Corporate Video Relatability: Realism for the Clientele

Which stories tend to stand out to you? The one about a billionaire who becomes an astronaut, or the one about a broken father trying to save his family? Probably the latter, right? It may not necessarily be your life, but it’s a life you could see yourself experiencing. And those are the stories that stick with us; the ones that allow us to escape into wonder, but therapeutically carries us through reality. Sometimes we as a corporate industry get lost in glamour shots and making our products look pretty. But in reality what sells it for most people is not the quality of the presentation but the relatability of the product. A supermodel drinking a perfect looking soda-bottle may not be as appealing as a young couple drinking a dented soda bottle. It is the same brand, same product, but in the hands of real life. A great example would be our video for Lincoln Financial, where they showed how joy can be spread through little acts of love. This implied that Lincoln Financial very much cares for their clients’ well being. Are we considering that? When we create a corporate video, is it worthy of the audience’s interest?

A Corporate video for the Audience

Consider political ads. For better or worse, election ads are meant to gain voters’ trust. Now some candidates come off as genuine, and others come off as scripted. Audiences care about authenticity, so they are naturally going to lean more towards the genuine candidate rather than the scripted one. It is not so much about what the candidate is saying; rather it is about how they say it.

Now consider your corporate videos. The company service information may be on point, but does the audience relate to the service? Do they feel like it is for them? Video is a visual medium, so what is shown is more important than what is said. So show your service in the audience’s hands. Show the houses they live in, the coffee shops they go to, and the troubles they deal with everyday. The statistics of a coffee company may not be as engaging as seeing their coffee brightening up the average person’s day.

What Relatability says about the Company

That type of engagement carries a flip side. A Corporate video can portray the character of a company by showing how much they care for their clientele. If an insurance company consistently puts out videos that are positive, engaging, and shows that they are here to serve the public, the public will in turn feel that the company is trustworthy. Open engagement breaks down the barriers between corporation and clientele.

Truth is the Bottom line

There is an art to engaging clients with corporate videos and commercials. There are many aesthetic elements that go into building a relatable story, but the bottom line is always Truth. This does not mean that you can’t make things pretty or have clever lighting in your videos. But what it does mean is that the point of the commercial is to show that the company understands what it means to walk in the client’s shoes. They know what it’s like and what they need, and that is the key to corporate relatability.