One of my favorite videos is HP Invent, which was co-created by Tom Wrigglesworth. I've shown this video at many of my speaking gigs because it beautifully captures what HP Workstations are about. The video is not a product pitch. And it is entertaining as heck.
This HP Invent video has nearly 600,000 views. Imagine that – a video about technology that people actually share!
Tom recently contacted me with news of his new video called La Mer de Pianos. This time, he teamed up with Mathieu Cuvelier.
La Mer de Pianos is a short film about Marc Manceaux, the owner of the oldest piano shop in Paris.
This video is utterly different than the HP one, but it too beautifully captures the essence of a brand. In the film, Manceaux describes his "Organ bank for pianos." He says: "As long as I have some water, a candle, a hardback book, an old piano, I'll still be alive."
I love these two videos because they show what great filmmaking can achieve for a brand. Instead of a product pitch, videos like these entertain and inform. And they are shared on social networks.
![](<a href="http://www.webinknow.com"><img src="http://www.freshspot.typepad.com/DMS_WIN_sidebar_032712.jpg">Download DMS_WIN_sidebar_032712.jp"></a>){kind=link}
The La Mer de Pianos video looks like it could have been directed by Woody Allen.
Posted by: Michael Kane | December 23, 2011 at 10:06 AM
I think some of the best videos providing both entertainment and information are the videos Google produces:
* Parisian Love: (6,244,736 views)
* Google Chrome: Dear Sophie (4,093,689 views)
* Google+: Sharing, But Like Real Life (250,264 views)
* Google+: Circles Love Story (192,775 views)
These videos are simple and answer a basic question about brand essence: "let us show you what this can do"
And, judging by the numbers, Google's doing something right.
Posted by: Tony Faustino | December 24, 2011 at 03:51 AM
The HP video presents the brand in a creative manner. Sometimes it's just a matter of playing around with the product.
Posted by: MicroSourcing | December 27, 2011 at 12:08 AM
The HP video is entertaining due to the changes in images and colors, but there is no passion. The video will leave the viewer cold as it is like a machine.
The piano general store is sentimental but it is about a relic or a heritage that gets lost. The past - done - over and out.
Posted by: John Ford Parker | December 27, 2011 at 03:06 PM
To John. The past - done - over and out? I guess you don't follow luxury brands very much? They are all about the past - done - and then reviving them to 100x what they were before.
Do I like that or think that that will happen here? Not necessarily, but I'll bet that this video will do wonders for his piano shop. What most would see as a complete mis-match between a stodgy old shop and new media promotion via this movie (whether it was intended as promotional is irrelevant) is its strength. Different than but similar to surrogate marketing which is all the rage in emerging markets. It's all about being REMARK-able, and this video is. Even you remarked about it and you don't think it works.
Either way, it's strange that you don't like the HP video because it lacks passion and you don't like the piano video because it's all about passion.
Posted by: Gerardvroomen | January 09, 2012 at 09:46 PM
Gerard - Excellent points all, especially from someone who founded a very successful high-end brand.
Posted by: David Meerman Scott | January 10, 2012 at 04:54 AM