Tutsell made his strongest point about the fact that, “We don’t have a devine right to people’s attention.” And that, “connecting with people has never been easier because of technology, but connecting with people emotionally is harder than ever – because there is so much information.”

“The work that we saw that was great was work that credited people with intelligence, that invited them into the communication, that gave them something fo rtheir airtime, and rewarded them accordingly,” said Tutssel.

And finally, “Distillation is the order of the day. Destill your ideas down to a very clear, concise information.”

These are all great points from the top of the industry about what makes great ads, and furthermore, marketing. Connect emotionally. Connect quickly. And connect concisely. AND – be sure to entertain people.

This is information that I would love to see more corporations take to heart when making a film for themselves. Forget about all of the details that are better handled in a website. If you want to really connect, entertain – and go for the heart.

Thanks,
Max

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Where most people fall a little short though is that they spend all their (and my) time talking about themselves. A laundry list of achievement or desires that are often impressive and substantial. But not really want I want to hear.

Because in the end, I don’t want to hear about you. I want to hear about me. How do you solve my problems? What solutions do you bring to the table that dovetail perfectly with the challenges I’m facing right now? Have you looked at our work – and how would you fit in? How do you provide the missing piece to the puzzle?

It’s the same approach we have to take with our clients. Sure, they want to know we’re qualified – but what they really want to know is if we’ve listened long and hard enough to know what they need as a company. Are we engaged in coming up with answers that are uniquely crafted to them and them alone? Resumes – even a decent portfolio like ours – are rarely enough.

What everyone wants is that kind of story.

So take the time to know more about me. And ultimately about your true value to our mission. That will rock my world, guaranteed. And I will always email you back, regardless. Because we always appreciate the outreach.

For more on this – check out the amazing site Ask The Headhunter. Though this site is short on design, it’s long on great content that should be REQUIRED READING for every student or recent grad out there.

Look forward to hearing from you. Let’s Roll,

Chris

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The first thing we do when we’re working with a client is to really LISTEN to the client to try and hear their story. This can sometimes take awhile, and can often result in us presenting back to the client a very different tack for telling their story than they might have considered. It’s amazing how often we are poor at listening to ourselves.

Here’s 5 tips we’ve found about how to help a client best get to the true heart of their story. The true heart being that which best connects with their passions and reason for being, and that which, by natural extension, will connect best with their audience. Once we’ve found this, we have a great bedrock upon which to build their film.

1) Can’t Shut Up It
When the client can’t stop talking about a certain subject of their story. Maybe they feel more comfortable here. Maybe they just love this part of their story. Either way, chances are this is either the heart of their story, or a darn good indicator towards it.

2) Something They Think is Stupid, or Silly
As an alternative to 1, sometimes the very heart is something that a client will feel is something silly, or stupid about them. This is often prefaced by, “This probably won’t mean anything to you”, or “Something stupid that we notice again and again, that probably doesn’t mean a thing, but we find funny…” These are great indicators. Remember that the heart is often a vulnerable place, not everyone is comfortable with it right away.

3) Something They Get Misty Eyed About
Again, this can go with 2, if the client is comfortable tearing up. But, the fact of the matter is – people who are passionate about their business will cry about it. Even if it is just about mayonnaise, or a butt-pillow. There’s a lot of love, time and passion that goes into this. When they hit on it, and think on that, and what got them into this all in the first place – you’ve hit gold. NOTE – this doesn’t mean you have to have them cry in the film! (Although, for most, we love that.)

4) Something That Everyone in the Company Agrees On
This one’s a no brainer. If you keep hearing the same thing from people in pre-pro interviews from the president down to the janitor (more of these should be interviewed!) then you know you’ve got something. If everyone actually says – “our company is all about our people” – then you’d best not ignore that.

5) Something That Amazes Them
9 times out of 10, this is best for product films. Think about an Apple product, sometimes in those films I feel like Jonathon Ives himself cannot believe what they’ve created. Same with Jobs. If someone has this passion – you want to get that out there – people will connect.

Go forth. Find these connections. Any others you can think of?

Thanks!
Max

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I’ve got the white papers and a quiver full of answers for that one. Answers that do speak to ROI and marketing efficiencies and moving the bottom-line. But instead of going there, I take a step back and ask this:

“Why do you get out of bed every morning?”

That’s the key. That’s the crux. Because being able to communicate passion – the same passion that gets CEO’s out of bed – is what good marketing to customers is all about. And nothing drives that stronger than film and video.

That’s why The 3rd Annual Content Marketing Retreat is important to your bottom line. And sure, I’ll be speaking there, but here’s 5 much more important reasons why you should attend:

5) Keyboard Cat videos are great. But telling your story is even greater.
4) You’ll learn the essential of Strategic Video Storytelling to drive good marketing, PR, customer service and other vital communications.
3) You’ll walk away with clear insights and actionable steps that can be used today.
2) If you enter the code ‘Chris25′at the EventBrite Checkout, you’ll get 25% off your tickets. (Yes, we want to also make your accountants happy.)
1) Conversion. Conversion. Conversion.

By 2014, Forrester predicts that 90% of all online transactions will be driven in part by video. So take the leap. Join us for an immersive and completely rewarding conference geared to telling stories. Your stories.

Let’s Roll,

Chris

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Overall, NAB gives me the blues a bit since about 99,000 of those people are business guys and gals running around desperately trying to hawk their gear, or convince you that their latest, greatest doo-dad is the must have. These guys really wear me out – and they all look pretty worn out. All you need to know about this is that this year the words 3D barely appeared, and 3 years ago it was all you ever heard the whole time as what you “had to have”. **Note – HCF predicted the demise of this medium at that time! In other words, most of this stuff is pretty faddish.

But, it is great to see that the other people, those going to the production and post production classes were really trying to learn, get better at their craft, and generally get to know some others in the business. These are the people that I think got the most from NAB – I know I felt that way.

NAB reminds me that for all the machines, there is nothing worth it in the whole shebang without the people that use those machines, and use them beautifully. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so happy that people love making these toys, and I love to use them, but the people I really love are those using them to make great works. I met a few of those this week and am better for it.

One class I really loved was Amy Delouise’s session on branding yourself and your work. Mostly, she just really engaged her audience, and made us do some work on who we were and who we wanted to be. Check her out!

Thanks!
Max

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This morning they had an article entitled – Are there lessons to be learned from the Dollar Shave Club’s Viral Start-up Video?

It’s all about this video with 10 million hits –

Great article – here’s 5 reasons you shouldn’t try it – that also shows up in a shorter form in the article’s comments section.
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1) You’re not that guy.
The owner, and president, was once a member of the funniest tv improv comedy troop on TV – Upright Citizens Brigade with Amy Poehler. Were you? Probably not.

2) The idea was 100% the owners.
He could push it through with about 0% committee. If this idea had gone to committee it would have been killed in about 1 second. Here’s why:

• It has bad words in it – even if they are bleeped out. People would say, why not tone that down a bit. It’ll still be funny, he could say something like “We make “fricken” great blades. Yep, no one would catch that little change.

• It has what could be perceived as racial slurs in it against Latinas. I’ve found a few racial watchdog sites talking about this, but nothing too much. Still, I don’t think any committee would even for a second have allowed Ibeza to be “not working” as her state of life before Dollare Shave Club came along. They would have had the boss “working hand in hand with our great operations managers.”

3) It looks cheap. Do you REALLY want that?
It makes the operation look cheap. I’ve yet to come across a customer that thought the type of mise-en-scene that is in Dollar Shave Club is how they want to be represented. Of course it fits perfectly, that doesn’t mean I’ve ever seen anyone that wants this.

4) You didn’t think of your video before you thought of your pitch, your website, your everything – that guy did.
The boss guy said he’d had the idea for the video before he even had the idea for the company exactly. You can tell that, the website, everything feels just like the video. How exactly is that going to work for you when you’ve already got all of this more generic collateral? I doubt it will.

5) You could do A LOT better for yourself…hits aren’t everything.
What are you likely to make if you try to make a Dollar Shave Club video? A mess. It will feel like a knock off, and it will not feel like YOU. That is the most important thing. This guy wanted a clear representation of himself. His company is that. And his video is that. I’d no sooner make a Dollar Shave Club video for Hand Crank Films than light my building on fire. Do I want a video with over 3 million hits – sure – but I want it on my own terms, and so should you.

If you take one inspirational thing away from the Dollar Shave Club, make it be that you should really dig deep to find out WHO YOU ARE, and then make that video. The one thing you can do that Dollar Shave Club did is TAKE A CHANCE ON YOURSELF!! People will respond to that. They may not come in waves of the millions, but for most of our companies it is not about getting everybody to jump on board, it is about getting the RIGHT people to want our products. Make a few of the RIGHT connections with clients, and you’re in.

Max

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Though this presentation is not self-explanatory by any means (as it was complemented by the spoken word) – it’s sort of fun to take a look at anyway. And if you want, I can always send you the whitepaper that spells all this stuff out in detail. Just Email Me.

Some interesting stats:

> 100 million videos are uploaded a day online.
> 4 billion videos are viewed a day.
> According to Jupiter Research, 65% of executives (C-Suite types) prefer to view video to learn about products, services or companies.
> Of those 65%, 75% say they would click through to learn more.
> In 2014, a full 90% of all online traffic will be driven by video or similar multimedia.

Let me know what you think – and thanks for dropping by.

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Today, we carry around that campfire in our hip pocket. Our smartphone is the new place to connect, share, and feel like we’re part of a bigger community. We pass along profound (and not so profound) information all the time. We laugh or cry with people we haven’t seen in years. Many of us have become epic storytellers in a 140 characters or less. Or shared hilarious cat videos.

This Wednesday at MarketMix in Seattle, I’ll be leading a panel discussing the power of story-telling, especially as it relates to the use of video online. I’ll be joined by the prestigious Jennifer Bolton from F5 Networks and Shari Campbell from JayRay Communications, and together we’ll discuss how video has become the web’s main driver of interaction and engagement. We’ll also discuss the future of mobile and how video might be used in that important space to drive results. So if you’re looking for new ways to grab audiences, take a look and join us. You’ll walk away with a lot of good ideas.

What: ‘Video Marketing: Tearing the Lid Off Your Logo’
When: Wednesday, March 20th at 10:00AM
Where: Bell Harbor International Conference Center, Seattle

One of the videos we’ll be looking at as a B2B case study is the below by F5 Networks – an excellent example of grabbing an audience’s attention in an unexpected way.

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So, what kind of resistance will you be met with?

Long and arduous days? Yes. Creative impedance? Most certainly. Time spent away from family and friends? Without a doubt. A future sure to be filled with similar struggles? Guaranteed.

Daunting as it may seem, the solution to overcoming is quite simple: keep moving forward. Whether at a full sprint or a painstaking crawl, stop at nothing until you reach your destination. It will make your arrival that much more satisfying.

This event got us thinking about the road we, at Hand Crank Films, travel and the resistance we meet. Being a video production company out of Bellingham, WA, we face challenges and prejudices all the time, especially when talking to the Big Guns in the industry. But that’s a subject for a different post.

In the meantime, check out this interesting article about the CTO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, who has a new book talking about her attempt at smashing the status quo. Provocative stuff. The bottomline message: Push On!

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