Mike Minchew needed a big idea to rev up interest in the Byron Nelson Championship golf tournament, and he delivered. He commissioned the renowned Orange County Chopper guys to build 3 custom Byron Nelson motorcycles to raise awareness around the EDS/HP-sponsored event and hired our very own Michael Cummings to document the story.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Meet Michael Cummings, producer extraordinaire.
Accomplished in photography, film, video, motion graphics, special effects and editing, Michael Cummings is much more than just a producer. His practiced eye and multiple skill sets give him the ability to see every angle and aspect of a project, from storyboard sketches to the final cut. He’s that rare media talent who’s a jack of all trades and master of every single one of them.
“Great production values, a solid storyline, and attention to the details, that’s what makes a great video,” says Michael. “There’s such a thing as working quickly but also not rushing the process. ‘Measure twice, cut once’ works in video, too.”
Metrics that matter most in digital video.
When it comes to online video, most of the old digital metrics apply, but so do a host of new ones. So how do you know which ones are really telling you something, and which are just data chatter?
Whether you are hosting video on a marketing microsite, incorporating video into a rich media ad unit, or posting on YouTube, the most important thing to clarify is what are trying to accomplish? Because as with every marketing tactic, the performance data that matters most is that which corresponds to your goals.
Below are some of the more important video metrics associated with specific communication objectives.
1. AWARENESS
Often at HP we are launching a new product or service and our goal is to create awareness of it. Let's say you've created a 3-minute video announcing the features and competitive advantages of your product and posted it to a microsite dedicated to the launch. You might be inclined to count visits to the site… and this is a great start, but it's not the same as understanding how many people have watched your video.
For that, we track VIEWS also called "impressions." The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has helped to establish universal standards for such metrics. In this case, a view occurs when a site visitor initiates interaction with a video and begins to receive the content, creating "an opportunity to see" – and to be counted, as well.
UNIQUE VISITORS is the number of distinct visitors to a page and helps illuminate repeat views by a single individual. This is important for understanding both the number of people reached, as well as interest or engagement indicated by repeat viewership.
2. PERSUASION
In our industry, peer recommendations are consistently rated among the most powerful influence levers. And of course, technologists and engineers are heavy users of the Web with high adoption of both video and social media. Thus, getting an influential IT manager, developer, or systems architect to validate your video is worth its weight in gold.
You'll want to track actions that reveal interest and engagement in the form of COMMENTS or RATING. By reading the content of comments, you will get some rich insight into the thoughts and feelings of the viewer. This will help you assess the clarity of your video and how persuasive it is.
SHARING, ADD TO FAVORITES, EMBEDDING and LINKING imply that the viewer has connected with the content and wants to be associated with it. By forwarding your video, he/she is providing a de facto endorsement of it and creating the potential for it to "go viral" — i.e. to receive a dramatic spike in viewership in a relatively short period. (Note: often over-the-top humor or stunts are used to instigate viral impetus. Just be aware that not all attention is good attention. Refer back to your goals and objectives to help you decide how much to dial up the “cool factor.”) Sharing actions are valuable, though, as they are typically targeted at an appropriate and receptive audience.
3. LEAD CREATION
To increase lead creation, compliment your video with a specific call-to-action. Generally, we recommend that you surround your video with additional content and relevant links. This can be done in surrounding text with hyperlinks (for instance, on HP.com) or in a companion unit below or beside your video in external media buys. (In a future newsletter we'll profile some of the hot technologies out there – like overlays – to help make your videos work even harder when it comes to driving leads and sales.) Currently, tracking CLICK THROUGHS to get additional information and REGISTRATIONS that follow a video view are the best ways to assess lead creation. (They can also begin to establish corollaries to sales.) The metric monitored for this is how many viewers were motivated to take action in association with viewing your video, such as clicking on a link and moving to the associated landing page.
While it is not a measure of a lead, per se, tracking the EXIT PATH of a visitor can also be helpful. This literally tracks the path of the viewer as they leave the video. Did they exit the site altogether? Did they watch a subsequent video in the playlist? Did they spend more time on that marketing landing page? This data signals viewer interest in the content of the video and may suggest ways to enhance the context or programming strategy of a video channel – and how that total communication stream in turn influences opt-in or conversion.
CONCLUSION
In the end, it is not always easy to obtain all the information noted above. And it’s often not necessary. Tracking every measure sometimes obscures key learnings or makes it difficult to get the most out of your video strategy. In the end, knowing more doesn’t guarantee success. It’s knowing what matters that really counts.
Please drop us a line if you’d like us to help you set up a video optimization strategy.
Video gadgets to die for.
3-D CAMCORDER
Hammacher Schlemmer camcorder lets you shoot home video in 3-D. No $250M budget or James Cameron required. Read More
VIDEO THAT LOOKS LIKE FILM
RED’s EPIC camera is back on track for sometime later this year. Shoot movies at home that look nothing like home movies. Read More
CAMERA AND PROJECTOR IN ONE
It’s a camera. It’s a projector. It’s a camera and a projector—the new Nike Digicam is a compact digital camera with a video projector built in. Hook it up to your laptop and project your favorite movies. Popcorn optional. Read More
HTML5 MEDIA PLAYER
Open Source HTML5 Media Player—dynamically deliver any web media, including HTML5, YouTube, Vimeo and Flash. The only catch is…hey wait, there is no catch. It’s free. Read More
COOL PHOTO EFFECTS
Bad is good, not to mention unmistakably chic. Digital tools that build in imperfections (like the iPhone “Hipstamatic” app that creates washed out colors and grainy resolution) are all the rage. Read More
They’ve built a fine intranet. And a reputation for going above and beyond.
Seems like we’re all super-busy these days. Which is why, when two guys take on projects way outside the scope of their day jobs, they deserve a little extra credit. Tim Stuck and David Wilkins did just that this summer. These are the guys that made our new intranet site possible.
Most days, you’ll find Tim supporting one of our internal or external clients. But at night, Tim was doing double-duty organizing, encoding, editing and linking all the videos you'll now see on our site. It was a Herculean task. And Tim nailed it.
Not to be outdone, David managed the extensive programming of the site, including numerous revisions, and he even customized the groovy video player on the home page. This was a massive undertaking…and demanded the utmost attention to detail. Fortunately for us, David did an impeccable job.
Nice work, guys. We couldn’t have done this without you.
HP Media Portal insider tips.
WE'D LIKE TO TELL YOU HOW QUICKLY THE HP MEDIA PORTAL CONNECTS CUSTOMERS, PARTNERS AND EXPERTS. DO YOU HAVE A NANOSECOND?
Imagine you have an upcoming product release. Your goal is to reach and impress thousands of eager analysts and customers. And you've planned a fantastic live web announcement with a panel of experts. But how can you make your launch even more successful—knowing that nothing is quite as persuasive as one-to-one interaction with someone who’s a pro on the subject at hand?
Enter HP Live Chat. That's right, our portal supports literally thousands of real-time text-based chats. Just determine what specific subject areas you need and create a corresponding room for direct chat with the relevant expert(s). They'll be able to receive questions and comments and respond to those customers in real time. Just imagine it, thousands of people all chatting, learning, and being convinced at once.
NOW YOU CAN SEARCH VIDEOS JUST LIKE YOU DO DOCUMENTS AND EMAILS. THINK OF ALL THE TIME AND SWEAR JAR MONEY YOU'LL SAVE.
Have you ever searched for a quote, fact, or specific scene in a video—only to find that you had to rewind and fast forward endlessly to find what you’re looking for? To use an old expression, it’s harder than sorting through a gunnysack of coat hangers, isn’t it?
Well, then, you’re really going to appreciate the enhanced search feature on HP's Media Portal. Talk about a real time-saver. Now you can find specific video content based on key words in your search — it’s a lot like trying to find an email or folder on your PC. Just type in the key word or words and the video will cue up right to the scene or scenes that correspond to your search.
In a world where it often seems like there’s more information to sift through than there are hours in a day, features like this can really help. Stay tuned for more great ideas that’ll increase productivity, and reduce the number of stress balls you go through in a year.
How Media Solutions helped Sebastian Copeland get a warm reception at the Tribeca Film Festival.
We're not very good at tooting our own horn, so those who do know us are generally familiar with our standard service offering—live webcasts, video editing, on-demand streaming and so forth. But we've also produced a ton of custom solutions to meet the special needs or unique goals of some of our clients. One such effort was produced for Karen Cage, Manager of Marketing Partnerships for IPG worldwide.
Sebastian, HP, and countless polar bears, arctic seals and other species all benefited from this remarkable collaboration.
Karen saw an opportunity to expand upon HP's sponsorship of adventurer and photographer Sebastian Copeland's recent expedition to the North Pole, and thus gain exposure for both Sebastian and HP. To kick things off, Media Solutions flew Sebastian to our state-of-the-art production facility in Cupertino—and shot 4 hours of interview footage using green screen technology. Thanks to the flexibility of this technique, Sebastian was able to re-purpose the footage, helping him promote his film “Into The Cold” which documents this extraordinary polar expedition. And HP received a ton of buzz from sponsoring such a distinguished artist, and featuring some of the interview footage on the IPG Facebook page.
Greetings, and welcome to the new Media Solutions blog.
Greetings, and thank you for stopping by.
You may know that our team has been around in some shape or form for close to 30 years. But, like pretty much everything else at HP, we've changed a lot over that time. For one thing, because we always seek the most effective channels for communication, we saw the vast potential of the Web and digital media right from the outset. We knew we had to capitalize on the new technologies available so that we could help our clients reach more people in less time and with fewer dollars—in the most compelling manner possible. This greatly accelerated HP’s change from Satellite to the web.
Similarly (and for very powerful business reasons we might add), we were quick to embrace the interactivity the Web affords to support our customers and their audiences’ desire for real-time two-way communication and feedback. Since high-bandwidth penetration has become so prevalent, users are increasingly comfortable with text and video—and we are finding that our customers are more able to take advantage of the sophisticated technology and services this team provides.
The combination of this kind of technical foresight and our can-do attitude has given us a reputation as a solid, dependable partner. We're proud of that, but knew we could do better, and recently have taken notable steps toward improving our creative product. Not the least of which has been the addition of Michael Cummings and his group in the Plano, Texas office (formerly EDS). What's more, we've established partnerships with a variety of independent, small agencies to provide high-level strategic and creative muscle to our line up. When you have a chance, contact us and we’ll show you some samples of their work—including high-end animation, sophisticated customer videos, and complicated event set-ups. Now, we can help you with all that, while still ensuring you have an HP-savvy partner with your best interests at heart.
Finally, it's worth noting that after all these years, one thing has not changed; our focus on your business. We support the needs of all the business units, and our greatest priority is helping you achieve results. Whether that requires the high-tech use of a halo room, a multi-media event involving multiple partners, a basic but still important webcast, or a custom solution, we’re here to provide it.
And we won’t settle for anything less than extraordinary.
Mike Lachtanski
Director, HP Media Solutions
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