October 22, 2010

Storytelling Political Ads: 30 Seconds to Win Your Vote

You can’t watch television right now for more than 10 minutes without being hit by another political advertisement. With less than two weeks to go until the election, the airwaves are dominated by “Vote for Initiative X or Candidate Y.” More often than not the message is negative, telling us why we should vote against Initiative X or Candidate Y.

Most political advertising on television looks the same. Grainy images with dramatic music for the negative ads, colorful smiling pictures with happy music for the positive ones. Someone must think these ads work. CNN reports spending on TV ads for this election could top one billion dollars. No wonder the networks, cable outlets and local stations love political season.

Why so much spending on television? Tim Groeling, Associate Professor of Communications at UCLA, says television has unique advantages as a forum for political messages.

“TV is fundamentally a very emotional medium, very well-suited for communicating emotional information very quickly with the right audiovisual combination of words, music and images. While emotion is dismissed by some as being inferior and unrelated to reason, recent research suggests that the effective use of emotion in political advertising can actually help improve viewers’ reasoning processes and information retention,” Groeling says.

After being bombarded by so much advertising, I decided to seek out political commercials that do more than just attack an opposing position or candidate. I wanted to find ads in this election that effectively tell a compelling story…the same goal we have when we create video for our clients.

Example 1 is from Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Senator Grassley wants to show how he’s in touch with his constituents.




Example 2 is from Rick Snyder, a candidate for governor of Michigan. Snyder is a political newcomer who is relying on his business experience to impress voters.




Example 3 is from Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Feingold uses football as a metaphor to respond to his opponent.




When you watch these political ads, is the candidate’s message clear?

Which ads have you seen lately that have made an impact on you?

October 21, 2010

Video as a Recruiting Tool

Looking for a new job? How do you know if a potential employer is the right fit for you? You can ask around or search online for information about a company. But rather than rely on others to sell them, many businesses are using video to tell their own stories to prospective employees.

A video on your company website, YouTube and Vimeo is a great way to share the culture of your organization. Featuring your real team members gives candidates a unique perspective on what it’s like to work at your company. You control the message.

Video can also highlight job opportunities and emphasize employee benefits. You can use video to give insight on the interview process at your company.

Video works for large companies with big names and smaller businesses who may fly under the radar. Here are examples of two recruiting videos. The first one is for Google and the second one is for Advance Food Company, a food service provider based in Oklahoma.





The two videos are very different, but they have one thing in common. Both of them give you a good feel for the individual cultures of their company. The videos make it easy to determine if you would be comfortable working at Google or Advance Food Company.

Any company that is trying to attract the best and brightest new employees should have a recruiting video. What does yours look like? Let us know if you need help creating your own video.

October 19, 2010

Turn Your Video Upside Down with the Inverted Pyramid

One of the first things I was taught as a student at the nationally respected University of Missouri School of Journalism was the theory of the inverted pyramid. The “inverted pyramid” is a style of writing news stories. The idea is simple: the most important details are put at the top of the story with the least important information funneled to the bottom of the story.


Popular in Newspapers

The inverted pyramid was most useful to newspaper editors. In laying out the paper, editors would sometimes need to cut the length of stories submitted by reporters. The editor knew he or she could slice the last paragraph or two and not take away a key piece of the story. Reporters quickly learned the higher up they wrote something in the story, the better chance it wouldn’t get edited out.


Works for Video

The inverted pyramid is also a good way of thinking when producing a visual story for your business. When you sit down to lay out the reasons that make you or your service unique, rank them in order of importance. You will discover the ones at the bottom of the list may not need to make the cut.

Remember you only have a few seconds to capture a viewer’s attention. What if someone doesn’t watch your whole video? If you wait until the very end to give your strongest message, there’s a good chance much of your target audience will never see it.


Look for a Journalist

Understanding the inverted pyramid is one reason why it makes sense to hire someone who comes from broadcast journalism to produce your video. Journalists are trained to tell stories. Our team at Point Across Media is made up of experienced broadcast journalists. We know to how to combine words with visuals to create a story that highlights the most important facts about your company. The end goal is to grow your business. Video does that by telling your story in way no other medium can.

October 13, 2010

Rescue of Miners in Chile Touches Our Emotions


Courtesy: Hugo Infante/Government of Chile

The whole world watched with baited breath during the successful rescue of 33 miners trapped in Chile. As each miner was pulled from deep under the ground, the range of emotion was strong. Even for those of us who have no ties to the miners or Chile, watching the family reunions on television was very touching. The whole scene brought a lump to our throats and a few tears to our eyes.

Part of the emotion comes from fact that we probably expected a different outcome to this story. It was 17 days after the mine collapse before anyone knew there were survivors. The miners were presumed to be dead and the fact they banded together to live for 69 days underground is nothing short of amazing.

A camera lowered 2,000 feet below the surface allowed us to see the miners and watch them get in the rescue capsule. We learned their names and heard their unique stories.

During the 22 hour rescue mission, I couldn’t help but wonder if there is a way to tap into this kind of emotion without a life or death situation. We won’t soon forget the scene of the last miner out singing the Chilean national anthem moments after his rescue. It was an emotional story…a human story. The kind of story that touches us all.

October 12, 2010

Including Passion in Your Video Message

Nothing is more painful than watching an uncomfortable business executive shoot a video while sitting behind a desk. You’ve seen them…the message is usually an attempt to rally the troops or win over customers. It usually proves that not every CEO should be on camera.

Take away the camera and he or she could probably talk about the business smoothly for hours. The passion a leader has for a business should come across in a video. It doesn’t matter if it is about widgets or gardening. If you are passionate about a topic, the passion must be visible.

Why is passion so important? Because passion makes your words authentic and believable. Even if you choose not to appear on camera, incorporating your passion into a video takes your message to another level. The enthusiasm you have for your product or service should be evident in your story.

Don’t miss the opportunity to display your passion front and center when visitors come to your company’s website. The best way to do it is with a video that tells your unique story. Incorporating your passion into a storytelling video is our specialty at Point Across Media. Let us help you bring your passion to life.

October 11, 2010

Mitsubishi Goes Driver-less

Have you ever bought a new car without taking it for a spin first? Mitsubishi is bringing the concept of the test drive in a new high-tech direction. Starting November 1st, Mitsubishi is offering you the opportunity to drive its new Outlander Sport online. On the surface it sounds like a video game, but this test drive is the real thing.

Mitsubishi Live Drive will let drivers use their computers to maneuver an actual Outlander Sport on a closed course in southern California. Multiple point-of-view cameras will put participants behind the wheel. Advanced electronic receivers and state-of-the-art servo motors will control the vehicle’s dynamics. Virtual boundaries connected by GPS are in place to keep you from driving off the course.



In a company press release, Mitsbuishi’s Vice-President of Marketing Greg Adams says, “We have worked hard to devise a truly innovative marketing campaign utilizing cutting edge technologies to recreate a genuine Mitsubishi-experience that engages consumers upfront about the new 2011 Outlander Sport and the Mitsubishi Motors brand.”

The test drives are only available for a 10 day period and each one lasts just 90 seconds. So it isn’t likely the Live Drive alone will sell many new Outlander Sport vehicles. Mitsubishi is counting on the buzz it will receive by doing something different. There is a huge amount of risk involved here. What happens if there’s a technical glitch? Mitsubishi could come across looking badly unprepared.

What do you think?
Do you give Mitsubishi credit for thinking big?

October 8, 2010

Disney’s Marketing Plan Captures Memories

Disney is taking a new approach to attracting visitors to Disneyland or Disney World. Well-produced commercials with actors are out. Real families are in.

“Let the Memories Begin” is the slogan for the new marketing campaign for Disney Parks. It’s built around the experiences of Disney guests, who can share home videos and pictures on YouTube and a special website designed for the campaign.

The opening video to launch “Memories” features a collection of footage with kids learning they are going to Disneyland or Disney World.




There’s a lot going on here to tug at your heartstrings. The home video, the music and the soothing voiceover all tie together to make an emotional connection. We can easily imagine our own families in this video.

Even without amusement parks and happy kids, we can all take something away from what Disney is trying to do. First and foremost, Disney is telling a story. Successful marketing is about telling your story.

Do you know what your story looks like?

October 4, 2010

Video Puts a New Twist on Homework

Author Daniel Pink’s recent blog post about a teacher who uses an innovative technique to educate high school students really caught my eye. Pink’s story is about Denver area teacher Karl Fisch. To help his 9th and 10th graders learn algebra, Fisch spends valuable classroom time helping the kids solve the kinds of problems that are usually given as homework.

What happens to the traditional classroom lectures? They don’t go away. Instead, Fisch records them on video. The students’ homework is to watch the presentations on YouTube.

Perhaps the best part for Fisch’s students is that YouTube limits videos to 15 minutes. But it’s easy to see how “video homework” can assist in the learning process. The kids watch the concepts at home. They can stop or rewind the video to make sure they understand what the instructor is teaching. When the kids come to class, the teacher is ready to assist them in applying what they saw on the video.

Teachers at different levels have long used video as a tool. Video is effective because we are visual creatures. We like to see and hear at the same time. Video allows us to experience an event or see the passion behind the words of a teacher.

Would Sesame Street provide the same benefit to pre-school education if it were on the radio instead of TV? Probably not. We learn visually from an early age. Who’s to say watching lectures on video isn’t a better way for kids to learn algebra? Especially if teachers like Karl Fisch are more hands-on when the students come to class.