Video documentaries as brand journalism

A short online video documentary is a terrific form of brand journalism for any organization.

Brian Halligan and I recently finished out "follow the band book tour" to launch our new book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History.

I created this mini-documentary to illustrate how the Dead freed their music, cultivated a relationship with fans, and built a social network before Mark Zuckerberg was even born. Near the end of the video, Brian and I discuss how every business can use these ideas. Direct link to the HD video on Vimeo.

Brian and I will use the video on our sites, blogs, on bookseller ecommerce sites and our publisher’s site.

Brand journalism

I got to thinking how this style of video is a great form of brand journalism. Creating a documentary about some aspect of your business can serve as interesting content for your buyers. Done right, a video is not a hard sell but rather an entertaining and educational piece that people will enjoy watching and may even share with others.

While we do talk about our product (the book) in the film, it is not about the book. And the people who we interview are not there to give testimonials but rather to discuss the topic.

Easy to produce

A video like this is easier to produce than you might think.

I shot it on a $130 Kodak PlaySport HD camera (affiliate link). I kept the camera in my pocket over the course of our week-long tour and shot little clips along the way. I probably shot a total of 2 hours of footage in about 100 or so clips.

When I retuned home I reviewed the footage and storyboarded what I wanted to say in the video. It was important that I tell a story in the video, so the planning process was important.

I then sent the raw video plus my storyboard ideas to Dave Jackel and Shana Bethune at Shave Media and we worked together to edit and produce the final cut.

Please share any examples of a video documentary that your organization is using.

Comments

[Nicholasbordas]

I completely agree with you about the importance of video documentaries or previews to promote products or books. My most recent obsession is Gary Shteyngart's preview for his book "Super Sad True Love Story". Absolutely hilarious and it's starring some of the best writers in New York.

Very little of the novel's plot is divulged. What's important is that you see what a true humorist Shteyngart is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfzuOu4UIOU

[David Meerman Scott]

Nicholasbordas - Just watched that vid. I agree, it is really well done. Thanks so much for sharing!

[Mike Byrne]

Very nicely done. The production and video quality is excellent and the content is great.

I only made it to 9 Dead concerts, but they were a blast. The "Dead Heads" were as entertaining as the band and the atmosphere at every concert was a little different, but always unique. Calling people Dead fans is a big understatement.

We would travel up to 500 miles for the Dead experience. Any business that could replicate anything close to the passion fans have for the Dead would be in a great place.

Well done.

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks Mike. I really enjoyed making the video. The passion that people have for the Dead is amazing and I had hoped to capture that in a short seven minutes.

I am convinced that companies can harness the same passion. But it means thinking like the Dead and not just a company that pushes product.

David

[Cpalter]

Very cool video from DM Scott on The Marketing Lessons of the Grateful Dead + Further doing Cold Rain & Snow live

[david rose]

excellent!
the video quality very good and nice content. love it!

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks Cpalter and david rose.

I had fun making the video!!

David

[Podcaststeve]

David, bravo for a fantastic video and an excellent post about the value of documentary video as a business tool. I think the biggest mistake people make when engaging in web video for their businesses is to cling to the TV commercial model, and trying to be goofy, stupid, playful, or clever and ending up looking like a late-night used car commercial. What people really want from a web video is to LEARN something about what you do, who you are. And the best way to do that in video is use the technology to SHOW them something. Talking heads are fine, in moderation, and you captured it well. Kudos for having your video storyboarded and edited before posting, since so many video enthusiasts will just post raw video of themselves talking, talking, talking. It's a waste if you don't take the care to do what you did.

This is perfect proof that you can do web video with reasonably priced tools (I am loving the Kodak Zi8 personally) and still come up with compelling images. We're incorporating the Zi8 into our business by producing entry-level short videos for clients we call "ElevatorPitchVideos" that let them do their elevator pitch in a social media-style that's more informal and unrehearsed. Check them out at http://www.lubetkin.net/category/video/elevator-pitch-videos-video/, and hear the podcast interview we produced with David a while back, at http://www.lubetkin.net/2006/03/28/mcbp-3-3282006-david-meerman-scott-author-of-the-new-rules-of-pr-and-cashing-in-with-content/

Steve "@PodcastSteve" Lubetkin
steve@professionalpodcasts.com
www.professionalpodcasts.com or
www.lubetkin.net
@PodcastSteve on Twitter

[David Meerman Scott]

Hey Steve,

Thanks for your comment as well as your post and tweets. I really appreciate that you find the video compelling.

I agree with you on your points. Video can be so powerful when done well. While amateur is just fine in many cases (like doing an interview), an upgraded presentation for a longer form documentary like mine may require bringing in a pro to help (like I did).

David

[Kevin Kruse]

David, great post and I think this is a really under appreciated, affordable tactic. I produced a short documentary called "Selling Better Health" to help spread the word about my annual conference. For those interested the video is here: http://www.youtube.com/kruresearch#p/u/0/Z6_pqSdqYtM and I used www.BauserMedia.com to put it together. Cheers.

[Newmediajim]

David,

I enjoyed your video and your post and I agree that video is an important part of content marketing strategy. But, I don't think "Easy to Produce" always adds up to "done right". I've been doing video professionally for over 20 years as a network news cameraman, so I come at this with both an operational understanding. I've also been entrenched in social media since 2005, so I "get it".

I think it's time for content marketers to take a critical look at their video content.

http://vergenewmedia.com/2010/08/15/does-your-video-content-suck/

[Jim Gray]

good idea...i've been sharing this notion and even encouraging brand-leaders to video-blog.

[Shel Holtz]

This is terrific, David, and not just because it's the Dead (although that would have been enough).

I don't know if this counts as a mini-documentary, but when I was at NewComm Forum earlier this year, the subject came up about whether it's time to drop "social" from "social media" (the argument being that all media are now social). I had my Kodak Zi8 with me, so I just went around asking friends to share their thoughts. When I got home, it took less than an hour to edit and upload this video:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/shelholtz/videos/17/

[Cmstudios]

Great article. I have been creating documentaries of people that I think are doing interesting things in my hometown, not just for the sake of advertising myself, but advertising others as well. It has been a great way to get my name out there and to meet passionate people. As a documentary filmmaker, I agree that a well done documentary trumps just about every form of marketing.

http://www.InnovatorsofVancouver.com

[David Meerman Scott]

Shel - I like your documentary. I just tweeted it.

Cmstudios - I'll check it out. Thanks for commenting.

David

[Joshua Black]

Videos are such a crucial part of the total package for a business. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.

When a business owner skips out on video, they are ignoring half of their customers.

You have a great video here, because it uses just the right amount of entertainment combined with something that you can use to educate your customers.

-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire

[expressimpression]

Video is becoming big and important part of content marketing and with the websites like vemo and youtube, where you can upload your videos with just a user name it will be more and more popular. And not to mention the lastest mobile technology.
We are working on some videos for our company to post in vemo and youtube will let you know how it goes.

[David Gordon Schmidt]

Great points here...now most bands (including the big acts) get most revenue from touring.

It's true that most personal-branding video consists primarily of the proverbial "talking head," and this can be very valuable for expressing ideas and conveying personality.

It's more work, but also consider a focus on supporting images. My video resume has a voice-over only and has been effective in showing the range of my work. It's on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIK_C5mjPDQ