An old adage straight from the Mad Men school of marketing is that emotional empathy sells brand, which is why video has always been a top advertising medium.
To those of us in the game it seems so obvious, but somehow the rise and rise of online and digital has muddied the waters. It’s as if the opening up of distribution channels has somehow diminished the value of good, well planned, creative, narrative-led video content as a marketing tool.
The knock-on effects are legion; poor budgets, lack of scheduling, confusion over the medium etc.
Banging out last minute content with no idea of who it’s for, what it’s for or where it’s going online, just because you can, seems not only a waste of money but detrimental.
Time honoured is not the same as old fashioned. And back in the day, eliciting emotional engagement was seen as key to getting consumers to buy into the message. People remember good stories, especially if they are humorous.
Just because there’s more opportunity to distribute video shouldn’t mean the content is diluted.
It should, on the contrary, mean even more time and thought is given to a medium that is on demand 24/7 for viewing over and over again.