3 Must-Haves for a Successful Brand Video

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What is a brand video? 

 

While a brand video doesn’t directly promote your products and services, it is a key marketing tool for driving brand recognition. Unlike traditional video advertisements, the promotion within a brand video is much more subtle.

The focus of a brand video is to build positive associations around your brand, raise awareness of your business and to increase engagement. You can utilise a brand video to express your vision, mission and values. Often, businesses will drive viewer engagement by adding emotional value and encompassing the brand’s core values to leave a lasting impression on the audience. Brand videos leave a feeling, which in turn subconsciously makes them associate your brand with that feeling. This can tap into the memory bank of the individual and create nostalgia, which is fantastic for a brand and a consumer. Therefore, the brand video is not ‘just a video’ but a reflection of an entire campaign and brand. 

An example of a successful brand video that barely touches on the actual product, is the iconic Coca Cola Christmas advert:

 

Why does your business need a brand video? 

 

A brand video helps to inform your audience on who you are and why you are here. It enables you to put yourself forward to be heard. Brand videos provide an opportunity to emphasise your core values, your position and what you stand for. When a customer understands your company’s value and identity they will feel more inclined to support your business – after all, people want to buy from people. 

Brand videos tend to be a shorter form of video marketing strategy, and as video is a more passive experience than reading, this makes them easy to consume and convey information to your audience quickly. 

They will also usually pull on the emotional heartstrings of your audience. Due to the emotive and/or storytelling style of a brand video, engagement tends to be high and responsive. An example brand video which engages of the audiences emotions is the Nike ‘Find Your Greatness’ campaign:

 

 

This Nike ‘Find Your Greatness’ brand video is a great example of having a strong complete message and using a real story to convey it. With this in mind, keep reading to discover our top three must-haves for a successful brand video. 

3 must-haves for a successful brand video

Get the basics right

It goes for any video, a faultless title and stand-out thumbnail is a must.  As much as people will preach to not ‘judge a book by its cover’ when it comes to video the opposite couldn’t be more true. A title and thumbnail are the digital version of a shop window – you have just a few seconds to grab the customers attention amongst the crowd of competition. A good title and thumbnail can not only make a great first impression, but will encourage the viewer to press play. 

When creating a video thumbnail you of course want to make it as inviting as possible, but ensure that it accurately represents the content of your video or you’ll risk your viewers dropping out of the video early. A thumbnail can be a shot from the video itself if it is engaging enough or a specifically designed graphic. Alternatively, using an animation as your thumbnail can help truly make it stand out. When adding text to a thumbnail, you have to make them count as there is limited space, we recommend not using the same text as your title, and ensure the colour contrasts with the background. 

When deciding on your video’s title, make sure it is easy to understand and accurately describes the content of the video. If your title is too “clickbaity” and misleading, your viewer might feel cheated, but a boring or vague title won’t make them stop to watch at all. 

Here we have an example thumbnail for a video we created for a Remington. The shot is peculiar by stereotypical standards, so it invites intrigue from the viewer because it can be said to be just confusing enough to be interested to see.  

 

Focus on one complete message

As already discussed, it is essential to have one strong, standout message throughout your brand video. Having a lot of mixed messaging or different stories can result in your audience losing focus, becoming disengaged or getting confused about your brand. Tell one consistent story and focus on one complete message for a much bigger impact on your audience. 

Similarly, it’s essential you are consistent and strict with your branding. Keep your decisions consistent, tell your brand’s story and create your brand’s voice and make sure to match your content with your messaging and principles. Include subtle logos and incorporate your branding colours to create a signature aesthetic. 

An example of a video with consistent branding is this explainer video we created for Google. By using fonts and colours that match Google’s logo and branding this video fits in harmoniously with other Google content. Undecided whether an explainer video could benefit your customers? Check out our recent blog post: 3 Signs Your Customers Need an Explainer Video.

 

 

Use a real story

Brand videos are emotive and often tell a story – but to get this right, it’s a good idea to use a real story to convey your message. 

Many brands are quick to focus on creating an emotive fake story that pulls on the viewers heartstrings, but in doing so, the core of the message can be lost and it can come across as a marketing ploy. To stand out as a brand, you want substance. In a world where the whole focus in to fabricate a fictitious scenario, it is always refreshing to be honest and there is a beauty in that, creating loyalty amongst fans, customers and consumers.

There are plenty of truly emotive stories in the world – connecting with your customers can often show you how your product/service can have a real impact in someone’s life and can help develop a story that is true. Not only is this more authentic, which better represents your brand, but it’s more engaging too. 

Ultimately, you need to tell the story you want to tell, regardless of how you think it makes you look. Do not set out to harm or ridicule, those who relate will come forward and stay with you.

 

Don’t know where to start?

Have an idea of what you would like to create for your brand video, but you don’t know where to start? Get in touch with our team to start your branded video project.