The success of a film develops in the planning phase.
Today I would like to write about the appreciation of our work and what we actually sell. (Spoiler alert: It is not only the purely technical implementation of advertising and film productions).
It happens again and again that we receive inquiries from SMEs that are very successful in their field, sometimes even market leaders in a very specialized field. These companies have grown almost by themselves because they have developed a product that is so ingenious that it sells itself over a long period of time.
The company grows, and suddenly it has 200 – 500 employees at two production sites. But the competition never sleeps. In the meantime, there are new market companions. Sometimes young start ups who can react even more flexibly and quickly to the customer and who can produce more cost-effectively and faster through leapfrogging, especially in IT.
Or they are large corporations that bring a similar solution to the market with sufficient financial substance and at the same time have a marketing department that has grown over the years with a lot of experience in the market.
Now, at the latest, the “hidden champion”, the SME, must also think about marketing and advertising. The own company is no longer found. The competition may still have the worse product, but it has a sophisticated, well-functioning marketing strategy.
At this moment, inquiries often come in: “We need film and video. We need to be present on the net and on social media channels (the competitor is, after all)”. It is requested directly from us, as it is now clear that video content performs over 70% better than photos and text (google study). The company does not have an agency. The few brochures were always made in-house and the website was created once and still works quite well. Now they want a product film, an image film and funny clips that go viral.
This is where we say, “Just a moment, please – take a breath.”
As much as you want to start producing video content right now – and believe me, some companies are suddenly in a big hurry because they are losing large parts of their market presence to the competition every day – you should have a strategy in this situation before you start. Without a strategy you will burn time and money and the efficiency of your content will be close to zero.
Alfred Hitchcock said “The film is made in the planning phase.” – Today I say: “The success of a film comes in the planning phase.”
We create competition analyses, define personas and target groups, optimize channels and websites, develop online video strategies and much more. We then use these to develop a moving image concept and the actual film ideas that will define the communication for the next one or two years and lead to success.
