Common Things We Make
Justin Andrews ·
Video means something different to everyone.
And because of that, it can get confusing.
There’s lots of jargon in the video production and marketing industry. But when talking to clients, we like to throw the jargon aside and talk about problems and the best way to solve it.
If you’re thinking of hiring Animus, we figured it’d help to give you some background:
The video approaches we commonly use.
The problems we help solve.
The videos we most frequently make.
VIDEO STYLES
We break the world of video marketing into three styles. Are there more styles? Probably. But we start with these three categories.
Actors delivering scripted lines: Live action (shot with a camera) video where actors, sets, and scripts are created (not real). It’s like we (you included) are Speilberg, or your favorite director, creating the movie for your brand. When an idea is larger than life or needs a very specific look, we turn to these fabricated stories and ads to make it happen.
Real humans expressing their story: A real story featuring real people often filmed in a real world setting. It’s real. It’s reality TV, but real. We like to think of this as a mini documentary about a specific person or topic. It’s a great strategy when authenticity matters, an incredible story exists, or you’re establishing thought leadership.
Motion, graphics, and animation: Honestly, this is too broad of a category. Motion is part of almost every video we make, but sometimes a project only utilizes motion. Every part of the video is designed on a computer (or practical graphics) then moved around… also in a computer. This can be anything from sleek 3D designs to character animation to beautiful text on screen to… there are a lot of options. Motion is powerful when you need visual pop, to visualize something intangible, or just want something different.
VIDEO PURPOSE
Sorry. We started this article with the wrong topic first. We never start with the type of video we should make. We start with the purpose. The challenge. The goal. A tool only matters if it’s solving a problem. The right video style or approach really depends on your brand, your audience, your media plan.
So what are you trying to accomplish?
Promote. You have an offering, product, thing, brand, and you want an audience to know about it. You’re trying to sell something to someone or get them to sign up for a thing. The problem: they don’t really care about you. They only really care about themselves and their problems. We make videos to help you lure in an audience. These typically live at the top of a marketing funnel and require some shorter form of creativity to spark a conversation.
Educate. You have something a little complex, an obvious solution that isn’t quite resonating, or simply want to save your customer the hassle of reading or booking a full demo. People like when brands give them information quickly to help their buying process. They’ll reach out when they’re ready. While education can be at the top of the funnel, it’s usually in the middle once your audience is aware of the problem and interested in how you can help solve it. Explainer videos are a great way to educate (and we love to make them).
Entertain. Once you have an audience, what do you do? Sure you can continue to promote new offerings and educate them, but great brands understand the value of creativity that entertains clients and keeps them connected to your brand. This may live as a followup in the buyer journey, but it can also live on the other side (after someone buys). Brand films sharing stories connected to you can help to reinforce that your audience made the right choice (and that your values align to theirs).
COMMON THINGS
The right video style or approach really depends on your brand, your audience, your media plan.
Creative workshops. Helping teams define their strategy, brainstorm creative, and develop the plan for putting it into action.
Commercials. Advertisements in a variety of short-form lengths (60, 30, 15, 5 seconds or whatever the medium allows).
Explainer videos. Long-form (2 minute) explainer videos designed to improve conversion with secondary bite-sized deliverables to help lure an audience in.
Case studies. Telling real stories from customers, patients, brand ambassadors in a way that showcases your connection to the audience.
Thought leadership. Leveraging the storytelling genius of your subject matter experts (SMEs) and scaling them through a variety of videos.
Brand anthems. The big message. Your vision, mission, values presented in a way that aligns to how you help your audience.
Employer brand. A series of videos aimed at talent acquisition and retention. It’s incredibly important to stand out from the competition and make your culture vivid.
Short (yummy) video snacks. For everything above, we end up with lots of little pieces perfect for high volume needs. This can be cut downs from longer videos or small ideas brought to life. When we work with a brand long enough or dive deep into a campaign, we have no shortage of spinoff deliverables.
