How To Create A Brand Film
Brand films are a staple in the body of modern marketing campaigns for brands across Australia and around the world.
They act as the north star for a brand’s internal and external communications, content marketing and are a significant part of the sales cycle process.
But how can your brand structure your brand films, so that they are built in the best way possible, allowing you to truly connect with, and improve your relationship with your customers?
In today’s post, I’ll be diving into how to create a brand film. The ideal structure of brand films, and dissecting why the structure is critical in achieving success as a business in the modern age of marketing.
What Is A Brand Film?
A brand film is any type of video produced by a brand for the sole purpose of improving the connection between a client and a business.
Brand films hold a crucial piece in any business’s sales cycle. They are example of the major touch points in the cycle, alongside phone calls and meetings with prospects.
There are 5 types (or pillars) of brand films.
Every piece of content that a brand puts out needs to be supported with a brand film in each of the 5 pillars.
The 5 Types Of Brand Films
Education Films
Films that provide your prospects and customers with insight into the process of developing your product or service. (Think a restaurant showing the process of farm to plate).
Raising Awareness Films
Films where you raise awareness for causes your brand genuinely believes in, as per your business’s core values and beliefs. These films are all about making social change, and don’t promote your brand at all.
Social Proof Films (From Your Client’s Perspective)
These are like testimonial films.
Social Proof Films (From Your Business’s Perspective)
Think of project highlight films, where you dissect the challenges your client faced during a project, the solution you proposed, and the final result.
Promotion Films
Films that promote your brand sub-consciously to your prospects or customers, by telling a story about an impact of your brand’s product or service.
The Structure Of Brand Films
Each brand film type have their own unique structures.
However, every film, excluding the Raising Awareness Film, have four pieces of similar structure.
Your True Product Or Service
A question I ask all of my clients when we are first preparing their suite of brand films is the following:
“what is it that you really sell?”
Many will respond with an answer that only hits face value. An example would be Nike sell running shoes.
But this question wants to know what a brand really sells.
Using the Nike example, what they really sell is the empowerment of individuals to improve their life and be the best version of themselves.
And this is their true product and service.
Every brand film, again, minus the raising awareness film, includes a business’s true product or service.
An Impact Of Your Brand
Every brand has many impacts on their customers.
Using Nike as an example again, a short list of their impacts include:
- Motivating people to ‘just do it’
- Supporting amateur level athletes all the way through to the professional world
- Empowering every day people to not give up
Amongst other impacts.
Each brand film by a brand focuses on one individual impact per film.
The reason only one is featured, is because any more than one results in a messy message to customers, which can result in your message not being communicated clearly.
This results in an ineffective brand film, and ultimately a significant waste of money.
Keep in mind however, a business may release multiple films under each pillar each year, focusing on a different impact.
The Associated Emotions
Every impact your brand has on your customers, will result in your customers experiencing certain emotions.
Let’s regain our focus again on Nike, and target their impact of motivating people to ‘just do it’.
As a customer feeling this impact, and being motivated to ‘just do it’ we may feel a sense of courage, happiness, pride, joy. Or alternatively, we may angry or upset that we haven’t taken steps to improve our lives sooner – and this acts as a motivator.
Great brand films identify these emotions, and use them throughout their story telling to engage with viewers on a deeper level.
This also is extremely beneficial for forging strong connections between prospects and your brand.
By using the emotions of real customers in your brand films, you can make your prospects will the way your customer do – without them actually using your product or service!
This gives them FOMO (fear of missing out) and in turn, makes them attracted to your brand, because they want to experience what other people have.
Your Core Values and Beliefs
Whilst the raising awareness films target this aspect whole heartedly, each other brand film type touches on your brand’s core values and beliefs to a small degree.
Using the Nike example, it can be as simple as Nike valuing supporting everyday people, you and I, in being the best versions of ourselves.
Whilst this doesn’t explicitly need to be explained or showcased in a brand film, sub-consciously, it is communicated through the messaging and storytelling of the film.
Can You Identify The 4 Brand Film Structures?
These are the 4 key structures of brand films.
- Your True Product Or Service
- An Impact Of Your Brand
- The Associated Emotions
- Your Brand’s Values and Beliefs
But what do these structures look like in a real brand film?
Seeing as we’ve been chatting about Nike, see if you can identify each of these 4 structures in this example of a Nike ‘Promotional’ Brand Film.
We're You Able To Identify The 4 Structures?
Let’s see if you were able to identify all 4 structures
Their true product or service: The empowerment of individuals to improve their life and be the best version of themselves.
An impact of their brand: Helping everyday people, in everyday situations to find their greatness.
The associated emotions: The list is endless. Happiness, strength, focus, pride, joy. I could go on.
Their values and beliefs: Supporting everyday people to be the best version of themselves.
I hope you can see the simplistic nature of how to create a brand film. 4 key structures, which contain all the information that your business already holds.
I encourage you to look out for these structures in the brand films and commercials you see on a day to day to basis. In doing so, this will make you aware as to what connects with you, and will help you in creating your own brand films for your business.
The Nike ‘Find your Greatness’ campaign was and is still to this day, referred to as one of the best marketing campaigns in history.
It is an example of how a brand was able to utilise brand films and pull off the ultimate achievement – taking down a major competitor (adidas) at a global sporting competition they didn’t own any sponsorship rights to (the London 2012 Olympics).
I break down how Nike were able to achieve this in my LinkedIn monthly newsletter ‘Marketing For The Modern Brand’.
You can read it by following the link below.
Need A Hand Forging A Deep Connection With Your Clients?
It’s not always easy to forge a deep connection with your clients. Which is why we’re here to help.
Brand story films are your brand’s north star. They help you to make decisions internally, and act as the centrepiece of your marketing strategy.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you forge a deep, emotive connection with your consumer through a brand story film, contact us via:
didier@fixonmedia.com.au
+61 400 801 891
All the best,
Didier Le Miere
Director | Fixon Media Group
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