Here was my response:

I’ve been in the advertising/marketing industry for nearly 30 years. For the last 15 of those, I’ve owned a video production and web site design firm that services a wide variety of corporate clients.

Don’t let my resume fool you though — I actually DON’T think all online video has to meet the same levels of production value. For instance, some of the best viral videos have worked partly because their production values were so low. Often low production value adds a level of credibility to a video that purports to be “bystander video” of an actual event caught in the moment. For spoofs, low-brow comedy and even promotional videos and web-ads where it’s hip to be grungy — low production value can be cool.

However, audiences today are more sophisticated than ever about the quality of what they see on screen — regardless of whether that screen is attached to a computer, mobile phone or their home entertainment system. Even kids know good lighting, editing and acting when they see it — or more to the point — when they DON’T see it. They may not have the vocabulary to express it — but they definitely notice and make a judgment call.

To me, the best way to decide how much production value is required for your video is to start by thinking about who your desired audience is. If it’s hipsters and 20-somethings looking for something fun — that requires one kind of approach. If, on the other hand, you’re hoping to sell thousands of dollars of software to medium-size businesses — that’s a completely different message that needs to be presented in a very different way.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example of someone who successfully used low production value video. His goal? Grow business for his parents’ wine store. His target (and this is what made his approach make sense) was younger audiences who knew nothing about wine — and maybe even felt a little intimidated by snobby “wine culture.” Gary’s personal style is irreverent, fun, and “in your face”. Yet, he really does know wine. He’s just not afraid to be enthusiastic, profane, rough edged, etc., in his wine reviews. I’ve heard him tell his audience that a particular wine is so bad its aroma reminds him of the smell of a county fair men’s room. His Wine Library videos were massively popular with exactly the crowd he was aiming for. His parents’ business sky rocketed.

But Gary will also tell you that he knows his style of presentation is a complete turn-off to older, more conservative audiences who have money to spend and are interested in wine. That bothers him, but not enough to compromise his focus on the young, hip market that connects with him.

What plagues me is all the discussion going on in chat rooms and on blog postings about how no business should ever have to worry about production value. Don’t hire that expensive production company — just set up your camera and go for it. Really? It’s one thing for hipsters to be drawn to a hand-held Flip video production about a new brand of jeans. It’s a completely different story for the CIO of a corporation to watch your cheaply produced, rambling video and decide to spend $10,000 on a software license with your company.

The point is, the audience makes the decision. There are just some things that I want to buy from a professional, solid-looking company. No passes for being on-line. On-line is your business’ number one way of connecting with me. That’s where you get to make your first, best and in many cases, ONLY impression. If your video looks amateurish — guess what? That’s now the impression I have of your company.

Think about it. Haven’t you ever seen one of those awful, locally produced TV spots for say, a tire company or furniture store and thought — “I will NEVER shop there. That Mom and Pop operation can’t even make a good commercial.”

The same thing applies to web sites. You know you’ve landed on a site that was so poorly designed that you thought “these people have to be working out of their basement”.

I could go on and on — and maybe I already have. Thanks for exploring this topic — it’s important.

If you ask me, it’s none of the above.

The single most expensive element in any video or web project — in terms of money, time, frustration and overall quality — is the untimely request for a change or revision.

Don’t get me wrong.  Revisions and tweaks are all part of the process in a custom project such as a video or web site design.  The client and production team  need to collaborate on any number of decisions and directions throughout the project.

It’s the untimely part that makes change so ugly and divisive.  You see, every production schedule includes very specific time periods  that allow for changes and revisions throughout the life of a project.  For instance, once we’ve written a script or web content and presented it to the client, we usually build in a good solid week (or more) for the client to mull it over, share it internally, gather comments and then come back to us with an organized, collated list of requested changes and revisions.  The same is true for design work such as storyboards or page layouts.  Stock photography, video and music selections all have a scheduled period of time of client consideration and approval or requests for change.  The rough cut of the video has it’s own review period.

During those review periods, the production team busies itself with other unrelated work.  We don’t move forward until the client has approved the direction we’re going.

I  like to compare video and web projects to the process of building a house.  Most of us would expect to pay a premium if we  changed our mind about the color of the shingles just after they’d all been nailed to the roof.  Or if we decided we really needed an extra bathroom after the foundation had already been laid and the framing had begun.

It’s not any different in the world of video production and web site design.  Changes made at the wrong time usually have a domino effect.  Especially with web sites.  “Just” adding one more section usually has the domino effect of requiring changes to the site navigation on every page that’s already been designed.   “Just” adding another paragraph of narration to a video requires more shooting or time in the sound studio as well as more stock footage or b-roll shooting, more music to license, more of an editor‘s time in an edit suite to make all of these changes.  Additional graphics may need to be created as well.

So, from the client’s perspective, how can you guard your budget and your delivery schedule?  Here are a few tips that can help everyone in the process:

1.  Identify the decision makers in your organization and make sure they’re prepared to be part of the approval process throughout the life of the project.

2.  When you receive the production schedule, immediately distribute it to your internal team and make sure that decision makers are actually going to be available during the scheduled review periods.  If not, tell your production company immediately so that a new schedule can be drawn up.

3. Once you have a workable production schedule, make sure all important landmarks are blocked out on the calendars of the decision makers — well in advance.

4.  Be prepared for the unexpected — Part I.  C-level execs have a habit of ignoring their calendars.  If one of your decision makers suddenly isn’t going to be able to meet a production schedule landmark — let your production team know as soon as possible.  We can often adjust our schedules to compensate — or suspend work that might have to be undone, once the exec does his review.

5.  Be prepared for the unexpected — Part II.  Because CEOs and other heavily scheduled execs can be unpredictable, we suggest that the client set aside some portion of their budget (beyond the amount contracted with the production company) for last minute changes and revisions.  Padding your deadline by a few days to a week can also come in handy.

Bottom line:  in the world of video production and web site design, change is inevitable, but if you take the right steps upfront, it’s possible to minimize it’s more unpleasant consequences.

So, this week I received an innocuous handwritten letter in the mail.  Return address: “The Future”.  Who knew the future actually resides in Richmond, VA?  Anyway, I don’t recognize the handwriting and I don’t really think I know anyone in Richmond, but I go ahead and open it.  (Amazing — I was hooked by the return address!)

Inside is an actual original crayon drawing of a dinosaur with one handwritten  line scrawled in crayon:  www.stopthedinosaurs.com/Cara B.

I let the thing sit on my desk for a couple of days.  I mean, is this some insidious, twisted plot to expose my computer to who knows what virus or scam?  Am I about to become the butt of some international internet-based joke?  I could only hold out so long…

blueMarble caraBarineau from Nate777 on Vimeo.

Pretty cool, right?  I mean, this campaign — despite it’s adolescent trappings –  appears to have taken some serious work.  First the folks behind this campaign had to find us and a sample of our web design work.  (By the way, the web site featured in this video is for The Voyager Group of Laguna Beach, CA.)

They had to identify me and the address for Blue Marble.  And, of course, they had to customize their video and their crayon drawing just for me.

And did it work?  Pretty much, I’d have to admit.  I watched their video — twice.  I clicked through to the Tomorrow Awards web site and searched all around it.  I haven’t yet signed up to be a judge, but I probably will.  And now I’m promoting them with a post on our blog!

Yep — they got me.  Hook, line and click-through.

I loved this campaign on so many levels!  First, the personalization — I’m speechless.  Second, the use of video was fun and engaging.  Third, the hook to the Tomorrow Awards web site was superb.  Fourth, direct mail — it’s still alive and kicking!

This is a great demonstration of the power of video on the web … the effectiveness of combining old and new media … and, let’s face it, a lot of good old raw creative thinking!

“Gone are the days when you have to spend $10,000+ on a video by acquiring a crew, hiring a director, booking a studio, etc. Creating online video doesn’t have to be hard, nor does it have to look amateurish. If you follow these few basic steps, you can — quickly and easily — create a video yourself that shines…”

If you follow that line of thinking — it should be no problem using your own snapshots of the company executives in your next annual report, right? I mean, look at the great digital cameras that are available today. And iPhoto makes retouching so easy!

Here was my response to their blog:

Don’t ever forget that your brand is judged everyday by the quality of the messages and images you put in front of your audiences.

It may not be fair, but if your web site, printed materials or video look amateurish — that’s EXACTLLY the impression your prospects will now have about your organization. Amateurish. Unsophisticated. Unprofessional. Small. Not a major player.

You know you’ve thought the same thing about other companies’ sites when you’ve been online.

So, it’s true — the low cost of HD video cameras and laptop or even web based editing software is making video production much more accessible to everyone.

And, for video testimonials and simple short messages from executives — most companies can and should be able to create good video on their own.

But before you take on a video project with no outside professional help, remember some of the tough lessons companies had to learn back in the 90s when Desktop Publishing was all the rage.

I actually worked with a company that purchased Corel Draw and a color printer and told the RECEPTIONIST to learn how to use both so that they could “spice up” their proposals. Care to guess how that all worked out?

OK, so the point is this: just because you CAN layout a brochure — or point a video camera in the general direction of your CEO — doesn’t mean you SHOULD.

It sounds trite, but it’s true — you only get one chance to make a first impression.

For instance, one web site we created earned us tickets for four to Wimbledon.  (The company’s owner was a former Wimbledon champion.  He gave us his seats in Court One!)

A national shoe store chain was so pleased with our work that they showed up at our door one day with a size 29 tennis shoe to display in our office.  They had sponsored a contest to find the person with America’s biggest feet — and the winner had signed this shoe that was exactly his size.  Pretty cool! (The shoe still resides in our lobby.)

Our video crews have been on the rooftops of some of the highest buildings in the world … in the cockpit of a Boeing jet … in the permanent winter of a meat packing facility … on the ramps at major airports … in hospitals, banks and laboratories. Our video and web work has informed and entertained everyone from titans of industry and members of congress to day care workers and international travelers arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson.

We’ve ridden the wave of the booming mid-to-late 90s … survived Y2K … held our breath through the the dot-com crash and again through the Great Recession.

15 years — all in all, it’s been quite an experience!  Over the course of 2010, we’ll be sharing some of the history, experience and insights we’ve garnered along the way.  Stay tuned!

Recently, I participated in a discussion in one of my Linked-In groups regarding just this topic.  I was shocked that much of the “chatter” revolved around search engine rankings – and not much of anything else.

Why search engine discussion when the topic is video?  Because there’s a great deal of debate on just how “searchable” video content really is.  Google and other search engines have proclaimed that they now have the ability to “search” video content.  That’s exciting news, even though most experts will tell you that this video search capability still has a way to go before it’s perfected.

But is that a reason not to use video on your web site???

For the record, I’m a HUGE fan of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  It’s done wonders for Blue Marble Media and our consumer-market business Cooper Maron Commissioned Films. People from literally around the world are finding us – and more importantly, contacting us with questions and opportunities for doing business.

So always, always work on building & maintaining your search engine ranking.

OK.  So you’ve done a great job building link and tags, keeping your web site and blog updated, etc., and people are starting to find you!  HURRAY!

My question for you is this: now that they’ve “found” you, what are they going to see?  How are you going to engage them?  How can you be sure they spend a little time getting to know you and your products and services?

Content, friends, content!

And video is one of the best types of content there is.  It’s better at explaining complex ideas … better at moving a viewer emotionally … better at entertaining and keeping your audience engaged … better at conveying customer testimonials … better at training a process or procedure … etc.

So first of all, while it’s not yet perfected, video searches are happening and are helping pump up your search engine ranking.

But even more important – video is going to help differentiate you from your competitors.  Think about it – if you’re number one as the result of a Google search — what about the guys who are number two or three in that same search?  Chances are they’ve got very similar written content to what you’ve been putting out there – that’s why all three of you are at the top of the same search results.

So, a consumer looking for specific products or services, is probably going to visit the web sites of at least two or three companies, right?  That’s certainly what I do when I’m researching on-line.

Once you’ve been “found” in a search, hopefully with a first page placement, it’s pretty safe to assume you’re now in a head-to-head competition with every other listing on that first page.  They’ve optimized their sites to rank well for this kind of search, just like you have.  What’s going to make your site stand out?  What’s going to position your company as more of an authority?  What’s going to make your company feel trustworthy and professional?

Could it be …video?

With video in the recruitment area of your web site, you can provide all kinds of info to help those “needles” find their way out of the stack and into your HR department for an interview.  Use video to show off some of your after-hours activities:  picnics, philanthropic events, holiday parties, etc.  Also, consider short sound-byte testimonials from a cross section of your employees.  They can talk about the opportunities they’ve had, special training they’ve received, successes they’ve experienced, etc.

So let’s review … seeing your employees having fun and excited about their jobs –  vs. — reading about how your employees have fun and are excited about their jobs.  Which do you think has more impact?