Work Experience at Oxbridge Inspire:
Innovative Video Technology
On Thursday 6th June, work experience students at Oxbridge Inspire attended an interactive workshop for tech businesses focusing on video marketing strategies. Considering the role of innovative technology in expanding this promotional medium, there was a focus on the ‘T’ in STEM. Students were exposed to real-world business case studies, as well as topical collaborative discussions — how would you use Virtual Reality in video marketing? In this article, Carmen provides her account of Beyond Media’s latest workshop.
Video Marketing: A Beyond Media Workshop
An account by Carmen Russo de Middel
Adverts. Who even appreciates those? They only seem to interrupt us to present useless clips about a certain individual whose problems has been miraculously solved by a particular brand. In fact, studies have shown that over nine million Britons currently use online ad blockers. The publicity industry is so dismissed that only 0.05% of the public, who do see adverts online, click on the associated link. Pretty low huh? Although adverts tend to annoy me, I sometimes find myself compelled, engaged and persuaded by them.
During their workshop at the Bradfield Centre, Kent Height, CEO of Beyond Media (a digital media marketing agency) and his team unveiled strategies for tech companies to achieve successful video marketing traction.
Not many people enjoy reading sheets of data and most of us struggle to concentrate for long periods of time. That is why video marketing is becoming increasingly more successful: it is efficient at conveying a message, “a one minute video equals 1.8 million words.’’ says Height. With the continuous evolution of mobile tech, TV viewing has decreased by 33%. This undeniably means video marketing needs to be all the more innovative and readily available on multiple platforms. By using the most effective data and personalising the ad correctly, video marketing can generate millions of viewers and therefore, substantial revenue.
It was a TV commercial that saw Plated.com’s rapid success and it was the key to the company’s $100 million revenue growth, as well as their $300 million exit valuation. The advert was so effective that 83% of the viewers said they would trial the product after watching the advert only once. The commercial created a relatable persona for the public, someone they identified with: a woman missing her train. A particularly frustrating situation most of us have experienced; I felt as if the montage wasn’t an advert at all. By utilising well established cliches, the production team targeted a certain audience, which — according to Kent Height — is more effective than attempting to target every type of individual in society. However, Beyond Media also demonstrated how data can now be used to make a video advert personalised, which can make the customer feel special — they developed a video marketing campaign like this with Thomas Cook.
One of the team’s most important tips, “[is to] use data and not your gut!’’. Eminently, by doing so, Beyond Media recommend following the process of “test, assess, refine, rinse, repeat” in order to determine the best way to make video marketing effective for your business.
The main goal of any video is to captivate the audience. Beyond Media totally tick that box — in my opinion. Little did we know, that during the workshop we were being filmed by Matteo, Beyond Media’s videographer who, as a final surprise, had produced a video montage of the whole event. Needless to say, the entire auditorium was taken aback — astonishing!
You can watch the video at the start of this article or using this link: https://vimeo.com/273861518
Oxbridge Inspire delivers innovative STEM education and provides guidance and inspiration to young people wishing to pursue STEM subjects at University and beyond. To find out more about Oxbridge Inspire and the courses and activities we offer, visit our website.
