How often have you told your video marketing team, or even been instructed yourself, to think outside the box? While the notion of “thinking outside the box” conjures groundbreaking and exciting creative video ideas, many people are hesitant to commit to creatively risky concepts – especially when those concepts need to be pitched to a client.
And that’s how brands fall into the cycle of gently revamping and recycling marketing campaigns, and never actually producing videos that push the envelope, start conversations, elicit an emotional response or challenge conventional thinking. Customer engagement is dependent upon these factors.
So, before you head into your next brainstorming session, challenge your process by trying these creative short video ideas on for size…
1. A low budget isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
One of my all-time favorite video marketing campaigns was shot for $4,500. In 2012, Dollar Shave Club was a young start-up with an eye on their bottom line, but that didn’t stop them from creating a video that would go viral and directly convert over 12,000 new customers in just 48 hours.
If you watch the video, which was shot in the company’s warehouse and starred actual staff members, you’ll realize DSC did something pretty amazing – they made shaving razors funny and cool (as cool as razors can be).
Michael Dubin, the Club’s CEO, very smartly said, “When you’re launching a new business and sharing a new idea, if you can get people to remember it, there’s obviously a better chance at success.”
Planting a seed in people’s minds doesn’t have to cost big bucks. Still don’t believe us? Keep reading…
2. Show people what not to do.
…Or, more accurately, don’t be afraid to turn your product’s purpose on its head for entertainment purposes.
For a mere $50 ($50!!!), Blendtec produced the first five (five!!!) videos in their now-infamous and still active “Will It Blend?” marketing campaign. Widely acknowledged as one of the pioneers of viral marketing, Blendtec produced a series of videos in 2006 that showed off their blenders’ exceptional blending capabilities…except they weren’t blending traditional food items.
CEO Tom Dickson dons a white lab coat to see if household objects – super glue, glow sticks, toy cars, baseballs, even iPhones – will submit to a Blendtec’s blades. Hint: all of these things do, to very entertaining effect.
Within five days of the original ’06 campaign launch, the 5 videos attracted 6 million views on YouTube and a growing legion of devoted fans who couldn’t wait to see what Dickson would blend next. Today, there are dozens of “Does it Blend?” videos that serve not only as excellent marketing for Blendtec, but as engaging pieces of stand-alone video content.
Watch for yourself as he reduces an iPad to digital dust…
If a Blendtec can obliterate an iPad that easily, you better believe it’ll do wonders for your morning peanut butter kale smoothie. It’s worth noting that the video above has over 18.4 million views on its own.
3. Let your hair down, especially if you’re in a serious industry.
The two above campaign examples take un-funny products – shaving razors and kitchen blenders – and build video campaigns around them that are actually enjoyable to watch. That’s the beauty of injecting a little lightheartedness into otherwise boring industries. Here at Idomoo, we call this technique “back of mullet” – meaning sometimes it’s good to indulge in your party side.
Allstate did an excellent job at both finding the humor in auto insurance when they launched the “Mayhem” campaign. The spot below even appeals to the typically hard to target millennial audience by poking gentle fun at the habits – ahem, texting and driving – and lingo of that demographic.
5. Summarize your written materials.
This may seem like a boring point after the others you’ve seen on our list, but it’s an incredibly effective one none the less. We break down the effectiveness of visual storytelling in our blog post here, but the short story is this: People hate to read, and text simply isn’t an effective medium. 90% of the information humans take in is done visually, and audio-visual information is remembered 68% more reliably than text alone.
If you’ve taken the time to create written materials that enhance your product offering or educate people on how to maximize their experience with your service, it’s wise to spend a little more time turning those materials into video campaigns.
This concept is fantastically illustrated if you take a look at the extreme rise in popularity of YouTube makeup tutorials and reviews. Ask any woman between the ages of 12 and 40 if she’s watched one of these videos, and chances are she’ll say she’s watched more than a few.
It’s because reading an instruction packet about the best way to apply eye shadow or lipstick is one thing – seeing someone actually interact with the product and speak about it is totally different. Cosmetics companies are recognizing the incredible amount of sway vloggers have with customers, so much so that the brands are recruiting the most popular vloggers as brand ambassadors and giving them their own self-branded lines.
The effectiveness of seeing products and services in action extends across industries. Whether you’re selling cosmetics or blenders, cars or mops, the fact remains.
To find out more about Idomoo’s easy-to-use Personalized Video as a Service Platform (PVaaS™) and how we can help you reach your customers and drive action, contact us below.
