A full-length feature film — this is probably the dream of any film production professional. How else can you join the elites and the greats at Cannes, Berlin and Venice? However, film production is not and has never been limited to creating features.
Creating video commercials is one of the essential functions of video production. It is a commercial endeavour and thus might rank lower in a creative’s hierarchy of film production priorities. However, it serves a crucial purpose.
Like features and documentaries, video commercials exist to communicate. Specifically, they allow a brand to tell its audience about its new product or service, along with such a product or service’s unique selling proposition.
Video commercials are also quite short, which means you have to be able to say what you need to say efficiently and effectively in what little time you have. Moreover, people don’t really stay around for commercials on YouTube, television and other platforms. Thus, you have to be able to catch and hold the audience’s attention.
Think about it. Given these challenges, film production professionals actually have to flex some big creative muscles to make engaging and enticing video commercials.
If you’re willing to give a career in making video commercials a chance, here are some tips for creating compelling video content for brands.
1. Decide on your message.
Why are you creating a video commercial? What is it that you wish to accomplish? The brand must want to create awareness for its product or service. Perhaps, the brand simply wants to stay at the top of its target market audience’s mind.
The message, however, goes beyond commercial intent. It’s the single most important takeaway you want your audience to leave with after watching your commercial. For a newly launched car, it can be that the vehicle can take anything and excels in rugged driving conditions. For a brand of potato chips, it can be how its new packaging can be so much fun.
After deciding on your message, make sure your video commercial focuses on that crucial message. Furthermore, don’t be tempted to relay more than one message in your video. Remember, your video ad will probably be only 30 seconds or one minute long (although there are now much longer video ads on YouTube). If you try to convey multiple messages in such a short amount of time, your message will end up getting muddled and becoming incomprehensible.
2. Deliver your message through an engaging story.
The message is not your story. Taking an earlier example, suppose your message is that a newly launched vehicle is so powerful and robust that you can drive it anywhere without experiencing any performance lags.
If all you want is to get that message out, you can train your camera on a celebrity endorser who will talk about the car’s features and characteristics. However, such a video will be dull and vapid, celebrity endorser notwithstanding.
What you need to do is craft a story that will hook your audience but, at the same time, convey your message naturally. One perfect example of this is the Range Rover launch video ad.
The Range Rover Launch Video Ad
It opens with an overriding sense of tranquility (a serene sunset, weeds and wind chimes swaying gently in the breeze). However, one press at the Range Rover’s start button shatters the stillness.
The vehicle then nimbly crosses the screen. This is followed by a series of long and close-up shots of the car manoeuvring across sand dunes, navigating rivers, scaling twisting mountain roads, and traversing dusty trails. Throughout the video, the vehicle maintains a racy pace, maintaining the illusion that it is much too agile for the camera to capture. The car also never slows down, even in the most challenging driving conditions.
The story is simple and uncomplicated, and it is compelling because it lets one imagine how powerful the car is and what it would feel like to drive it and put it through its paces. The story effectively relays the message that you can drive the car anywhere without it losing power and performance.
This commercial took a little over one minute. However, storytelling still works even in shorter commercials. One example is the ADCB Touchpoints video, which took only 23 seconds of screen time.
The ADCB TouchPoints Video Ad
A man finishes his work and smiles to show he’s looking forward to clocking out for the day. However, just as he is about to get up, his boss lays a pile of papers (i.e., more work) in front of him.
He is crestfallen, but an apparition of a coconut juice drink served in its shell materialises out of thin air. He takes it and, suddenly, upbeat music plays, his office clothes change into a Hawaiian shirt (ensemble complete with sunglasses), the office turns into a beach, and a man playing the ukulele (the apparent source of the cheery tropical tune) sidles into view.
And our protagonist? With a giddy smile, he leans back on his chair, enjoying the music as he slowly sips his refreshing drink.
This simply crafted story (aided by tight editing and the clever application of visual effects from the production’s visual effects studio) effectively showcases how the audience can use their ADCB TouchPoints to earn perks they can apply towards much-needed breaks.
3. Use emotions.
According to Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman (as cited by an article on Inc.), emotions drive purchasing behaviours. Even customers who like to believe and say they compare and evaluate products before buying are not as logical and savvy as they think.
Therefore, you can emphasise the things that make your product or service better all you want, but if you don’t move your audience’s emotions, it’s all for nought.
As such, when producing a video ad, try to relay the message not only so the mind will understand, but also so that the ad will touch your audience’s emotions.
Coca-Cola is a master at this. Remember their Open Happiness marketing campaign? Every video ad in that campaign emphasised how this bottled soft drink can make people happy.
Likewise, the Sweet Talk with Nestle ad took one on a journey of happy occasions, highlighting how sweets and pastries are always a part of them. This ad successfully associated Nestle’s products with life’s sweet moments.
Induce Action Through Compelling Video Ads
Everybody in filmmaking probably dreams of making the next “La Vita è Bella.” However, a feature film or a weighty documentary is not the only way filmmaking can touch people’s lives.
Video commercials can be very creative and effective. They can induce action as long as you remember to have a clear message relayed through a powerful, moving narrative.
Polly Gotseva is the Managing Director at BKP Group, the leading video & audio production company in the Middle East. Established in Dubai Media City 15 years ago, BKP Group has 7 state-of-the-art sound studios staffed by a team of international sound engineers specialising in music, audio, voices & video production and post production.
