By Marco Greenberg, president, Reel Biography
The perception of video in the public relations industry needs an extreme makeover.
While video is popping up everywhere - individual monitors on Jet Blue, Google Web video searches, DVDs accompanying best sellers, video delivery on cell phones etc. - the
PR industry generally retains a 1980's sensibility toward this medium.
When I mention video to PR pros their reaction sounds more like an account executive who just got bawled out by a producer for sending a canned and overly promotional VNR
which looks more 1985 than 2005.
To be sure, there's good reason for the skepticism. Done right, video hits the bull's-eye, done wrong it boomerangs - big time.
Video is still cool (ask MTV) because of the old reasons -- it's visual, emotional, entertaining, sexy and the ultimate moving picture worth 10,000 words -- and new reasons
e.g. the broadband revolution, combined with digital shooting and editing which has taken a bite out of over priced and uninspired corporate videos.
Here are the " killer video apps" for PR pros:
- Publicity: Ever pitch a new client that you only wish could magically appear on the journalist's computer screen?
- New Business: Develop a three-minute fun and fast-moving Reel on a plasma screen at the kick off meeting rather than the boring one two: power point +clip book. (If you think
you "sound better in person," think again.) - Positioning: Encapsulate and adapt strategic positioning from the realm of white board to a marketing tool that can stream on clients' Web sites, and/or send e-mail links to
bolster a virile campaign.