Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

I found the video itself visually attractive, but as Randall commented, the advertising message was "too little, way too late." No USP there at all.

1) Take a look at Coca Cola ads and see how many of them emphasize the product and the logo right away.

2) Take a look at Sally Hogshead's TED presentation on "How to Fascinate," on YouTube, where she emphasizes how little time one has to grab a video viewer's attention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG0WiP5ux1Q

3) Take a look at the free portion of the website video training of Andy Jenkins, "The Video Boss" if any of it is still up on line

and Gideon Shalwick - www.rapidvideoblogging.com

4) For a creative, fun presentation done by heavy-duty editing see

https://www.flixxy.com/britains-got-talent-dodge-monaco.htm

5) You are students. Take advantage of the academic freedom and go for something a little less conventional than your first effort. Have some fun with it. Think Sally Hogshead and Dodge Monaco, not General Motors and IBM!

6) After creating a video, a MAJOR task is getting people to see it, creating an SEO funnel. Both Andy Jenkins and Gideon Shalwick have expertise in this area, among others of course.

Regards,
JH

The Virgin brand: mess with it at your peril.

Well intentioned though your efforts might be, marketing is not advertising. It is PART of the mix but advertising is the process that persuades people to take some kind of action (mainly, trying new products). For an ad to work, for an ad to pull this off, it must offer the viewer ... SOMETHING.

Your short video doesn't do this. Great ads tell the reader or viewer one thing: "This is what (insert name of product or service here) can do for you!"

So, pick one problem and offer one solution. Then do it again. And again. And so on. That's how you build brand awareness and that's how you create brand power.

Virgin did this with music. Then air travel. Then banking. Then trains. Then mobile communication. And a great many other things. One problem. One solution. Well delivered. One promise-well kept.

You have received some very good feedback from the folks here. Your ad is missing any compelling story that would tempt a viewer to take the desired action. Brand identity is minimal, and there's no problem/solution.

I understand that you're a student and that you didn't have much time to create the commercial. But I think there's an important lesson to learn here. The purpose of the commercial is to motivate the viewer to take action, or at least register a benefit that might get them to take action in the future.

It's the message in a commercial that sells stuff, not the fancy pictures or distracting action.