There is an art to making great videos. Fortunately for us, it’s becoming a lost art.

In a world saturated with boring, forgettable broadcast and online videos, Immortology and our clients have a tremendous advantage over our rivals. Our videos attract an unfair share of attention, engagement and memorability for our clients - every single time.

We learned how to craft amazing advertising videos from the best of the best way back in the days when ads were shot on film and advertising was way more entertaining and twice as effective.

Based on a deceptively simple script and a combination of 3D animation, stock footage and music, we created this highly effective brand video for 1000 Piers Gin. It has consistently delivered 10x the impressions, engagement, awareness and sales you’d expect from an average video. It’s almost singlehandedly propelled 1000 Piers Gin from obscurity to the #1 selling craft gin in NC. What’s more it did it in less than 12 months.

This low-budget spot for we created Obsession Bows launched the brand from obscurity to the top of the must-have list for bowhunters. Instead of the typical shoot and kill spot, the script laid out a entertaining, must watch answer to the question “What if shopping for food was as much fun as hunting for it?”

Over the years, we’ve honed our craft and discovered there are five ingredients that determine whether a video will be successful or not.

Here they are:

1. THE SCRIPT

The more surprising, interesting and entertaining the script, the more successful the video. Period. This holds true for any video - whether a $250 million dollar feature movie or a $5,000 social media video. Problem is, most agencies and production companies stopped investing in scriptwriters over a decade ago.

This is part of a famous campaign our founder, David Smith, created for Lipton Brisk. Even though the spot was made over 20 years ago, it still racks up tens of thousands of views every month and has been included in the Museum Of Modern Art’s permanent collection. While the script taps into pop culture in a surprising way, what takes it over the top is the brilliant stop-action animation.

2. THE PRODUCTION

How a great script is brought to life via acting, animation, composition, special effects, sound, music and editing can make the difference between a good video and a great video. On occasion, great production values can make a mediocre script better but will never make a bad script great.

This is the spot our founder, David Smith, created to launch Smirnoff Ice in the US. To this day, it is the most successful new beverage launch in United Distiller and Vintners’ history. The spot was so successful, it was temporarily pulled until UDV could find more bottlers and distributors to keep up with demand.

3. THE REACH

The more people your video reaches in your market, the more effective it will be. Duh. And the best way to ensure you reach more people is through paid media. The chances of your ad going viral today are slim to none. The online media channels will lose too much money.

Online video is more than 2x effective when it’s also run on TV.

The more channels you run your video on can boost performance by +35%.

4. The Media Mix

The more media channels your video is seen on, the more memorable and effective its performance. TV is still the most effective media channel for video. However, when you put your video on TV and online it becomes almost 2x more effective. In fact, the more places it’s seen, the more effective it becomes. So a video seen on TV, in an email, on a Facebook post, in cinema, on YouTube, at a tradeshow, etc. is more effective than just being seen on one or two media platforms.

This integrated campaign was built around the big idea that the Museum Of Life + Science is a perpetual wow machine that constantly churns out the wonders of natural science. With the help of this campaign, The Museum Of Life + Science also transformed into a perpetual money machine by becoming one of the most visited attractions in NC.

Screen+Shot+2015-02-05+at+11.22.30+AM.png

5. THE TWO-SPEED INTEGRATED BRAND CAMPAIGN

When a video is part of an integrated campaign based on a big creative idea, it will be more successful. In fact, having an integrated campaign centered around an audacious creative idea is by far the most effective approach. A great video alone won’t do it. To maximize returns make sure you have two types of executions running simultaneously.

Awareness, Reach & Memorability Focused - this campaign should have the sole objective of generating long-term demand by increasing mass awareness and memorability.
Targeted Short-Term Sales Focused - this campaign should harvest or fulfill short-term demand by giving potential buyers easy ways to buy your product now.

This simple motion graphic was one of several brand building videos we created for Ballistol to increase awareness, memorability and consideration in the gun CLP (cleaner, lubricant, protectant) market.

This is one of a series of direct response or targeted short-term sales activation social media ads we created for Ballistol. Each came with a strong call to action headline and prominent SHOP NOW button in the post copy.

Problem is, most agencies and video production companies don’t know how to create integrated campaigns of impossible to ignore and hard to forget executions. They only know how to create hum-drum one-offs that simply won’t generate the big returns of an integrated campaign centered around one big creative idea on social media videos, billboards, print ads, radio spots, TV, e-commerce, landing pages, direct mail, etc.

So what about budget? Aren’t videos expensive? While live action, 3-D and 2-D animation video production aren’t cheap, video generally deliver a much higher return on your investment. Plus, with a little extra planning, we can pull still imagery from our videos to use in your collateral materials, in-store posters, print advertising, tradeshow graphics, outdoor, emails, website, direct mail – or wherever you can’t run video. A skilled scriptwriter should be able to write a great script for you that can be produced within your budget. We’ve created incredibly effective videos for under $10,000.

To see more of our videos and campaigns click here.

For a free video consultation, email us directly.