The Best Video Techniques for Financial Brands
Creative inspiration for financial companies who want to make content that stands out from the crowd.
Are you bored of dry corporate videos? Join the club! We think it’s time to re-evaluate how financial companies engage their audiences with their digital marketing and start to take more creative risks.
High quality video content can help to strengthen your brand image and position you as a market leader; however, bold creative choices can make your content rise above the noise.
As a video agency, we are committed to making video for our clients that emanates their brand identity and core values. We partner with brands to create video content that is surprising, thought-provoking and beautiful. Here, we’ll share some of our favourite techniques for making compelling video content.
Make it cinematic
Adding cinematic detail is a simple way to make a strong impression and sustain viewer’s interest. The more visually pleasing your video is to watch, the more effectively you will communicate your message.
We recommend upgrading talking head videos into cinematic interviews, to increase the emotional intensity and visual enjoyment of your video.
A cinematic interview is shot using the principles of motion picture filmmaking, essentially meaning that a high level of visual artistry goes into every shot.
Capturing a cinematic interview most likely involves working with a Director of Photography who can use complex lighting, shot composition and different camera lenses to a high standard to create the desired visual.
Keep it dynamic
Being more creative with how information is delivered can also be a great way to make your video different. Walking and talking shots can be an interesting alternative to a static interview or presentation.
Another way to make your video more visually interesting is to use creative cutaway shots. These are great for giving the audience more context about what’s being said.
Consider animation
Mixing animation with live action is an option if you’re looking to add vibrancy, extra meaning, or emphasise salient points. What’s more, as a financial company it’s likely that your videos may need to be fairly technical. By adding an animated flair to videos, we can create eye-catching content that captures the viewer’s attention and prevents video content from ever becoming too dry.
If you have interview subjects who are based abroad, we can take self-filmed footage, or footage from video conferencing software, and turn it into eye-catching content with motion graphics.
On a video like this, you could help to raise production values for self-filmed videos by sending out cameras, sound recording equipment, and advising on lighting. In the event that you are hoping to assemble a video of this kind, your video production team should have a ‘self filming guide’ to send the participants to get the best out of their performance.
Don’t be afraid to organise international shoots
Organising international shoots can be a great way to emphasise your reach and presence across the globe. It’s also a great option if your company is geographically dispersed.
By way of example, this video for Snapchat was filmed in London, Mumbai and Amsterdam with our network of trusted filming partners at very short notice with a rapid post-production schedule. The different cities featured in this video make it clear to the viewer that the product is designed to bring people closer together.
Use snackable content
We get very excited about short form content that can be used in different ways to capture audience attention and deliver a message in just a matter of seconds.
It’s liberating to try to tell a story in just 20-30 seconds. As a financial brand, including snackable content on your social channels, LinkedIn, or for internal matters can be a striking way to communicate an important message about industry changes, promote something new, or simply use it as a tool to increase brand visibility.
Tell a story
As a finance brand, we think telling stories about your clients or people within your company is an emotive and memorable way to connect with your target audience.
For example, our client Coca-Cola came to us with a brief to create a film about their water resource management program in Spain. We could have created a traditional documentary interviewing stakeholders and project leaders but instead we opted to tell an Human-Interest story about Aparicio who was a farmer directly affected by the water crisis. This video involved real people and led to a video that was widely watched and shared.
Be natural
Making people feel comfortable on camera is something that needs the proper care and attention. Not everyone likes to be on camera, so we make sure all our directors and camera-people are trained in how to help the interview subjects feel at ease. We recommend watching a number of interview videos from your proposed video production company before committing, to make sure that their interviewees look natural on camera.
To get that extra level of finesse to your video, presenter coaching can be a great way to build confidence and help you deliver an authentic interview.
Don’t get stuck in one style
We are big believers in creating varied content to keep your video marketing buoyant and exciting. We understand that companies often need many types of content for different reasons, so we suggest not trying to shoehorn all content into one style or type of video.
Our client Colt is an international technology company with 5,000 staff globally and we partner with them to deliver a wide range of content, from 2D animation, 3D animation, interviews, recruitment videos, promotional videos and learning and development content.
Each piece of content works hard to communicate the key message, but fits in with Colt’s brand image, values, and tone of voice.