How one client uses their animated, explanatory video..

This is a video we did for a client. Check it out then read below about how the client is using the video and how it helps them communicate their message.

We interviewed Bob Walters of Burroughs Payment Systems and this is what he had to say:

Switch: How does this video help you meet your business objectives?

Bob: We like the video because it helps explain a business process that people are generally unfamiliar with. The process itself really isn’t complex, but it’s a dry topic that can be explained in just a couple of minutes, and upon seeing the video, most people say ‘oh I get it now’.

Switch: How are you using the video?

Bob: We are re-vamping our Burroughs.com website, so we hope to have the video posted on there by next week. In the meantime we have it on YouTube and I’ve been sending that link to those who are interested. I have discovered some corporate systems do not allow their employees to access YouTube, so having the video on our corporate site will help promote it.

The video is also a good opener for presentations. When I am speaking to a group for the first time to explain the concept, I start with the video; it loosens up the audience and gets people in a more open frame of mind and you can still see that hint of a smile on their face when I fire up the PowerPoint slides.

Switch: Who is your target audience:

Bob: This product is deployed in retail establishments, and a part of the prospect base is the retailer, so the whimsical approach fits well in this model because it’s partially a B2C model. The other part of the prospect base is banks, and that’s purely a B2B model with probably more conservative thinking and maybe less effect.

So that’s how Burroughs uses their video and just one example of how you can use yours too. Video helps to explain things in a more fun and engaging way that works in both B2C models and B2B models. If you’re interested in a video for your business just fill out the short form to the right and you’ll hear from one of our Web Video Specialists in no time.

Win a Free Animated Marketing Video!!!

Welcome to Switch Marketing’s First Ever Video Contest!

Video is the most engaging marketing method online and we think everyone should give it a chance and see the results it can bring. So we’ve decided to launch a contest on Twitter where the company with the most votes WINS A FREE VIDEO!

All the details are below along with contact information should you have any questions.

If you’re wondering whether this is a contest worth trying for, we’re obviously going to say yes! There are more than $11,000 in prizes to be won so we’ll leave that up to you.

When:
March 1 - 15, 2010

Grand Prize: A FREE 2-minute Plus, animated web video for your company. The video will be produced by Switch Marketing in the 8 weeks after the contest ends. This package is worth $8,000 !

Second prize: A 1-minute Plus screencast video for the business that comes in second. This package is worth $3,000!

Why:
Video is the most effective communication and marketing tool online. Having a professionally produced video that explains what you do, who you are or how to use your product(s)/service(s) is a great way to brand your business, increase traffic to your website and boost your conversion rates.

How:
To get started follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/switchmarketing

Then send out the following tweet to your followers:

Win a free animated marketing video! Follow @switchmarketing & RT this to your followers. http://twttr.me/dbqR

Once you nominate your company by following us and retweeting this message, we will DM you with a link to fill out a short form with a bit more information.

Once you fill out the form you can start asking for some Twitter love from your followers.

Ask your followers to vote for you by Tweeting the following message on Twitter:

I vote for @company to win a  free animated marketing video from @switchmarketing because….
That’s it!  So easy!

The Rules:

1. All votes must be received by midnight EST on Monday March 15, 2010 to count.
2. All nominations must come from a @switchmarketing follower.
3. Your followers can only vote for you once each.
4. The winner of the 2-min Plus Explanatory web video from Switch Marketing will be announced on Tuesday March 16, 2010 at 2 p.m. EST via Twitter.
5. Video projects that we are currently working on are not eligible to win this contest.
6. Switch Marketing reserves the right to use the winners’ videos on our website portfolio and video sharing sites.
7. The winner can then contact Shelby at 1-877-297-6090 ext. 725 to claim their prize.

All questions can be directed to Shelby at videomarketing@switchmarketing.com

Help Feed Haiti

Since the disastrous earthquake in Haiti, the World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered emergency response meals to more than 600,000 people and are working towards a goal of feeding two million.

We hope that this video will help them accomplish that mission and that by watching it, you will want to help feed Haiti too.

Dan Shaw, the animator of the video said, “It was a really great experience being able to contribute to such an important cause.” He worked closely with our Producer Jackie Brown and Script Writer Ryan McDonald to make this video for the WFP.

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.

You can make a donation to help feed Haiti at https://www.wfp.org/donate/haiti

You can also check out this video and others on their YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/WORLDFOODPROGRAM

Tax Credit Video on TV!

We are very excited to announce that this Switch Marketing video is going to be on TV!!

In partnership with Time Warner Cable Media, the Wilmington Regional Association of REALTORS® (WRAR) has helped to launch an OnDemand channel called Carolina Homes OnDemand - designed for people to watch segments on everything to do with homes and the real estate market. These segments will also be on regular TV under the Cape Fear Now channel!

To promote these segments and their REALTOR® members, they will be using the customized NAR (National Association of Realtors) commercials to get consumers in their local area to check out their public MLS site THEwilmingtonMLS.com.

Here’s the best part:

The NAR Commercials will air across several different local channels like HGTV, Food Network, Lifetime, LMN, News 14 Carolina (the Time Warner News), Oxygen and TLC!

This tax credit video is being incorporated into WRAR’s TV Awareness Campaign to make the public aware of the opportunities available to them and to let them know that now is a great time to buy a home.

Brian Pilon, Director of Marketing Communications at WRAR, says, “Our mission is to support the careers of our members, and this partnership and TV Awareness Campaign will help us achieve that. It will function as our own local public awareness campaign much like NAR does nationally for all REALTORS®. We also hope it drives more traffic to THEwilmingtonMLS.com which results in more exposure for our member’s listings and increases their business.”

The first segments, scheduled to air in two to three weeks, will focus on the Extended Tax Credit and Affordable Housing Opportunities. So expect to see this video soon on a TV near you!

Use Your Noodle - A Video

We first started chatting with Noodle on Twitter and it wasn’t long before we began to create this video about their crazy cool program!

Noodle is a work oriented social networking platform designed for efficient and fun communication within the workplace. That’s right!  A program that uses Facebook and Twitter like applications, discussion forums, team blogs and other great collaboration tools that enable employees to share documents, thoughts and ideas with each other. Cool, right? Like always though, the video does a far better job of explaining it than I do.

As the animator on the project, Eric Martucci said, “They left room for a lot of creativity and offered continuous feedback and communication, which helped move the project along quickly while still maintaining a high level of quality. They were open to ideas and suggestions and we worked well together.”

If you’d like to see how Noodle used this video you can check it out at http://www.vialect.com/

So what do you think of Noodle’s new video? We think it’s fantastic, but we tend to be a little bias so please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Introducing Our New CEO……… Kelly McKenna!!

The exciting news was just announced to the company yesterday - a new CEO has been chosen!

Kelly McKenna was offered the position this past weekend and the whole company is just buzzing with excitement! Andrew had been looking to hire a CEO so he could focus more of his attention on sales and marketing and he’s found the perfect fit!

So without further ado, please welcome Kelly to her new role here at Switch!

“I am excited and confident that Switch will be a very successful company because of the skills & expertise each person has and I can’t wait to begin working with everyone in the great capacity that my role as CEO will allow!” she said.

Here’s a little background info on Kelly and her experience with Switch until now:

Before being promoted to CEO in January 2010, Kelly worked with Switch as a Web Video Specialist. She has successfully sold many videos to clients all over the world as a Sales Executive and also took on a number of project management responsibilities in the form of client relations. Kelly has played a significant role in the growth of each of our departments and the company as a whole.

She graduated from Quebec’s Bishop’s University with a degree in Psychology & Business but knew she had to see some of the world before doing either. Along the way she sailed the Caribbean seas, learned about languages in Japan, and achieved a LIFE dream in Ireland. Living and working abroad with a family isn’t always easy, but it can also provide unique opportunities.

Raising three children abroad inspired Kelly to create www.mumstown.com, a community based social networking website to help people share local information. The website grew and became a nationwide success earning Best Internet & ICT, Best Innovation and Community Awards. She pitched the business on Dragon’s Den and eventually sold the business to investors.

We have no doubts that Kelly is going to take Switch Marketing further than it’s ever been! We are all very excited to have her as our new CEO!

Introducing Ryan McDonald

Ryan enthusiastically joined the Switch Marketing team as a scriptwriter in late 2009. After completing a postgraduate program at Humber College for Advertising Copywriting in 2008, Ryan landed a Jr. Copywriter position at an international ad agency in Toronto. Most recently, Ryan has been working with an independent film company called 83 Pictures. The company, co-founded with two aspiring classmates, produced two short films in 2009, both of which Ryan co-wrote and produced. Their most recent short was produced with the assistance of the BravoFACT! program. “The best part about working for Switch is the people… they’re an animated bunch.”

Welcome Ryan, we’re glad you joined out Team!

Producers of Explanatory Videos

A couple of months ago as you may remember, we posted a blog that listed some explanatory video producers following a TechCrunch article titled “The Underutilized Power of the Video Demo…” that got a lot of attention.

Well, after attempting a little market research and realizing that it’s still quite difficult to search for and find explanatory video producers, I thought this is a list we should keep updated over time. So here is an updated version that I will continue to add to upon request.

If your company should be on this list but isn’t please just add a comment with a link to your portfolio and pricing if available.

So here it is! We will rightfully begin the list with the Common Craft Explainer Network which includes the following:

Switch Marketing: Portfolio - Pricing

Say it Visually:  Portfolio

Lilipip:  Portfolio - Pricing

Splainers:  Portfolio

1/29 Explainers:  Portfolio

Animated Explanations: Portfolio

Other explanatory web video producers include:

Nutintuit:  Portfolio

Video Army:  Portfolio

Transvideo Studios: Portfolio

EyeView Digital:  Portfolio

Epipheo Studios: Portfolio

Simpleshow:   Website

Howcast:   Portfolio

Wheelhouse Communications:   Portfolio

RapidFire Video:    Portfolio

Please let us know what you think about our list and follow us on Twitter for access to our web video Twitter list as well!

Short Videos vs. Long Videos

It`s probably no surprise that short videos are more engaging and effective than long videos. Heck, we’ve built a business on this knowledge, but the stats recently reported by Wistia, a hosting service  for thousands of videos, are out of this world!

They first compared two videos by one of their clients. “The red line in the graph represents the engagement of their 30-second video. The blue line is the engagement graph for a 90-second video. It’s expected that these two videos would have different engagement graphs, but what’s odd is that the first 30 seconds of both videos are identical!”

The results? “Even though viewers were exposed to the same exact content, the drop-off rate of the 90-second video was much higher. By the end of the 30-second video there were about double the number of viewers than at the same point in the 90-second video.”

This means that just knowing the video is longer is discouraging enough to viewers to quit watching earlier on than they will if they know the video is short. It’s really a fear of commitment!

It’s also interesting how Wistia measured these results on a larger scale including many of their clients to see how many people watched videos of different lengths all the way through.

While viewing length continues to drop after 30 seconds, the big drop begins at two minutes plus. It seems that this is the point where many attention spans timeout and lose interest. If it’s important that your viewers make it to the end of your video for say, a call to action then this two-minute time line is one to aim for.

Depending on your goals for your video the length will vary, but the better you can simplify your message into a shorter, more engaging video - the better the response you’ll receive.

Check out the full article titled Does length matter? It does for Video!

Happy Holidays from All of Us!