Developing Effective Online Video Creative
Ann Roskey, VP of Marketing & Audience Development, Accela Communications

As the New Year begins and business plans kick into full gear, many marketers are looking for new and exciting ideas to bring their web site to life and get their corporate message across. The use of video on the web has dominated the headlines the past few months with companies like Google, Yahoo, NBC and Apple incorporating video like never before. As reported recently in the Wall Street Journal, this trend is expanding into B-to-B markets. Video is not only an effective tool to educate your internal and external customers, but it can also enhance brands and underscore the value of products. According to Dynamic Logic's MarketNorms Q2/2006 survey, aided brand awareness doubled when using video online.

For many marketers, developing multimedia content is a foreign process. How do you create something that adds new dimension and life to your products and company? How will the user behave while watching your program? What do you want them to do? What comes first, the script or the storyboard? To start, we’ll cover script writing and the storyboard creation and review process in this issue.

Script Writing

At the root of an engaging rich media program is a good story. A well-written script provides the foundation needed to produce a program smoothly. Adapting your core messages into a clear and concise script that is tailored for the unique medium of online communication will make the taping and production of your program flow beautifully with emphasis in the right places. One of the decision points you will need to cover is whether the script is developed internally or by your rich media provider, or a combination of both. If you decide to tackle the initial draft, be aware that script content is usually more concise than what you would present in written form. For example, in a presentation-style script, even though you may not be the actual presenter, as you write, speak your words out loud and time it against a clock. Be sure to speak slowly enough so your message can be easily absorbed, and to allow time for displaying complementary Flash animations to reinforce the core points.

During the script writing process, think “non-linear” and prepare each segment as a standalone element, allowing viewers to navigate the program in a way that allows them to get the information they need quickly, while giving them control over the process. With on-demand rich media, viewers can jump around so don’t expect that they’ll follow the program in a linear path from beginning to end. For many communication professionals, it may be a natural inclination to start with what you want to say, however mapping the flow of the program first, will insure that you include all of the right elements in your script and result in a more effective production.

Chances are that if you segment your program appropriately, and give viewers the ability to jump to the section they’re most interested in, the overall view time will exceed that of a program produced in a simple linear format. With linear programs, viewers really only have one choice to make: how long do they watch before they navigate away from your program.

Storyboard Creation & Review

Next is the storyboard creation and review process. The storyboard is the “blue-print” that communicates the visual direction of the final production and because it is integral to that process, is usually created by your rich media provider. Derived from the script, it specifically illustrates the flow of information, timing and key points to be articulated in both spoken and visual formats. Special attention should be paid to how the functionality of the platform you are using supports and highlights the content being delivered. For example, additional elements to incorporate in a storyboard are dynamic hyperlinks for relevant resources and data acquisition forms

The level of storyboard development can span a broad range depending on your need for detail and pre-visual information prior to production. From a simple text document that describes the program as it unfolds, to a graphically-rich series of images with fully designed layouts of key program frames, the storyboard will give you a preliminary view of the final program, enabling you to confidently proceed into production.

Quality pre-production creative is an essential component of a successful rich media web program, and if prepared in advance can reduce your overall cost, since the design elements are established in advance.

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Program of the Month

Bharosa Corporate Welcome Video This program was designed, developed and produced for Bharosa to showcase their CEO and new product offerings in a dynamic and engaging way direclty within their web site. While the program is showcased here, it can also be embedded in an unlimited number of web pages. See how Bharosa embedded this program on their own web site.

Rich Media Report Newsletter

Wall Street Journal

“Non-media companies, until recently, had been relative laggards in the video field. But that's changing rapidly, driven less by the desire to entertain than to deliver corporate messages more effectively via their Web sites...Corporations are just beginning to see [online video] as a real option to help cut costs and communicate, says Colin Dixon, a research analyst for Diffusion Group, a research firm.”

Bobby White - Wall Street Journal, January 2, 2007; PageB3

New technology boosts online ads