Return on Investment

Excuse the naff corporate style image - there's a reason, so stick with me...

Recently we were assessing some of the traffic on a customer’s YouTube channel, and some pretty scary stats were coming through.  This global company with over 100 thousand employees around the world has about 250 videos on it’s youtube channel.

Most of the videos had around 200 views (including employees who don’t count as we really want external customers), and cost an average of €5000 (wow – €25 a play…ouch).  Of course – it only takes one very targeted story to hit a budget holder / decision-maker at the right time and the cost of production is covered in one sale.

The problem is, the reason there aren’t many views is the same reason a decision maker won’t be tempted to make any kind of decision – the videos don’t present a clear and compelling story.  They lack intimacy of any kind and are simply dull and poorly made.  Compare this excellent parody of corporate video from “The Office” with TV legend Peter Purves with some of the stuff on this business TV web channel.

The same awkwardness is there, and a formality that is almost funny -  but not is a good way.

I’m sure the sheer amount of videos being produced in this way is the same for a lot of global players.  It’s such a massive waste, and with the democratisation of film making today, it’s only a matter of time before get more real storytelling seeping into corporate communications – and not a moment too soon…