From slick to primitive: video is epic

Those of us who’ve been around the communications block awhile remember the days when corporate videos were works-of-art. They were thoughtfully (sometimes painfully) conceived and slickly executed. The more time and money invested, the more powerful the impact, the more positive the perception. That was the operating model for decades.

 

YouTube turned the world of video upside down.

 

Until recently, B2B companies stayed away. Unlike consumer companies, they couldn’t see a viable business benefit. Then the early adopters stuck their toes in the waters of social media, posting video content with a business connection.

 

Over time, YouTube – and other viral video social networks like Veoh, Viddler, Vimo – have become an efficient and highly cost effective way for businesses to create grassroots visibility, interaction and community. An increasing number of B2B companies now understand the positive impact on their brand persona.

 

Now they’re starting to have fun. They understand how video presents one of the sweetest ways to create and maintain a corporate personality. Instead of going slick, they’re going rudimentary, unsophisticated, guerilla.

 

Who cares if that video taken on the floor of a trade show is low resolution and the camera is moving around? People have not only grown tolerant of low-end video production quality, they accept it, often like it, and watch it like crazy.

 

YouTube also did one more thing: it reversed the game of authenticity. Old school video used to be highly regarded; the slicker the more viable. But now the reverse is true. The more rudimentary (with a dose of reason of course), the more credibly it’s viewed. I’m not talking fake authenticity (like Lonelygirl), but true genuineness.

 

This is such an epic transformation. We’re just beginning to see the impact.