Report from the Content Marketing Retreat

I'm spending two days this week at the Content Marketing Retreat on Whidbey Island, put on by the Langley Center for New Media. This event has industry leaders talking to a small group of professionals, split roughly evenly between marketing and production people, about the latest trends in video storytelling and their application. Rather than link to individual bios, the comprehensive list of presenters is here. The quickie summaries.

From Scott Abel (by far my favorite presenter of the day). There are story archetypes that all videos fall in. Some examples:

• Overcoming the Monster: Terrible forces are out there, but we can help. American Express Small Business Saturday

• Rebirth: We're changing how things are. Cipolte Back To The Start.

• Journey and Return: Literally, a voyage, a trip. Expedia's Find Your Understanding (my reaction to this one—WOW)

• Tragedy: The consequences of a tragic flaw. St John's Ambulance

• Comedy: The ones that make Facebook, et. al. Kotex GenerationKnow

Russell Sparkman made the crucial point that video is about the customer journey, and the tests of that alignment include:

• Does it touch an emotion?

• Are the targets who you need to connect with, (which is not the same as how many you reach)?

• Is the deployment properly managed?

• Is the piece worthwhile and engaging?

• Is it part of a series of videos, all of which can have a long life?

• Are they shareable?

From Chris Donaldson. Videos have 3 requirements: find your story (what is the conflict, what is the problem to solve), find the metaphor (the larger meaning), and find your heart (connect emotionally).

Jon Wuebben gave a distressing, and misleading factoid about video budgets, for which I called him on later. He maintained a high production value video should cost between $2000-$5000. Given that I couldn't hire crew or stay in business at the high end of that range (and I'm a seriously low overhead operation), this is not an encouraging trend if this becomes accepted fact.

Kim Barnes, on the basics of rights and assignments, used three very bad words: Work For Hire. That all clients need to hire their video production on that basis. Two words. I don't. (Yes, I know RTW is the generally accepted practice in film work, and I won't say I'd never sign one, but as a producer I've maintained the licensing model I've applied my entire career as a still photographer for all my projects up to now.)

Pamela Muldoon made my head spin with where video deployment on social media is headed. YouTube Facebook channel apps, Twitter profiles for video, Pinterest boards for video, LinkedIn as the new hot place for video and promotion. Man, it's busy out there.

Nate Riggs outlined the common elements that make a video go viral (from the awful to the transcendent). Colin Christianson talked about live video, which I hope I never have to do. Bryan Zug went all animation graphics on us, pitching it as the budget alternative to real humans in front of or behind the camera. Scott Pierce talked about data and analytics, and I couldn't understand a single word he said.

Tomorrow we break into small groups, and work on a plan for a strategic video initiative, which we'll sell to the larger group in the afternoon. Stay tuned.  

Comments

[Marianne]

Fascinating! Thank you for providing a critical read on this workshop.

[Nate Rigg]

Thanks for the mention, Doug. It was good to meet you yesterday and I hope you have a great experience at the workshop today! Cheers!