Branded Video Content – What Is It And Why Do You Need It?

We’ve never been totally satisfied with the term branded content. It’s classic ambiguous marketing jargon which does very little to explain what it is, what it does or how/why to use it, so here are a couple of our thoughts on the value of branded video content.

Generally brands appreciate that producing video content for use on their website to improve SEO or drive engagement on social media is a good idea. It really is; Google massively favours websites that offer video content because it knows that searchers value this form of content. Apparently video is 50 times more likely to get higher organic page ranks than plain text results, so you get a great deal of value out of a having a video of any quality available for your prospective customers.

However, video in itself is not engaging enough for the modern audience. With 300 hours of footage (and rising) being uploaded to YouTube every minute, viewers know that there’s more entertaining content a click or two away and won’t sit through a video that does no more than tell them your brand values.

Branded video content is the answer to this. At Dead Ready we think of branded content as editorial style videos where emphasis is placed on entertaining or informing your target audience with content they would choose to watch, and not forcing your brand down their throat.

Consider this video from Mr Porter. Despite being a menswear retailer, the video makes no reference to clothing and focuses on providing information that they know their target audience wants – in this case, how to cook a steak. The audience consumes the content and associates the brand with their own lifestyle which leads to positive brand associations and eventual sales.

So when considering your next video production, the first thing to consider should be “what does my audience want to watch” and not “what do I want to tell them.” Once you have this premise, you’ll find it easy to subtly connect the content with your brand, even if it’s just about simply using your logo at the beginning and end.

Thinking this way is a subtle switch and a great way to refresh your approach to video production and can often lead to some really exciting and creative video. Get in touch if you want to learn more.

How To Produce Great Product Videos

Whether you’re a startup with world-shattering new product that will revolutionise the way we play ping pong, or a corporate giant with innovative, new auditing software, a product video is an essential part of bringing your product to market. Here are a few tips we’ve gathered to consider when you’re producing your video.

1. Don’t focus on the problem.

It’s an age-old sales tactic to outline the problem that your product fixes. Ditch all that and keep your video positive by emphasising the benefits your product will bring to the user. Take a look at the videos that promote any of the world’s greatest selling products and services (iPhone, Fitbit, Facebook), none of them start with the phrase “Ever had that thing happen that really isn’t great? You need the X” and the reason for that is that they credit their audiences with being able associate the capabilities of the product with their own experience and see the benefits.

2. Be brief

This is essentially a tip for every promotional video of almost any kind, but the rule is specifically that you should use the minimum amount of your audience’s time in order to convey your message. Audiences are not forced to watch your ad and if they aren’t engaged, they’ll go – what’s more, they’ll associate boredom with your brand, however subconsciously and that’s hardly likely to improve sales. A decent guideline is to try to tell your story in 90 seconds, if you need longer, you’ll need a stronger concept and a greater variety of content in your video in order to retain interest.

3. Instill identity

A product video is a great opportunity to show the world who you are, and it’s essential that you sell your product in a way that aligns with the rest of your brand values. Also think about how you can use your identity to enhance either your sales message or the engagement of the video. For example, Zendesk uses an approachable, irreverent tone to showcase what could be a very dry product (https://www.zendesk.com/product/tour/) and dollarshaveclub.com (https://vimeo.com/92288886) chooses a brashly hilarious tone that resonates with their target market.

Even if your product isn’t brand new and doesn’t need to be explained, potential customers are ordering online in ever increasing numbers and video is a massive part of that process; not only do people want to see videos of their potential purchases, but search engines are actively directing shoppers to websites that are proactively using video, so video doesn’t only increase your chances of converting a sale, it gets more qualified leads through the door in the first place!

We love building product videos – they’re often a chance to get conceptually creative, so get in touch if you want to talk one through!

Combining Your Event Filming With Event Photography To Maximise ROI

Running a big event such as a conference, launch party or awards show is obviously a lot of work involving a lot of organisation and liaising with a plethora of people.

Commissioning a multimedia agency such as Dead Ready Productions to handle both your event filming and your stills photography can help for numerous reasons – the most significant being time efficiency and cost saving that will both improve your ROI.

Most production companies offer a discount for combi-packages like this, as the camera team are able to assist each other whilst shooting and in some cases share equipment and associated costs.

It also brings the benefit of providing you with a single production coordinator, saving you time by avoiding multiple briefings to different parties. Further cost savings can be applied due to the way that recent camera technology is bringing these related disciplines ever closer together.

To shoot a modern event video it’s often appropriate to use the same DSLR camera that still photographers use. This is due to it’s discreet, lightweight handling and incredible performance in low light.

It’s taken a while to convince clients that these cameras are up to the job, but with DSLR cameras now being used to shoot popular TV shows like House MD, the results speak for themselves.

This overlap in functionality means that the more highly skilled camera operators can now multitask – even to the extent of performing both the role of photographer AND videographer on one shoot.

Naturally, this results in less coverage than assigning a dedicated operator to each role, but if budgets are tight, clients have the option of paying for one person to deliver both pro stills and video.

At Dead Ready Productions, we advise that it’s usually best to give an operator one specialty to focus on, in order to concentrate on delivering excellent stills or video without the distraction of switching hats.

However, even if your event requirements are for a crew of twenty photographers and swarms of videographers, you can realistically expect a 10-15% discount by coordinating both teams through the one production agency – and that’s likely to make a significant saving on your bottom line without compromising a single shot!

If you would like to find out more about the video, animation, photography and graphic design services Dead Ready Productions can offer your business, please feel free to get in touch via the button below or by calling +44 (0)208 339 6139.

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Filming In 4K – Is It Really Necessary?

We’ve recently taken delivery of the new Sony FS7 camera, meaning we can now offer higher resolution footage to our clients. Much higher, in fact – 4 times the level of detail we currently see in full ‘high definition’ footage. But while many people are still struggling to stream HD footage, and very few even have a screen capable of displaying 4K, is this vastly superior image quality really necessary?

Strictly speaking, the answer is probably: not yet. The time will eventually come when your audience expect a 4K viewing experience, but HD still has a lot of life in it and is going to be the standard for a while to come. But there are definitely benefits of getting ahead of the curve and bringing this level of quality to your video projects right away.

1. Ability to ‘crop-in’

Why would you shoot in 4K if you’re only going to deliver your final product in HD? One major advantage is that when the camera shoots so much detail, you have the ability when editing to ‘crop-in’ on the footage without loss of quality. Think of your final HD image as being a ‘window’ on to your original 4K footage. This offers a range of options in postproduction, from creating a virtual second camera angle on an interview, to recomposing a shot to include only a selected portion of the frame.

2. Future-proofing

When your video is shot in 4K, you can be sure that in a few years time it will still look just as great and won’t suffer when compared with newer videos. In fact, as 4K TVs and monitors become more commonplace, your video will look even better than ever before as it can be viewed ‘as shot’.

3. Extracting stills

We’re often asked if it’s possible to take still images from video footage. Of course this is possible, but we’re always limited to the resolution of the video camera – even at full HD, the still frames are only really suitable for basic web use. While shooting at 4K still won’t provide results that rival a professional DSLR, the stills will be far more flexible than those taken from HD footage and stand up to being printed.

These are just a few advantages, aside from the obvious one of shooting your footage at the highest quality you can. What’s not in doubt is that while 4K footage can enhance your video, it won’t make up for poorly scripted/structured content, and beautiful visuals are no substitute for a great idea or perfectly executed concept.

Event Filming – How Much Does It Cost?

“I want to film an event coming up in a couple weeks time. How much would it cost to produce a video of the event – can you give me an approximate price?”

It’s fairly often that we receive an enquiry similar to the above. Of course, every event video is unique and deserves a specific, tailored approach. Simply put, providing a set price and rigid filming and editing methodology can lead to you failing to get what you need, and paying for something you don’t.

However, as a client you’re often looking for some kind of rough price just to get the ball rolling and to help you factor video production into your marketing plans. Maybe you don’t have all the information you need or maybe you’re just not ready to have a detailed discussion yet – what then?

Event videos can vary widely in cost but as a rough guide tend to start at around £800 and go up from there depending on complexity and time involved. Here’s a few quick questions that can help you to quickly get a ballpark cost for your event video:

1. When/where is the event?

The first variable to determine, and usually the easiest to answer, is when and where the event is taking place. Price is dependent on number of days/nights filming required, whether it’s during the week or at a weekend, and accessibility of the location.

2. What exactly do you need to film?

This will depend on the type of event involved. Conferences have different requirements to awards ceremonies, which in turn are different to trade shows and launch events.

The main purpose of this question is to determine what size of crew and what equipment is needed for the shoot. Sometimes you may require speeches/presentations to be filmed, sometimes you’ll need interviews, other times just general footage of the event as it happens. Are there things that need to be filmed that are happening concurrently?

3. What video deliverables do you require?

Usually our clients are looking for short 2-3 minute footage-based promotional videos, deliverable via the web. But if you require more than one video, or longer videos, or anything involving more complex motion graphics, then price is affected.

4. Do you have specific budget restrictions?

Given the multitude of possibilities, sometimes it’s easier to start with a fixed budget and then discuss the best ways to achieve your goals.

Once you have some idea regarding the above, then it’s possible to put forward some options and give you an idea of the costs that are likely to be involved.

If you would like to discuss how Dead Ready Productions could help you to further enjoy the benefits of video for your business, please get in touch via the button below or by calling +44 (0)208 339 6139.

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