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The end of the world in two minutes | Blog by Stuart Maister
Thursday August 19th 10
Can the BBC tell a story in 30 seconds? The answer, according to our Senior Consultant Paul Twivy, is that they cannot. Or they could not when he was consulting with the BBC about their marketing strategy.
He was speaking at our latest client round table lunch at the Groucho Club. Paul was explaining that the then Director General said that he had a building full of people who could produce the greatest long programmes, but none who could do an ad. Paul’s thesis was that the days of the 30 second ad are now passing – and the era of the 2-5 minute video story is here. Paul describes this as ‘the new advertising’.
This is part of a more general view that video brand storytelling is becoming a lingua franca of business, and the issues are moving into delivery, reach and effectiveness. The stats are too big around viewing and engagement to even have the debate any more about whether people are interested in searching for and watching video online.
The end of the world is nigh
Now, when I was being trained as a broadcast journalist, I was always told that you should be able to tell the story of the end of the world in 2 minutes. Actually, that’s probably one of the simplest stories to tell. “We’re all going to die. Grab someone quick. I’m off. Here are some pictures to fill in the gaps.
Why are you watching television? Didn’t you hear me? WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!”
It’s a different challenge to get across in 2 to 5 minutes the intricacies of a business transformation idea, or a technology which has revolutionised a company’s performance, or a new financial product. But not that different: at the heart of all stories are 2 or 3 essential ideas, and if you can bring those to life you have done most of what video communication should do.
“We’re all going to die” is a simple, clear message which can be illustrated by the stories of those who have already done so or are about to do so (the case studies). The way we’re going to die can be shown in a beautiful and effective graphic, with some video evidence of how this works (the product or service). And the helplessness of Planet Earth can be evidenced by the sound bite from the President or Prime Minister (the authoritative expert). I’ve now got the essentials of the story.
Or is it?
By simply flipping this around, you can see how this report can suddenly explain how we’re all going to live (longer) because of some new drug, or why this means we need that fantastic financial product.
Back to our lunch. Paul set out his view that, in a world in which the audience controls what they read, see and hear, engaging and interesting video works as an effective way to communicate. The audience retains more information (research shows); they trust it more (I can see it for myself – it’s like broadcast news); they have a greater emotional connection (people like me or people I believe); it is environmentally beneficial (you don’t need to travel to see that conference speaker, or to hear the core sales pitch); and it transcends language in a global economy.
I piped in with a view about future trends. The big one is search engine optimisation of video content. Video is now a key part of any SEO strategy because it is searchable by Google – and YouTube is itself the world’s second biggest search engine.
But there is an important trend in screen convergence. Online video is of course accessible anywhere via mobile – and will soon be much more commonly viewed via ‘real’ TV sets. Delivery and access become even easier. Tablets like the iPad make video even more compelling. It has moved centre stage in all of our screen habits.
On the global front, research shows viewership of online video is even higher in developing countries than the developed ones. Professionals in Asia and Africa, for example, are hungrier for that business content. And that, in my view, levels the playing field for them even further – if we’re all looking through the same window on the world.
Ok, I would say all that. It’s my job. But what struck me in the discussion among people from a wide range of large companies was the consensus behind the ideas. In similar discussions 2 years ago there would have been greater scepticism. That’s gone, quite rightly. The issues, as I say, are about effectiveness, getting the content right, and getting it out there beyond the company’s own site.
Plus, the really big issue in really big companies: management. On the one hand, that means an element of control. In some cases, that means nervousness about the brand impact of content which is no longer simply in ‘our’ domain ; in others, it’s also about some pretty major compliance issues. This of course is a much broader discussion about digital strategy and social media, and the lost control of the message. Of course, the trend is towards openness, sharing, getting it out there to be part of conversations.
But lots of companies – and fund managers around the table were particularly strong on this – have to be totally compliant in everything said in their name. The issue then becomes about ensuring highly produced content fits the bill – but can then be distributed more widely.
The other side of this which came up is about the management of video as an asset. Too much tactical commissioning, not enough strategic thinking. The result: a series of one-offs which come and go. Often there’s a huge focus on doing them cheaply, but taken together they’re expensive because they deliver poor value. Lots of nods around the table.
The end of the lunch is nigh
So the world didn’t end. Food was eaten, wine was drunk. But the real warm glow which comes from events like this emanates from a sense of shared knowledge – and the commonality of experience.
Or perhaps it is the wine.
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