WHY SHOULD CORPORATE VIDEO BE DIFFERENT
TO TV ADS? Corporate video footage very rarely looks
any different to how it looked 20 years ago. By contrast, TV
ad images have come on leaps and bounds to such an extent that
the gap between the telly ad and the corporate video can look
enormous. But this gap is being closed rapidly.
With advances in technology there is no reason why promotion or training video
today shouldn't have all the light, shade, colour, glow, softness, texture,
grain, and all the other production qualities make up what you see every night
on the box. These advances in technology mean the corporate video commissioner
actually has a much wider choice of production style, but without the price
penalty.
The next challenge will come about when video commissioners really start asking
production companies for something more imaginative and more impactful. The
message is, try asking for more and ask to pay less. Raise a few eyebrows!
WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT YEAR
ADSL will affect us all in 2001. So what's ADSL?
In a nutshell, ADSL or broadband allows websites to play video and speech,
much like an interactive multimedia. Sites will be far more dynamic and impactful.
And it's going to be cheap.
Already prices are being touted at around 40 pounds per month to have full
24 hours a day, 7 days a week on-line, at speeds up to ten times current modem
or isdn speeds. The low price suggests that there will be a mass takeup. BT
are already pouring millions into upgrading exchanges ready for ADSL.
Downloads with ADSL will take seconds rather than minutes.
Interactive moving displays will be feasible, offering the visitor genuine
excitement.
The typical webpage of text-and-a-picture will start to become a thing of the
past. It will become the equivalent of a photocopied or faxed page in place
of a full colour brochure.
So the message clearly is: Be prepared to revise substantial portions of your
websites or be left behind.
NEW RESEARCH
New British Research indicates why many websites fail. Professor Alan Cawson
of the Department of Digital Media Studies at the University of Sussex has
recently published substantial new research analysing what makes a successful
website and what doesn't. He points out that many websites that apparently
pass for good at first glance, just ain't so.
Cawson says that when you actually try to use them their level of interactivity
disappoints, leaving the user completely lacking in motivation to do anything
more than hit the back button. But it's not all bad.
Cawson comments that there are many excellent sites too.
The key positive points that emerge from Cawson's research are:
- Your site should first attract the right type of people. When they arrive
they should be able to see exactly what they want at a glance.
- Navigation should be a pleasure with increasingly more useful information
provided with every mouse click.
- A satisfying experience needs to be created. This happens by leading the
user through a number of options to interact and express that satisfaction.
- There needs to be a timely opportunity to buy something, or enquire, gain
information, or ask a question, or at least say you who they are.
Cawson points out that countless websites fail in this respect, including heavyweight
big name sites. He suggests that the reason behind this failure is a fundamental
lack of understanding by companies of what the web can and can't do. This is
coupled with a blind belief that having some sort of site is better than no
site at all.
Cawson sees a lack of webucation which in many organisations is probably widespread.
It's surprisingly difficult to find someone in any company who really knows
what a website should or shouldn't be.
So if Cawson is right, until a new generation of informed marketing graduates
arrive, then Corporate Britain might want to take a web reality check. Soon.
FREE WEB SITE HOSTING OFFER
Here's a brilliant free no-strings offer to all our customers and newsletter
subscribers. You can have 10mb of webspace with up to 5 email addresses and
your own unique .co.uk or .org.uk domain name for one year, worth 150 pounds,
completely free of charge. That's right, free with no-strings attached. For
your company or for yourself.
The offer lasts for 14 days from today.
How can we do this, and why should we? Well, it's all thanks to your support
over the last 13 years that we're still here. Now that we have our own web
server, it's nice to give something back. So don't be shy, even if we've only
just met. Have a website hosted for free.
Reply to this newsletter with your name and phone number and we'll tell you
how to get set up. Offer limited to one per customer.
FREE VIDEO-ON-CD
OFFER
The free offers are coming in thick and fast this issue. Here's another. Send
us one of your company videos, up to 20 mins in length, and we'll send it back
to you on a cd, ready to play on your PC. This is normally worth up to 100
pounds. Today it's free. Again there are no-strings attached or hidden conditions.
Send your video to Free Video CD Offer, Rossiter and Co, 108 Kestrel Park,
Skelmersdale, West Lancs, WN8 6TB.
Turnround takes about a week. Offer limited to one per customer, UK only, for
14 days after you receive this newsletter.
WORK IN PROGRESS - WHO'S DOING WHAT
We've had an incredibly busy and successful year and so issues of the newsletter
haven't been as forthcoming as usual.
However, in the pipeline we've got a Recruitment video for Dyno-Rod, and we're
also updating their website. We're producing interactive multimedia and a health
and safety intranet site for Pilkington, and part of Bury Council's intranet.
On the video front we're updating Schal's Induction Video, and producing a
public information programme on a new transport network for Luton Council,
and we've just finished a video for Birmingham International Airport. Also
we're still deep into producing an extensive interactive corporate multimedia
for ICI Crosfield.
HUMOUR
======
Genuine Game Show Answers
-------------------------
Name an occupation where you need a torch - A burglar
Name something a blind person might use - A sword
Name an item of clothing worn by the Three Musketeers - A horse
Name a famous bridge - The bridge over troubled waters
Name a sign of the zodiac - April
Name an animal you might see at the zoo - A dog
Oi!
ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS
To estimate the resources your next video production may require, try out our
free Video Quote online
To find
out how much it costs to make an interactive multimedia
CD-Rom http://www.rossiterandco.com/multimedia-production-04.htm
To reduce your video production costs by up to 50 percent http://www.rossiterandco.com/video-costs-01.htm
CONTACT
The Multimedia and Video Newsletter is produced by Rossiter and Co, "Everything
you ever wanted to know about multimedia, video and the web, but were afraid
to ask." http://www.rossiterandco.com
If you have any queries, questions or would like to discuss your next production,
contact Kevin Rossiter on UK 01695 726887
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