“The magic of moving pictures is an effective tool”

Film is moving up the corporate agenda, so how do you do it right? Ewan King has some ideas

There’s no question that demand for film in corporate communication is increasing. Heads of corporate and internal comms at the world’s biggest businesses, including Shell and Rio Tinto, are making film and video content part of any significant communications programme.

Why? Because businesses are facing a faster pace of change than ever before. More change means more communication, and communicating a compelling message that aligns customers, staff and shareholders alike is a huge challenge.

Film and video content meets this challenge in a way few other mediums can, not least because it is the way in which modern, media-savvy business audiences now expect to be spoken to. Improved internet access, speed and data capacity, the integration of video in all forms of social media - andthe popularity of mobile video on smartphones and tablets - are all combining to make film and video ubiquitous in people’s personal and professional lives.

As a result, people will only engage if you have put the effort in to make something as aesthetically pleasing as it is intelligent. Film elicits an emotional response in a way PowerPoint can’t.

It’s these unique properties of film, or, dare I say it, the magic of the moving picture, that makes it an increasingly effective business tool. Film has the capacity to make a point quickly, to control the message, to entertain and simultaneously distribute that message via intranet or internet to a global audience at the same time - all in a period of just a few minutes.

So how do you do it right?

The first thing is to be absolutely clear about the purpose of the film. You need a thorough evaluation process covering a range of factors - from audience composition and psychology to delivery medium - to ensure the work is commercially effective. You must be certain about what the intended outcome is and what you want your audience to do next as a result of watching the film. If you don’t have the right strategy in place before you begin the creative direction, you can end up with a beautiful piece of work that fails to serve the business function you need it to.

Other crucial factors are time and a deep understanding of your business. Film is best delivered by a strategic partner you meet regularly, as they will come to know your organisation and objectives inside out. This way, they can proactively support you and get ahead of the issues you need film to address. It also keeps costs down and gives communicators more creative and strategic control. Film works best as part of an integrated campaign, rather than a one-off endeavour. Nor should it be commissioned as a last minute afterthought - if a film is the first thing people are going to see, why make it the last thing you think of?

Of course, sometimes you just need a rapid turnaround, and a good agency can do that with production process in-house.Yet even then, having a strategic partner who already has a solid understanding of your business will increase the effectiveness (and decrease the cost) of short timescale projects.

Film has taken its rightful place in corporate comms strategy. Today’s YouTube generation are the business leaders of tomorrow, and as they grow up, film will become an even more expected part of professional life. We will also see greater economies of scale as screen technology proliferates and comes down in cost, and the world’s web and mobile infrastructure continues to develop. 

We will also see a better integration of film and video content with a whole range of business functions, from staff training programmes to customer relationship management.

Perhaps the revolution will be televised after all.