February 14

Online Video Marketing: A Great Example

Here is an incredible example of an online marketing video I want to share with you.  It was produced by Cisco to help launch a new product that will come out soon.  This video combines, humor, storytelling, and mystery to create a VERY compelling online marketing video.   In fact, I think this is just about perfect for the genre.

What makes this video such a great example of online marketing?  Here’s my 2 cents on that.

1.  Great storytelling!  A brilliant use of likable characters to create a compelling story worth watching and remembering.

2.  It’s truly funny and entertaining.

3.  Great use of curiosity and mystery, which are standard marketing techniques.  Here, the story is based on curiosity.

4.  At 2:45, it’s short, sweet, and to the point.

5.  They blasted it out to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and a special product preview launch site.

6.  The production values, lighting, audio, editing, etc. are all good.  Nothing terribly fancy, but good quality.

I can not think of a single bad thing to say about this video.  The only slight downside from the perspective of many of us…the small, mom-and-pop operations, is that obviously this video was not done in an afternoon with a budget of zero dollars.  So you might be thinking, how can little ole me compete with this?

Granted, this was produced by a corporation that has deeper pockets than most of us.  BUT, it is actually a simple video that would not really take all that much time and money to produce.  This is NOT a Hollywood big budget extravaganza.   The beauty of this video lies 90% in its great storytelling.

They came up with characters.  Likeable characters.  The bumbling doofus model almost always works…think the Pink Panther.  Their main character, Ira Pumfkin, is really pretty cliche when you think about it.  That is NOT an insult.    Rather, I think this is an example of how cliché can WORK.   All the other characters are also very cliché, like the hard-driving boss.   They made her a woman which breaks the mold, but only slightly.

The characters and the story are indivisible.  As a reporter, Ira is sent out to get a story.  That’s what reporters do.  The story just happens to be about what is really being advertised.

My point is, this video is NOT what we might think of as a typical video story, something terribly complex with multidimensional characters and clever plot twists and turns.   Nope, it’s just a simple, cliché driven story that almost anyone could come up with.

So the next time you are thinking of producing a marketing video, and you hear you should come up with a story, think of this example and remember, you do not have to come up with Star Wars.

Thanks for reading Video Production Tips.

Lorraine Grula

 


Tags

cisco, online video marketing, video internet advertising, Video Production


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  1. Lorraine, am glad you enjoyed the video series (5 in total). And, I’m thankful you captured the intended focus of these videos. We continue to be pleased with the results and enjoyed engaging with our audience.

    These videos were fun to make and as you’ll notice eight of our top executives engaged as one of our goals was to showcase the “human network” and beyond the box (pun intended) side of Cisco.

    Please do reach out at any time. I’ll be intrigued to follow your blog and learn from you and those who collaborate with you.

  2. Hi Melissa.

    The videos were indeed great so I am glad to give credit where credit is due!

    So wonderful that you had success with them. Glad to hear it. I thought they truly captured the spirit of online marketing videos at their best. And, as we are all learning, online marketing videos and standard TV commercials are two different things.

    Whoever you got to play Ira the bumbling reporter was GREAT. I have known people who walked into walls like that. They had short noses. 🙂

    Lorraine Grulas last blog post..Online Video Marketing: What is Good Enough?

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