through uplifting videos, advertisements that ooze culture, social freedom and restraints, fashion trends, lifestyle trends, opinions, messages and love. They test the limits of our personality by being so in tune with the world and providing their customers with a release, a safe place and the feeling that they are not alone. They now produce regular video content that speaks effortlessly to their customers through strong, moving and engaging storytelling. 

“Walk With Love” – Represent Love

 

Nike BETRUE – Nobody Wins Alone

https://youtu.be/T9Dx-s9FBBk

 

“MILES” Joan Benoit Samuelson

https://youtu.be/CgUuyZ-gzDQ

 

For a long time now Nike has slowly started to reduce the production of TV adverts and instead focus on video content for their YouTube channel. Understanding that marketing in the digital age is changing, Nike decided that the quickest and most effective way to reach their audiences and customers with detailed, meaningful and relevant content was through online video. They dropped their TV and print advertising spend by 40% between 2010 and 2012 – but increased their overall marketing budget to $2.4 billion in 2012 (Fortune). This marketing strategy in itself shows that Nike as a brand that follows the people, listens to trends and adapts instantly to the changes in culture. TV advertising spend dropped substantially in the last few years because traditional TV viewing has also massively declined. Instead, video streaming and viewing has become a lot more selective, personal and intimate, and because of online streaming it has become hugely accessible and people prefer to binge watch shows at their leisure. YouTube is the second most used site after google (Alexa) and users view more than 1 billion hours of videos each day (YouTube).

 

Nike speak to their audiences on their terms. They provide customers with personalisation, the ability to design their own shoes, content to watch that reflects their attitudes, opinions and lifestyles, not to mention the endless creation of new styles, clothes and shoes that constantly hit our high streets and allow its customers to always feel original and stay excited and passionate about Nike. What is their marketing strategy? It’s to give the people what they want with the utmost time, attention to detail and uncompromising quality whether that’s clothes, experiences or content. 

Of all the brands nailing content marketing right now, arguably, Red Bull is the undisputed leader. These guys have transcended from being a single product energy drink brand into a world-renowned and globally acknowledged publisher of media, TV, print and film. From their up-to-date YouTube channel to their television broadcasting, sponsorship of some of the world’s most famous sporting events and having their own Sky Channel, magazine publications, journalism, radio channels and lastly, creating high-end documentary films. They are doing it all, and they have us gripped. But how?! And what’s the secret to their success?

Red Bull was launched in Austria back in 1987 by Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz after a visit to Thailand where he found the energy drink Krating Daeng. At that point, the idea of a carbonated energy drink in Europe had not been heard of nor thought about. The launch of Red Bull signified the beginning of a new product and the beginning of a whole new drinks category. Now, Red Bull has the highest market share of any energy drink product in the world and sells almost 7.9 billion cans every year worldwide (wiki).

How do I hear you say? Red Bull found their audience and customers very early on. In 1988 Red Bull sponsored their first-ever sporting event, “The Red Bull Dolomitenmann”, one of the most challenging relays on the planet. They discovered that the extreme sporting industry depended a lot on the adrenaline, energy and excitement of all people involved and that their product was perfectly suited for this type of audience, thus finding their “niche” and their ideal customers.

They then began to market the absolute sh*t out of it, making a name for themselves in the extreme sporting industry and soon becoming the thrilling epitome of youth and sporting culture that we know them as today. Red Bull got their logo out wherever they could, on TV and at extreme sporting events, and promoted their energy drink to sporting athletes who would then promote the Red Bull brand. Not long after inception, Red Bull had lift-off. They already had 100% market share because no other energy drink had been launched in Europe at that time, so they were very exclusive and therefore very desirable. Soon, they were not just seen as a drinks brand but as a culture and lifestyle brand.

Red Bull now own multiple sports teams across the world in Europe, USA and Brazil. They sponsor incredible sporting events from Formula 1 to the Snowboarding Olympics, work with hundreds of famous athletes. They have their own Red Bull sporting businesses like Red Bull Cliff Diving and, own two F1 Teams. They even have their own track racing game on PlayStation 3. It’s safe to say that they have killed it! People follow them for their content and updates on their activities, like a subscription to a streaming service. They have 10.2 million subscribers on YouTube, 14.9 million Instagram followers, 48 million likes on Facebook and 2 million followers on Twitter. Their videos on YouTube get ½ million views, with their most viewed videos standing at 155 million, 92 million and 47 million.

The secret strategy? Well, let’s start with Red Bull’s audience. They know their audience intimately and consistently put them first. Quite simply, from start to finish, Red Bull has always put their customers at the heart of their business and focused on making content that they know their customers will enjoy. It’s not just about filming, sponsoring or hosting sporting events. For Red Bull, it’s about creating moments and experiences they can share with their unique audience. They film TV content like Red Bull Rampage 2021, host events like these every year, and make them accessible to everyone and anyone.

They also film documentaries for their YouTube channel like “The Fearless Swedish Free-rider” that are interesting and enjoyable to watch by anyone.

But, their most popular content is stunt videos like the “Felix Baumgartner’s Supersonic Freefall” or their most viewed video from the free-running series “Last Call for Mr Paul”.

Red Bull constantly goes above and beyond (quite literally) and creates content that is mind-blowingly brilliant and better than most of the content produced by major publishing organisations. By putting their customers first and listening to their audiences, they have become the most talked-about brand of our generation. Where their customers go, they go, from music festivals, concerts, art shows to reporting on the latest and trending sports, skate parks to mountain biking, free-running in car parks and paint-balling – they’ve been everywhere, and they’ve done it all!

Sell an experience, not a product

.Red Bull’s marketing strategy is to sell an experience, not a product, and this is something that any business or brand can do. Creating content for your customer and putting the audience first is a strategy that can work for any company. There are many other brands out there that have started to adopt this Red Bull method and become publishers instead of just selling “products”. Volvo is one such brand. They created a documentary series on YouTube titled Human Made Stories: Defiant Pioneers, which features five episodes that look into different human stories like this one titled “Nemo Gardens”, about a man in Italy building an underwater farm.

Patagonia quickly established itself as a publisher on YouTube, uploading interviews, documentaries, short films and long films about the planet, sustainability and people. Patagonia’s Workwear series on YouTube has 15 videos and is still being updated today with new videos, these feature interviews with people who wear Patagonia’s workwear as part of their jobs.

Nike is another brand that is identified through its content. Yes, they sell shoes, but they also share experiences and promote a specific identity. Their YouTube channel also has a lot of documentary content going up onto it that is interesting to watch, like this Waves Not Cycles | Nike x Patta

More and more brands are implementing Red Bull’s strategy, becoming publishers and creating video content for use online. However, no brand has or is doing better than them. They nailed this part of their marketing very early on and have set the tone for any brand to follow and replicate. But, looking at all the brands out there that are following suit is a good sign that the Red Bull strategy works. For businesses that aren’t implementing this strategy, we suggest starting small and working your way up to it. Start with some customer testimonial videos or behind the scene footage of your business and factory, documenting the way you do things and the way your products are made. Just get your content out there to the customers that want to listen and see how they respond. 

If you want to know more about audience-first content, you can read our blog >>What is Audience-First Content?

If you want to know more about audience first video content and documentary filming, you can visit our other blogs:
>> How Brands Can Use Documentary Style Video in Content Marketing.  

Blurred Lines. How Branded Content is Transforming Traditional Broadcasting. 

 

As recently as 5 years ago, the vast majority of us would have tuned into our favourite show via our TV sets… at home… probably on the sofa. Today, the picture is very different. Almost half of adults aged 22 to 45 are not watching content on traditional TV platforms (AdAge) and 64.8 million people born between 1981 and 1996 will watch streaming videos or downloaded videos on a device at least once a month (Forbes). TV as we know is dead. Long live online streaming! Of course, TV isn’t actually dead. But the way we consume it has changed forever. Many people will still flick the TV on to catch their favourite series as it is released whether that’s X Factor or Silent Witness, but for most of us, on-demand has replaced live viewing as our preferred method of consuming any type of television content. And for Millennials and Generation Z who have come of age in a digital world,  BBC and ITV are increasingly shunned in favour of subscription based services like Netflix or Amazon or user generated content sites like Youtube. 

 

The writing has been on the wall for analogue TV for at least 2 decades and when the analogue signal was switched off in 2017 forcing every individual to access television via a digital box, it wasn’t a great surprise to the industry. The emergence of super-fast broadband that removed the need to have a sky dish or cable TV to access more than 5 channels of television was one of the biggest driving factors behind the shift in the television landscape. That… and the arrival of 3G and cheap mobile data which has allowed video streaming in the palm of your hand.

 

 

It’s surprising to find that Netflix has actually been around since 1997. It started life as a DVD rental business but began streaming online video in 2007, just 2 years after Youtube was founded. Today Netflix has 139 million paid subscribers worldwide and on Youtube, one billion hours of content are watched every single day. YouTube is ranked as the second-most popular site in the world after Google (Alexa Internet). And, whilst Netflix and Youtube may have paved the way for online video, there are now dozens of different streaming platforms from Disney+ to Apple TV, Now TV to Facebook Watch, TikTok, Instagram TV and Amazon Prime.

 

 

There’s huge money behind these platforms. Facebook will spend a “measly” $1 billion on video content this year compared to Amazon’s $4 billion spend last year and Netflix’s projected $8 billion spend for 2019 (Media Post). Also this year, Amazon and Netflix have said they will be investing in UK TV production, and will help to promote these shows on both platforms (Video News). However, the question is, will this bring traction to TV broadcasters or, will audiences be tuning into their SVOD (Streaming Video On Demand) services to watch the shows? An Ofcom report released in the summer found that huge investment in original content by digital players has seen subscriptions to SVOD services in the UK overtake subscription to pay-TV services. Ofcom also found that last year that after a period of sustained growth, pay-TV subscription revenues fell in the UK for the first time, falling by 2.7 percent to £6.4 billion. Unsurprisingly as UK consumers turn their back on conventional television viewing in favour of subscription based streaming platforms, they also turn their back on advertising. TV advertising income fell significantly last year, declining seven percent year-on-year in real terms to £3.9 billion (Video News).

 

 

So what does this mean for brands who have, in the past relied on TV advertising to reach their customers? You guessed it, they’ve started to pump more and more of their budget into online advertising. Last year, digital advertising increased by 9.5% in the UK (emarketer) with video being the fastest growing medium. The exciting thing is that marketers looking to get an edge over their competitors are putting budget behind incredible branded content that is shining a spotlight on their products and services. Volvo, Heineken and Dove are not only running heavy hitting multi-channel campaigns with a hero piece of video content at it’s heart, but many like Patagonia, Red Bull and Nike are becoming publishers in their own right with Youtube channels that include regular, engaging video content that is enjoyed by millions of people.

 

 

As we, the consumer, become accustomed to subscription TV viewing, the days of sitting through 5 minutes of TV adverts seem like a distant memory. No surprise then, that we actively avoid spending time online in places where we are being hit with constant adverts. With Youtube releasing its own subscription service, it begs the question how long we will have to wait before Facebook, Instagram and other platforms follow suit? Moving forward, brands will have to work harder and harder to get their message seen by their audience and commissioning branded content will be one of the best ways to do that.

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