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5 uses of corporate video to blow the socks off your audience

by Yannis |May 6th, 2012

We have just put our video portfolio on Vimeo which gives me a great opportunity to visit the topic of the use of video in corporate communications. It’s not an accident that, without exception, every company we come across recognises the value of video and wishes that video was more extensively used in both their internal and external communications. It’s easy to see why. Switched-on professionals wrestle daily with an information tsunami that comes from countless sources and in nano-sized chunks. Video on the other hand offers a few moments of sitting back and enjoying the ride; a piece of well-crafted video communication delivers dense content in an engaging way that requires minimum effort to consume it and delivers maximum impact.

Below we list the five most typical uses of video in corporate communications and illustrate each with an example from our portfolio.

 

Bring to life sales presentations

A pacey 60 second opening will ensure that you grab your audience’s attention from the very beginning and that your key message remains etched in their brains long after you exit the room.

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5 reasons why your next corporate website should feature illustration and 5 reasons why it might not

by Yannis |February 8th, 2012

So you are creating your new corporate website.

Your web agency is beavering away on the designs, you have instructed various departments to submit their content, you have hired a copywriter to polish the copy, you are about to sign the new hosting contracts, the CMS training is in the calendar and you have even started planning for mobile optimisation. Life feels pretty good, until you get to the part where you have to source images to fill those large, grey placeholders in the wireframes.

If you are fortunate, your organisation produces über-sexy products like medical equipment, Audi car parts, or bicycles whose magnificent design is already captured and sitting in the corporate image library. But, if you are like a large number of corporations then your offering is either intangible, like services or software, or not handsome enough to front your marketing and sales. Your web agency probably suggested a conceptual photo shoot, but in the end that felt like one production headache too many. So you fall back to the safe cradle of stock photography and you wheel in the attractive people on their laptops and mobiles, the business gatherings in elegant surroundings and the smiley, racially balanced operators. And since most of your competitors, suppliers, partners and customers do the same, you sink your brand to the bottomless depths of obscurity.

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New Beta BBC homepage vs FT web app

by Yannis |September 21st, 2011

If the new BBC homepage is from tabloid Mars, then the FT web app is from broadsheet Venus. It’s a bit unfair comparing the just released BBC homepage with the fully launched and comprehensive FT web app. Nevertheless, it’s worth doing a quick comparison for two reasons: first because both brands are giants of the publishing industry and second because the world of tablets and smartphones is in such a flux that any innovation which might point to a new UX convention ought to get everyone to sit up and take notice.

The new Beta BBC homepage

The FT web app

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Refreshed Skyron portfolio on Flickr

by Yannis |July 25th, 2011

We have been using Flickr to hold our portfolio for a while and every so often we restructure the content to take advantage of Flickr’s ever expanding features. The new structure is using tags to drive traffic to a number of slideshows:

The complete portfolio slideshow can be seen here

Flickr is by no means perfect and it’s definitely not sexy (Behance looks much better), but it’s still an efficient way to manage a portfolio and make it socially accessible.

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Is feature porn killing usability in enterprise software?

by Yannis |July 20th, 2011

Nowadays, everything comes with features: my toothbrush comes with an added tongue scratcher, my morning cereal is fortified with all sorts of stuff and even my air freshener sports a motion detector. Enterprise software is no different; it might not come with added vitamins, but it’s certainly oozing features out of every USB socket.

Lately, we have been working with a number of organisations whose main offering comes with a screen interface:  contact centre solutions, BI software, risk management tools, etc. A common problem many people recognise but most fail to do anything about, is that bad usability can make using all this stuff a daunting task.

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Looking for inspiration for your B2B interactive demo? Learnings from Microsoft’s PC Scout

by Yannis |March 26th, 2011

In the world of B2B communications a well executed interactive demo can be a powerful marketing tool. A number of our clients depend on demos to turn leads into customers (and sometimes to generate leads). But a good demo can be pricey as it requires a strategy, complicated production that can include video, audio, animation and copywriting, as well as a tactical plan and execution to put it in front of the relevant audiences.

So when we come across a demo with a bit of investment behind it we scrutinise it and then apply any gained insights to the work we do for our clients. Yesterday, I played with the PC Scout demo/microsite from Microsoft, which I found very interesting.

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10 non-corporate infographic videos for corporate inspiration

by Yannis |January 7th, 2011

I have been doing some research for a client around video storytelling with graphics and text (infographics). A well written, designed and executed infographic video can be a lot more captivating, memorable and effective than corporate, and usually unphotogenic, talking heads delivering the same message.

B2B companies, especially ones that sell complex services and products, are the perfect candidates for infographic videos . When your message is multi-layered, composed of a mixture of features, benefits, tips, results and testimonials, an infographic video will increase reach, boost recall and also help your audience to better understand what’s on offer. The video, being a portable asset, can sit on your website, on your YouTube channel, on your blog, in PowerPoint to open your presentations, or even on your tablet PC and impress people over a cup of tea.

Some of the topics are cause related, but our criteria when compiling the list have been 100% cause agnostic.














Performance Enhancement from Kenichi on Vimeo.











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About to brief your web agency? Our comprehensive website development checklist makes brief writing a breeze

by Yannis |October 15th, 2010

Web Development Requirements SkyronWe have compiled a comprehensive corporate website checklist to help you write a complete and well-structured brief for your internal or external resources.

If you are writing such a brief, you probably have questions like:

  • What are our requirements?
  • What would agencies want to read to understand our requirements?
  • What should the main topics be?
  • How much is enough?
  • Which of our departments do I need to get information from?
  • What exactly do I ask them?
  • How do I make sure I don’t leave anything important out?

Our checklist covers every topic relevant to the development of a corporate website, from the brand, to the CMS, hosting and analytics. Use our checklist and help your suppliers submit proposals that are more comprehensive, more succinct and more relevant to your specific requirements. Ultimately, this will lead to a new website that will tick all the right boxes and deliver maximum value to your organisation.

The checklist is free and fully editable. The only thing we ask if that if you have any recommendations for added content, or improvements, please come back to this post and comment.

You will find the document on our Scribd page

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Our B2B portfolio is now live on Flickr

by Yannis |October 11th, 2010

Flickr PortfolioOur B2B portfolio is now available on Flickr. Categories include:

  • Corporate Website Design & Development
  • Lead Generation Campaigns
  • Presentations
  • Branding
  • Umbraco CMS
  • Email Communications
  • Intranets/Extranets

Please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skyron/