Posts Tagged video branding

Corporate Videos Employing Fantasy Themes To Hold Viewer Attention

Posted by SEO SERVICES in Video Production on October 6th, 2010

Corporate videos may be internally focused, if they present the true story of the company, and in that way seek to win users and financial supporters for the company products. Or corporate videos may be externally focused if they present images and facts about the company, and dress them up in a way that is expected to impress the public.

The corporate video from Tetra Pack, found at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3746615746129582317#docid=3573471230342398082 is a video of the second type. It presents facts about the development and future potential of the compressible Tetra Pack fiber made food containers, and intertwines them with a futuristic type of high tech crime story line in which invaders seeking to know secrets about Tetra Pack break into corporate headquarters, but are finally caught. The Hollywood footage is meant to entertain the public and grab their attention. The effect is enhanced by a presentation of the Tetra Pack information in the form of a futuristic type briefing of tetra pack employees, in sterile well lit, sound proof steel tunnel, where a researcher clad in a white lab coat addresses four young assistants.

As the video progresses the researcher presents the essence of the video message, namely that Tetra Pack came up with a great idea in 1952, a compressible fiber food container that takes up almost no space when empty. This scene is followed by another one, showing a subject participating in product testing. The testing shows the subject becoming more and more enthralled with the food containers as they progress from older to more modern and sophisticated Tetra Pack designs.

In the third segment, the invaders have broken into room where they watch a hologram display showing how Tetra Pack has developed new containers, which imitate the curvilinear shapes found in the contour of a cows body, in order to imitate the beauty found in nature.

I wondered why Tetra Pack chose the sci-fi scenes they did to attract attention, and I got the impression that the company is worried about other businesses stealing their ideas.This fear is symbolized by the invasders seeking to learn Tetra Pack’s secrets. The capture of the invaders indicates Tetra Packs determination to prevent others from using their ideas, It is also apparently meant to inform the public that Tetra Pack was the original inventor of the paper food container, and others are imitators of their ideas.

So how will this video work? It does grab attention at the beginning, as we see the three bandits rappelling down from the ceiling to a large room in the building. When the video switches to the briefing, it still holds are attention because of the futuristic type of briefing scene. The presenter seeks to relate the development of the Tetra Pack to other crucial developments that changed life, such as the cell phone and the safety razor. The presenter begins to talk about the Tetra Pack itself and the video transitions from an entertaining Hollywood Sci-Fi to a sales video. At this point it holds attention for a few seconds, as viewers seek to know who is behind this video. Then attention is liable to start to flag.

The second segment is imaginative and again holds viewer attention in that the testing subject is very histrionic and exaggerated in his approval or disapproval of the prodct designs being tested. Viewers making it to the third second, coast through the presentation of the company’s new shapes that imitate nature, much like a marathon runner coasting through the final segment of his run with his resources nearly used up. Viewers that reach the end see that the invaders have been captured.

I would judge this video in terms of the amount of information actually passed onto viewers. I believe most viewers will come away with the sense that the company invented a useful product and has developed it through product testing to come up with more imaginative container shapes that please the public. The name Tetra Pack is effectively presented to the vieewer. However, the video suffers, in my opinioni, in that the themes added in as attention grabbers, only serve to alert the public to the fact that other companies are imitating Tetra Pack. And if Tetra Pack is so worried about this imitation then maybe the imitation products are good and even cheaper.

One of the lessons I learned from this video is that when companies use fantasy material to attract attention to their message, they need to consider how the fantasy themes relate to the main message. Images of the fantasy segments will contribute as much to company branding as segments talking about the product. And in time, viewers will link the themes together in a way that makes subjective sense to them. Also, when the fantasy sections do not mesh well with the segments of the video presenting the company message then there is bound to be an audience letdown when the video begins to seriously present the products and the company.

, , , ,

No Comments

What Makes A Corporate Video Exciting?

Posted by SEO SERVICES in Video Production on July 12th, 2010

The University of Kibangsaan Malaysia produced their latest corporate video, which is published on You Tube. Presumably, the video targets people such as Malaysians living in the West, whom the university would like to contribute money to their endowment, and or send their children back to Malaysia for their education.

Based on the video content, the University apparently decided to feature important discoveries and breakthroughs made at the University, which have lead to social, technological and economical advances for humanity. The approach is certainly meritorious, and as the corporate video describes the list of advances, one can appreciate that many of these contributions are exciting cutting edge scientific developments. The discoveries presented include computerized monitoring of the eye movements of a driver to look for evidence he is too tired to drive and a computerized robot with the capability of detecting even minute smells.

Having plotted out the content of the corporate video the university and videographers next had to decide how they wanted to organize their material. They chose a format not unlike the dialogue in the famous John Lennon song, Imagine. In Imagine, the late John Lennon presented his ideas as a series of parallel sentences each starting with the word imagine. The song was set to softe melodious music composed by Lennon.

The UKM corporate video, they presents a series of questions and responses about the future set to a soft slow playing background. For example, the first caption starts with a question, “What if a computer could see what your eyes cannot?” Another caption responds: “Driver drowsiness detection system developed by the faculty of engineering.” Question: “What if we could invent a machine with a sense of smell? Response: “The optical e-nose detects smells up to a millionth of a micron.”

The entire 9 minute video consists of additional segments organized just like these, up until the very end. In the background we watch imagery related to the discovery begin touted, and or the people who developed it. In the final segment, the video poses a series of questions without answers. Who is driving the nation forward with a strong sense of national identity?” “Who has the will to advance humanity? Finally, “What if it is a National University? Then the video flashes the name University of Kibangsaan Malaysia.

While the video is long and repetitive, I think it would be a mistake to call it boring. The question response format calls attention to the amazing breakthrough each discovery has brought to ongoing human progress. However, with respect to the visual presentation I do believe the video missed presenting enough clips of the discoveries in action and therefore may not have reached to the level of excitement it could have.

For example, the video initially poses the question as to what if a computer could see what your eyes cannot? And it then presents the driver drowsiness detection system. The question and response arouses interest. However, the video fails to show a depiction of the produc being used in real life. A visual presentation of a driver driving down the road at night and almost falling asleep and being aroused by the computer and then pulling over, would have, in my opinion, added more excitement. This type of vidual segment would have been comparable to contemporary videos of androids, which feature the androids performing a variety of feats on screen and talking to people. The question and answer format wins for consistency, yet by the end everyone knows what to expect, and so it loses some effectiveness. Furthermore, after a while viewers probably would like to know the name of the university presenting this research. While this might make some of the watchers stay to the end, it could also cause some of them to lose focus on each individual discovery. Finally, the one short appearance of the name of the University, which is the subject of the video is probably not enough to create powerful image branding. I would recommend that the name should have come out at the beginning, so viewers can associate all the advancements with the University.

, , , ,

No Comments