Chapter 10. Video and Audio for Enhanced Web Communications

Video applications appeared on the Web in the early 1990s. The ability to communicate through these applications has been available to you for many years. But, why is video on the Web such a focus now? Is it the fact that broadband is making audio and video more accessible to brands and their audiences? Or, did it take YouTube.com and Web 2.0 consumer video content sharing, video blogs (vlogs), and video podcasting to create an intensified interest? Is this awareness so great that it makes you want to pay attention to these PR 2.0 tools for your own brands? Let's explore the answers to these questions in the world of PR 2.0, where you need to embrace social media strategies and the 2.0 tools to capture your audience's attention.

More Than a Fad

Video is powerful and communications professionals have known this for years. There's strength in visual communications that tells an interesting story. Regardless of where you think the push for Web video emanated, you can clearly see that it's much more than a fad. Wikipedia says, "A fad refers to a fashion that becomes popular in a culture relatively quickly, but loses popularity dramatically."^[1] Video will not lose its popularity. It dates back to earlier uses of Video News Releases (VNRs) in the 1980s and pre-Web streaming video, live or on demand. Pharmaceutical companies and other large corporations, including Microsoft and Phillip Morris, use VNRs in their communication efforts.^[2] The popularity of using video in communications, especially on the Internet, is growing immensely among consumer and business audiences.

There's a reason they call YouTube.com "The Talk of Tinseltown."^[3] The video-rich site has attracted a tremendous amount of attention from Internet media companies, manufacturers, and Hollywood studios. Although early on many professionals were not sure how YouTube would make money, the Web site was noticed quickly by different audiences—more than just teenagers. YouTube continued to gain popularity when its numbers reached 4.2 million unique visitors approximately three months after launch. The interactivity on the site is fascinating for audiences. With the right mix of professional video clips and amateur content, the site attracts and retains audiences that can spend hours satisfying their "thirst for reality programming."

Web 2.0 Competition Is Heating Up

YouTube.com came on like a storm and made the "big guys"—Yahoo!, AOL, and Google—take notice. All felt compelled to get involved in the video mix and rightly so. Yahoo! launched its video site early in 2006 to get in on a video craze that was so easily achieved by YouTube.Video.yahoo.com launched with a Yahoo! Video page that included "a search box at the top and editorially chosen feature videos that are topical, interesting, or popular among viewers."^[4] Yahoo! audiences drive the content by reviewing videos, reading the ratings, and then by forwarding links with video clips by using their Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo! Messenger.

Also in 2006, AOL made a big move toward video to gain the same type of attention as YouTube. AOL acquired a video search company, Truveo, in an effort to become a recognized player in the Video on Demand (VOD) market. Truveo's video search engine technology has a "Web crawler that can understand visual characteristics to help return more accurate search results."^[5] AOL aimed to please its audiences with video searches that, until this point, were not as successful as text searches. With YouTube, Yahoo!, and AOL now actively engaged in video, Google had to make a quick move. Google launched its own video store where consumers could browse a main menu for video selections to purchase. It was also in 2006 that Google purchased YouTube for approximately $1.65 billion. Clearly, the thought leaders have set the stage for what could be the most important type of visual communication in the 21^st Century. As a communications professional, you need to take the steps to use video at an enhanced level—moving from VNRs to Video on Demand (VOD) and real-time video on the Internet.

An Expert's Top 10 Reasons to Use Video

Jason Miletsky, CEO and Creative Director of PFS Marketwyse, remembers when he downloaded his very first video clip. It was in the early 1990s and he had just signed up for AOL (back when they still charged a per-minute fee). Miletsky wasn't looking for anything in particular, but somehow stumbled across a clip of John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address. The physical size of the 20-second clip couldn't have been more than an inch square and took a full eight minutes to download. It was pixilated, garbled, and stuttered throughout. According to Miletsky, none of that mattered, "It was fascinating!" He said he watched it over and over again.

Miletsky admitted that the image quality of the Internet video clip was no match for its television rival. But the short, grainy, tiny video of Kennedy's speech was more than just a novelty of the Web—it represented power for the consumer. Of course, the TV entertained him on its own schedule, playing shows when the network decision-makers scheduled them. But, Internet video is entertainment and information when the viewer wants it. Miletsky feels that technology has been available almost as long as the Internet has been commercially popular, but it is now enjoying a bright spotlight over a decade later. Miletsky's top 10 reasons for the recent surge in video and podcasting on the Internet follow.

1. Improvements in Technology

As exciting as that very first video was, inevitably 8 minutes to download was simply too long for a 20-second clip. The concept of video on the Web simply couldn't fit into the reality of 12.8K modem speeds, monitors that displayed only a handful of colors, and computer speeds, power, and memory that are scant by today's standards. Today, the vast majority of companies (and a rapidly growing number of homes) access the Internet on DSL or better, from computers with considerably faster, more efficient processors, and monitors that not only display millions of colors, but do so in a variety of resolutions, providing an improved landscape for video to display.

2. More Accessible Production Capabilities (smaller or built-in cameras, Final Cut, iMovie, and the like)

Apple's contributions to the acceleration of video's emergence and a popular Web medium can't be overstated. Even before the iPod paved the way for communication-on-the-go, Apple revolutionized video production by bringing it to the desktop with the introduction of Final Cut Pro. This off-the-shelf product, which was used to produce a studio motion picture in 2001 and began winning Emmy awards for engineering in 2002, enabled home users, hobbyists, and small companies to produce videos for a few hundred dollars as opposed to the tens of thousands required for AVID and other larger editing systems. The popularization and commercial acceptance of Final Cut, along with the improvement and subsequent price reduction of Web-ready cameras (including those built-in to many laptops), has brought video production capabilities to a far wider audience.

3. Improved Compression and Playback

Formatting issues have existed long before the VHS vs. Beta confrontation, and will continue to challenge developers as long as technology evolves. The Web, of course, has been no stranger to formatting issues that have plagued and hindered the expansion of video's usability on the Internet. Formats including WMV's, MPEG 4, and MOV have all struggled for dominance, each sporting their own benefits and drawbacks in regard to file size and image quality. Meanwhile, a confusing array of players, plug-ins, and browser capabilities have made convergence of media difficult for developers. Enter Adobe's Flash player, which has been nearly universally offered on most popular Web browsers to play FLV files, and the Flash CS 3 video encoder, a compression system that significantly reduces the size of videos without compromising their quality. Flash, which was once the culprit behind the alarming number of Web intro animations,^[6] has matured to be the impetus to widespread video use on the Web.

4. The YouTube Factor

Once in blue moon, a Web site sees such unbelievable success that the public is forced to pay attention. Google showed up virtually unannounced to usurp Yahoo! as the king of all search engines; MySpace emerged as the most important socializing venue for young adults since the fraternity house; and YouTube, with its almost two-billion dollar sale to Google, focused the world's attention on a previously little known fact: Video on the Web is finally here.

5. The iPod Revolution

When the iPod hit the streets in 2001, it changed the music world forever. Music lovers were busy filling their device with 99 cent songs. At the same time, businesses realized that digital files could be downloaded to a portable audio device (a valuable tool to send messages to an audience). Seminars, white papers, news updates, and more began finding their way onto the iPods of business people everywhere looking to learn on the run. As newer versions of the iPod offered more memory and more features, including video playback, audio 'podcasts' evolved into video presentations, becoming so popular that even the term 'podcasting' has since become ubiquitous with on-demand video provided via the Web.

6. Increased Competition for the User

As the Web continues to expand, the competition to attract and retain audiences has become fiercer. This is true for sites looking to draw a general audience, as well as sites in a more limited vertical in a strictly B2B space. Brand managers and marketing directors, always on the lookout for new ways to attract eyeballs, are noticing that video on the Web and podcast capabilities are available tools that can provide a competitive advantage.

7. Less Time Allotted by Visitors to Understand Content

As wonderful a tool the Web is for providing information, the truth is that reading long bodies of copy from a Web page can be daunting, difficult, and tiring. The average user, with a limited attention span and a decreasing window of time to spend on any one page, is far more apt to allocate energy listening to content rather than reading it. Tracking studies reveal the time spent on a page with only written content average less than six seconds per visit (not nearly enough time to read the entire page), but skyrocket to a minute or more when that same information is presented through a video.^[7]

8. Higher Degree of Internet Marketing Sophistication and Integration

Web 1.0 brought with it a harsh realization: Traditional marketing agencies weren't quite as hip as they claimed to be. Agencies viewed the Web as a curious oddity they didn't understand, and wished they didn't have to deal with. Web development became a function of "those guys," the "tech geeks" who understood the complexities of programming. Today, though, the Web has been fully embraced by mainstream marketers as a necessary and welcomed addition to the service mix, and often integrated into more widespread marketing campaigns. Video on the Web has been a hidden jewel only recently discovered, as marketers are beginning to replace static banner ads with converted TV commercials, talking heads, and video-enhanced landing pages as the center point of campaigns.

9. Expanded Use

Some uses for video on the Web are fairly obvious: Movie trailers are a given, as are music videos and home movies (as capitalized upon by YouTube). But, as amusing as watching a 14-year-old sing badly might be, businesses have begun to turn their attention to more productive uses of video on the Web. Sales and product training platforms have benefited from it, as have online newsrooms and internal incentive campaigns.

10. Age-Ins Have Entered the Landscape

In the early 1990s, the Web was being commercialized by a generation that had grown up on Pong, Pac Man, and 12–14 year olds busy helping Mario rescue the princess. Those same kids have since graduated college and, just as they demanded more from their gaming experience than even Donkey Kong could deliver, they are also demanding more from their Web experience than we could have imagined. As both our newest developers and our most sought after consumer market, the twenty-somethings are pushing the envelope of video, podcasting, and the Web further.

Lessons from a Thought Leader

The thought leaders are forging the way with video and podcasting. Cisco Systems is "the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet." Many people do not realize a network is critical to the success of a business of any size. Cisco's "hardware, software and service offerings are used to create the Internet solutions that make these networks possible—giving individuals, companies, and countries easy access to information anywhere, at any time. The Cisco name has become synonymous with the Internet, as well as with the productivity improvements that networked business solutions provide."^[8] Cisco was among the Early Adopters of video. The company provided video conferencing tools to its customers in 2004. With the launch of Cisco's MeetingPlace, users were able to set up Web video conferencing all through a single Internet browser. Users had full control of voice and video, all in an effort "to shift its [Cisco's] enterprise customers to more Internet Protocol-based communications."^[9]

Jeanette Gibson, Director of New Media for Cisco, understands the power of video and realizes how video has changed the way people communicate. Gibson has 14 years of experience in corporate communications and 9 years at Cisco, where she leads Cisco's New Media & Operations group. In this role, she is responsible for extending Cisco's leadership and innovation with new media and overseeing the vision and direction of Cisco's award-winning online newsroom, News@Cisco. Gibson is also responsible for developing and communicating the direction of Cisco's corporate blogging and podcasting initiatives and driving its Web strategy for communications Web sites, News@Cisco, and the Investor Relations and Analyst Relations Web sites.

Gibson referred to Cisco as an "Internet company," because they are committed to innovation and always looking at the Web for strategic communications. Cisco was one of the first companies back in the early 1990s to do a lot of e-commerce on its site. Most of Cisco's revenue comes through the Web site via its channel partners. "Being an Internet company, it's in our DNA to do anything that leverages the network and applications, like streaming video, that have been a part of our culture for a while. We do a majority of our communications via video, such as video on demand (VOD), so our executive team, at any event, can speak and the video is available via Cisco TV," explained Gibson. At Cisco, all employees can tune in and watch any program. Cisco TV is similar to a TV station where an employee can watch a sales manager talk about a new product, and watch the CEO, John Chambers, during the company meeting if the employee cannot be there in person. Cisco makes everything available via video. From a "culture perspective" video is the company's DNA—it's an integral part of the way employees work at Cisco.

According to Gibson, Cisco's CEO is very comfortable in the video environment. He likes video communications, so the company is equipped with in-house studios. "I can just pop in the studio and record a VOD (video on demand) for training purposes or education. I would say, probably in the 1990s, we started doing more of this as video streaming became more available. We did make a couple acquisitions that helped propel us into this space. They were video companies that enabled us to get what we now call Cisco TV on board, and that was probably the mid-to-late nineties." When employees log on to Cisco TV, they can see all the scheduled programs. If they need to know, for example, that a company manager meeting is scheduled, or if a broad company meeting is on the horizon, they can view it at their desk and watch the meeting live or watch a replay of the VOD. As a large company, Cisco communicates globally with its employee base using video.

Gibson shared how Cisco's audiences look externally to its online pressroom, which is called News@Cisco and is accessible by going directly to http://newsroom.cisco.com or off the main page www.cisco.com. If a visitor clicks on any news release, it takes her directly to the newsroom. It's here that Gibson considers Cisco's "main site" where they deploy much of its new media. This is the area of the Cisco Web site where users get all the updated news releases and anything going on that's considered "news-wise" for Cisco. The site was reengineered around the year 2000 changing from a text-based site, which basically had a list of news releases, typical of the newsrooms in the nineties. Most were equipped with a simple list of URLs to access news announcements.

"We really looked at what our audience wanted. We knew we had to leverage what was coming out as far as video streaming technology and we deployed a video player on the site around the year 2000. Ever since then, we've been building that up more and we have more than 500 videos on our player now. They're searchable via advanced search. You could search for our CEO's name or a topic, whether its education or healthcare, and that video will come up in the player," stated Gibson. Cisco actually developed a player as a product to better showcase its video. It worked so well that the company ended up licensing the product and selling it to customers. Gibson said, "As an Internet company, we recognize the benefit of video. Studies show that you're five times more likely to retain information if you see it via video than just reading it. That's from an educational perspective with our e-learning group. They had been doing Web-based training for a while, and the benefit that we were seeing was that audiences such as journalists were coming to our site to watch our two-minute news clips."

Gibson believes that Cisco saw the evolution from the typical Video News Release that media relations professionals frequently used, into more of a one-stop video that tells a story and also could be produced in a viral way to expand your marketing practice as well. Cisco posted videos in its newsroom that were less than two minutes, were news style, and extremely focused on the customer. Cisco always focuses its video criteria on its target audience, the message the company wants to achieve, its cultural fit, and the use of powerful visuals. Because Cisco is so focused on the customer, its sales force is continually working to tell stories about how they're deploying technology for their customers. From a communications standpoint, the ability to have customers talk about Cisco's technology is an extremely beneficial type of marketing communication.

"We have a lot of customer videos and I think they've evolved from being the traditional prototype video to more this short, news-style video clips that we now can put on YouTube or put on our site for a journalist to watch or for a blogger to paste into their blog and make it more viral. We definitely think some of our most downloaded videos have been interesting customer stories; for instance, the one we did with the NBA talking about videos and wireless technology." Gibson believes that video gives you a chance to reach a broad audience. Other great examples of Cisco's videos include its philanthropy videos that have lasted over time to help talk about Cisco's strategy in education. Cisco's chairman completed a video about the importance of Internet and education. He discussed Cisco's programs at schools, which still get great hits. Cisco also created a video after its efforts post-Hurricane Katrina, in which they talked about some of the technology to help bring students' schools back up to speed. Cisco made donations to help repair some of the schools in Louisiana and Mississippi, and the video focused on how students have new classrooms where the traditional chalkboard is now a white screen. Kids can click on numbers and letters with a pointer and it's all computer-based. It's kind of like an electric or digital whiteboard. Another interesting video was Cisco's customer video around its implementation of wireless technology at the Indy500, where they put Cisco's wireless technology both in the car and in the pit. Cisco also did a video with Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, where it used video technology to illustrate how Adams was using the Internet to create his cartoon live over the net and taking feedback from people. This was a fun video showing Adams creating a cartoon in real time, which received a great deal of hits for Cisco. Gibson believes that anytime Cisco can put a human face on its technology and have the customers speak about the benefits, consumers can get a better sense of "who" Cisco is, they see the impact of what the company can do, and they can understand the relevance of the network as it applies to what people do every day.

Along these lines, Cisco launched a new advertising and marketing campaign in 2006, called the Human Network. The company is talking about the power of technology enabling you to do everyday things—it's a way of life. It's in the Human Network, which you might be looking at as your phone or PDA and downloading music, but the network is the underlying intelligence that enables you to do that. Cisco is running a campaign to try to educate consumers about the value of the network. It shows how the inherent intelligence of the network, which Cisco deploys, is helping you to get all the great content you are able to access via the Internet. Video is a great way to do that because people can see other people interact with the technology. They can hear firsthand accounts from a customer talking about the benefits of the technology and how Cisco is helping with the deployment. Cisco's campaign educates consumers on what Cisco does and discusses the significance of the network, which is a strategic message for the company. It also helps Cisco to promote video, which drives one of its key markets. "Obviously, [people] need routers and switches for power streaming video on the net, so the more videos people are downloading, the more bandwidth goes into it, the more equipment we can sell. So, video is a business driver for us, and it is helping us meet that need," Gibson said.

According to Gibson, one main reason for this type of marketing campaign is that a lot of consumers simply don't know Cisco. Gibson laughed as she remembered what most general consumers said when asked, "Do you know what type of company Cisco is?" Most say, "The food company?" They just don't know Cisco Systems, the network company. For Cisco, one of the challenges was just getting over the barrier of introducing the organization so that customers became more familiar with it, and that Cisco is the network company which has built the infrastructure most people know as the Internet. Consumers don't even realize they interact with Cisco's equipment every day by downloading music and working on their wireless networks. They aren't aware that Cisco helps to improve their lives.

Cisco is entrenched in social media. Cisco has made product introductions, including TelePresence, which is a new virtual meeting system. Cisco also purchased social networking companies—for instance, TribeNet, and Five Across—to get involved in producing social networking companies to help Cisco talk about how enterprise companies can benefit from networking. Internally, one of the Cisco employee projects is turning the traditional directory on its side and making it like a MySpace page where your directory is not just, "My name is Jeanette and here is my phone number." Instead, employees can watch a personal video, view a personal Web page, or blog. It really provides a better experience for employees. "We're using video in our daily lives as well as we're practicing what we preach. We're not just using video to post on YouTube; I have remote employees on my team who we talk with via videoconference using our IP phones. We have the video camera set up so that I can make a video for an IP phone call and then just see the employee's picture in front of me." Gibson's team does training videos for the company if they want to help people understand some of the tools Cisco offers. It's easy to go to the in-house studio and do a quick VOD, in just five minutes. As a result, you'll see their picture, hear them talking, and then you'll have their slides. There are a lot of different ways Cisco is using video for training and education internally. Cisco is starting to get employees to use more video. Employees have video cameras at their desks. They have a camera that floats around the communication team. At trade shows they take shots and do quick interviews of themselves, which tends to be more viral. "We're trying to become better at having a variety of ways that we showcase our content video. It doesn't have to be with a crew or professionally produced. It could also be something that any employee does. It works out that you get great content and the output that you're looking for," stated Gibson.

Cisco uses in-house video capabilities and there are times when they use outside resources. It's whatever is going to be more cost effective and wherever Gibson's team can get the best expertise. If Cisco is doing an internal video, they tend to use their own resources. However, if they're going to do anything externally, they check with the internal team first, who might recommend a video crew. With News@Cisco, the online newsroom, Cisco started with external vendors because it needed to move quickly. If Gibson's team does a shoot in Boston, they have a crew there ready to go. If a shoot takes place in Jordan, where they take the CEO for the organization's Jordan Education Fund, then they hire a crew. It's on a case-by-case basis in terms of what makes sense, but Cisco definitely has the resources internally.

Cisco is creating a rich package of information that helps the user consume the information in a compelling and interesting way. "We look to create a story with an audio podcast or have a speech that's related to that, maybe in the healthcare arena. We can take a clip of the demo that maybe an executive did on stage during his/her speech and link to that demo. We may even put that demo up on YouTube. Right now our videos on YouTube are not exactly 'the fun, comedic type of videos," admits Gibson. The videos are from a culture perspective. For Cisco, it's about product and technology demonstrations and training videos. If you go on YouTube and search for training on routers, you can see what the Cisco marketing teams and communications teams have posted. Cisco's CEO typically does a demonstration of new technology when he's giving a keynote speech. A five-minute clip of this demo will be posted on YouTube.

Cisco is evaluating different formats, looking at how it can be more viral and how to blog more, which is the next big focus. Cisco uses blogging in its day-to-day communication plans. Anytime Cisco has an announcement, it evaluates "what is that personal, authentic statement" it can put on its blog. Recently, Cisco has found success with video blogging at a partner summit. This is an annual summit Cisco holds with its channel partners. There are about five thousand channel partners there, as well as Cisco's internal crew. The event is Webcast and recorded. As a result, Cisco ended up with a number of video blog posts on the partners, about 30 posts in one week that were just quick, 30-second to 2-minute videos. "People really enjoyed the videos because you got that behind-the-scenes of the event, and customers are saying, 'Here I am, here's what I'm talking about,' so it wasn't just us talking and thinking of how we can give people a sense of our culture and our personality as well as our strategy and vision by being more creative with video," said Gibson.

Gibson feels that streaming video and VOD is providing Cisco with a Return on Investment (ROI). The company has been able to leverage its video over and over for the different communications vehicles that's absolutely made it worth the time and effort. They are no longer spending $20K to $30K on videos. That day has come and gone. Now, Cisco focuses on how to be more efficient and productive. It uses new tools and leverages technologies in a cost-effective and more efficient way. "There was an education video that our marketing team did on the ABC's of voice over IP. The emergence of voice on the Internet is a popular topic, and that was a 45-minute training video that one of our VP's did mostly for customers, and they put it up to help educate channel partners. We took 10 minutes of that training video and put it on iTunes. It still remains one of our most popular downloads and it's an audio podcast. We didn't even put it up as video, but we're looking at doing more videos on the how-to of networking," Gibson said.

Moving forward, Cisco is redesigning its site to better accommodate video. "It's funny because we've had so many requests and interest in better ways to highlight video that we actually turn to outlets like CNN and CBS on how we should redesign our site." Gibson's overall message on video was that there are many ways to get in because video is not very expensive. Cisco is experimenting by taking one project at a time and evaluating the success of each. If a video strategy works, it is rolled out broader. That's where they are with video blogging. Gibson feels that with such great response from the customers, employees, and executives, Cisco will not only continue to use streaming video for the executive team, but also more frequently for the company overall.

An Agency's Perspective

Not every company is a Cisco Systems. There are many organizations that are only just beginning with video. You might be working with B2B and B2C companies and realize there are different rates at which companies are ready to employ streaming video. The executives of Peppercom have been discussing and recommending to their clients the use of streaming video as a social media tool. Peppercom focuses on providing award-winning, innovative public relations campaigns that help drive a company's business and affect its bottom line.^[10] Both Ted Birkhahn, partner and managing director of Peppercom, and Andrew Foote, account supervisor and manager of Pepper Digital, discuss how they encourage B2C and B2B clients to use Web video to reach audiences online. Peppercom wants its clients to consider streaming video as a tool to use for whatever it is they want to communicate to their key audience.

Q: When did you start recommending streaming video to your clients?

Ted: I think a lot of it has really been an outgrowth of the traditional video highlight packages and the video news releases that have been around forever that we've always been recommending to our clients. With the rise of broadband, there's been a tremendous opportunity to get out there in a new way, and really leverage Web sites for companies and have different types of videos, whether it's a product announcement or a tutorial, or anything of that nature. It's been happening this way for the past couple years. We've really been pushing it and saying, 'Look, you should really be doing this...here are the things you can do...here are the possibilities,' and just moving forward from there.

Q: Are there certain types of clients who are gravitating more toward video as a social media tool?

Ted: Obviously, the larger clients with bigger budgets and large Web infrastructure/architecture are the ones who employ video strategies. We tend to make the recommendation from a strategic standpoint; what is going to make the most sense for your brand, and then a lot of times clients actually work on getting things set up and uploaded to their Web sites. However, when you're working with a smaller client, they just don't have the budget or the resources to actually make it happen. Certainly, we're willing to work with them in many cases to get the video posted to the site and do different things; but, yes, typically it is the larger clients.

Q: Who were among your first clients to start Web streaming?

Ted: Whirlpool, Panasonic, and Valspar are examples of clients that are using online video effectively.

Andrew: It's important to consider how B2B and B2C clients use Web video. When most people think of digital marketing, they tend to assume that it's a B2C play. The fact is, there is a tremendous opportunity for B2B marketers to utilize video and audio streaming to reach key stakeholders. Several of our B2B clients, like TPI and Marsh, are exploring the possibilities of online video as a communications tool. Our goal is to help them determine how to strategically utilize online video as a component to a larger communications initiative. It can't just be video for video's sake.

Q: What are the benefits of streaming video for your clients?

Ted: There are a lot of benefits. You're able to eliminate the cost of the old-school hard copy distribution, such as videotapes and DVDs. The time delivery is pretty fast and there's no duplication process. You can typically view video or download it and, in many instances, people can take video with them. It's mobile. They can put it on their video iPod. It's just a great resource when people are out there trying to research a company, trying to learn more; they can go to a Web site and the visual aspect, of course, is the most powerful thing. Just standard podcasts are great. Text is important as well, but video really brings things to life, and that's one of the reasons that Peppercom has been recommending video to its clients.

Andrew: Video is a great way to connect on an emotional level with your customer. For a long time, text was the primary format for Web-based communication. Obviously, you can still make powerful connections through written words, but you can really enhance that message through video. Also, the rise of video sharing sites like YouTube and distribution channels like Brightcove are enabling companies to connect with new audiences. The ability to tag content improves "find-ability"—people who are searching for industry-specific content can discover videos produced by companies.

Ted: Even though we've mentioned that this plays into the big companies, it also levels the playing field for the smaller guys. It enables them; those who don't have the dollars to do the big ad spend can potentially reach a very broad or target audience, if that's what they want to achieve by using video. That's a game changer for a lot of companies. You look at the BlendTec. About one year ago they started posting videos on YouTube, showcasing the power of their consumer blender. They were doing all this kind of wacky stuff; they would throw golf balls into the blender, and the title of this series was "Will It Blend?" It was all about showing the YouTube audience and the online video space, "What can we blend up in this blender?" Of course, the golf ball was chewed up to bits. They also took a broom and placed the handle upside down and literally chopped the broom handle up with this blender. Not only is video incredibly powerful, but it also showcases, without a doubt, the performance and strength. They've done about 15–50 different videos on YouTube, and all have received a million plus hits. To turn around and equate that to an ad spend, it's invaluable.

Andrew: And they likely spent next to nothing in terms of production.

Ted: BlendTec's campaign was highly visual. They obviously struck a chord with the audience because it's cool. Who doesn't love to see something get destroyed or chewed up. It just worked and they definitely leveraged an opportunity with their audience.

Q: How does streaming video help you to target your audience?

Ted: A lot depends on the particular client and the target audience they're trying to reach. However, not all streaming video is made for the World Wide Web. A lot of it can be developed for a company's intranet, the way they communicate with employees, face-to-face, who are spread all over the world. It is especially useful in crisis situations where you want that reassurance of the chief executive that "things are okay and here's how we're handling the crisis situation." You can do only so much in a letter or in an email. You stream a video of the CEO talking to the employees; it can be a lot more reassuring and makes a powerful statement.

Andrew: Streaming video can also be used to communicate with the public during crisis situations. Take the JetBlue crisis, for instance. Several days after the surge of negative press, the company posted a statement from its CEO on YouTube. It was a great two to three minute apology and action message that was completely genuine. It wasn't overly scripted or crafted. It resonated with the audience and, as a result, received very positive feedback and support from the community.

Streaming video can also be used as a customer support tool. Product tutorials and step-by-step instructions are enhanced with visual support. Web video is also effective for internal communications. Example uses include e-learning, meeting recaps, software demos, and HR policies.

Q: Overall, has your video communication with your clients been successful?

Ted: Yes, we believe so, although it varies from client to client. Generally, most people have positive experiences with it. I think many apply some hardcore metrics to it. That's really working as a means to figure out how to better measure the impact of the video.

Q: What software or vendor services do you provide to your clients to get the Web streaming done?

Andrew: Typically we work with a variety of vendors, and we don't have an in-house production team that's producing video. We leave that up to a variety of skilled producers. It really depends on what type of video you're doing. If you're doing some type of news announcement, obviously you want to work with a production team that has those types of skills. If you're doing something a bit edgier and more creative, you want to work with a producer who can pull that type of thing off. First and foremost, it's accessing our database of those types of people and making sure it's the right group for the job. When it comes down to post production, editing, and actually getting things uploaded, we'll work with a variety of vendors.

MultiVu and PR Newswire are good examples. The multimedia news release is huge right now. And as with Whirlpool, for example, whenever we're issuing something in a news release format, we're always providing links to videos of the product, or of the actual event or static images, just to give reporters and bloggers as many options as possible to tell the story a bit more visually and colorfully.

Q: With respect to distribution techniques, are you using anything to maximize the client's reach?

Andrew: PR Newswire is just one example. Other options are distribution companies like News Broadcast Network (NBN). NBN has a new service called Viral Infusion. Beyond producing Web video, NBN uploads it to every conceivable video sharing site that makes sense—Google Video, VideoJug, Revver, and Myspace are just a few examples. Another consideration is "find-ability." The Web is massive and it's cobbled together. How do you actually find and access this content? Paid video Search is an important tactic. Working with companies like Google, you can purchase keywords that are relevant to specific videos. This ensures that your videos rise to the top of natural search rankings. Also, if you're producing video podcasts, directories like iTunes are effective platforms.

Q: Are you doing more podcasts or more Web video applications?

Ted: One of the greater benefits of podcasts is the instant syndication. Why not podcast it? It's essentially an MPEG (a digital audio/video media format), a QuickTime file, or an MP3. You can certainly just stream it, but why not slap a feed to it so that if you're going to be doing something in more of an episodic fashion, you can blast it out.

Q: With podcasts, are companies jumping on the bandwagon?

Ted: Not all, but we are. We did a podcast last year. I guess it really was an extension of our blogs. We just thought it was natural. I think like everything else, it's a little bit of wait and see. You get a few to try it and once they try it, they like it. I think people are more likely to start a blog before they get into a podcast because they just feel more comfortable, well, probably for a variety of reasons. They feel more comfortable writing out their thoughts than speaking and recording them. But, certainly, we're hoping there's going to be more and more interest down the road.

The right way to approach it; certainly walk before you run. A lot of people out there are reading the marketing books. They're hearing about the latest viral marketing and video and they immediately think, "How can I get one of those." But, at the same time, you should start small and see what the possibilities are; for instance, just doing tutorials or announcements through video or a multimedia news release. Get comfortable with that and then work into bigger applications, including video podcasts or a series of them. There are some companies that are dipping their toes in the space. One example is Whole Foods. They started, about a year ago, with just a standard blog and now they've really upped it to podcasts. They have a new video podcast called Secret Ingredient. You can check it out if you go to the Whole Foods Web site—at the bottom of the page, there's a link to Secret Ingredient. It's a video blog all about cooking. There's a chef-type guy on there. He's in the grocery store. He's interviewing shoppers, and there's humor involved. He's mostly asking the shoppers questions about different types of food and giving tips on how to cook.

Q: What is a best- or worst-case scenario with either Web streaming or podcasting?

Ted: From a PR perspective, digitally it's always been that you should communicate your information through a third party to your key stakeholders. That third party is typically the mainstream media. Now, that's still very much a part of any good PR program. Whether it's streaming video, blogs, or podcasts, it really enables you to communicate directly with your key stakeholders. It's a very powerful thing. It also can be a very dangerous proposition if you don't do it right. One of the biggest obstacles I think for companies to get involved in this is overcoming the risk factor, or the fear factor because you lose a certain element of control out there once you start playing in the space. Our message to clients is: If you do it the right way, content is relevant, and you have the right safeguards in place, anything you do has risks attached; but we think the risk is certainly worth the potential rewards.

Andrew: I agree with Ted—"Content is King." Audiences are smart. They can spot a sham from a mile away. You have to be totally genuine and relevant. Don't just post something on YouTube. Make sure that it actually fits.

A big takeaway for a lot of marketers is to always remain authentic. Buick is a good example. They had this clip on YouTube a while back that was basically meant to look like the "average Joe" captured it. The footage was of Tiger Woods golfing. It was intended to look like someone was secretly recording one of Tiger's TV commercial shoots. So, you see Tiger getting ready to deliver his line, and a loud airplane keeps flying overhead so he has to stop. He keeps stopping and starting and laughing, and it looks like someone is taping all this. Then, suddenly, you see these security guys come over to this videographer (who is secretly taping) and they make him turn off the camera. Well, it turns out it was a professionally produced piece created by an ad agency. They tried to make it look like it was an underground video that popped up on the Web when, as a matter of fact, it was just completely manufactured. Just looking at it, you can really tell because they did a very careful job of making sure that the Buick emblem fit into the video. It basically got "called out" instantly by viewers. A lot of people responded on YouTube with comments like: "This is lame." So it's all about just being totally real and not fooling yourself.

Q: Are you finding that it's easier to measure the results of really great Web streaming?

Ted: It's fairly easy. There are a couple ways. There's the quantitative way, which is online and it's very "trackable." Most companies out there are looking at standard history at the landing page of the video. They're also looking at the number of streams, how many people are actually clicking on this, and then they're reviewing the number of subscriptions. If it's podcast feed, they're just checking out the number of feed subscribers. So, those are basic quantitative measures that people are evaluating. Then, the real interesting measurement is the qualitative methods. That's when you have a feedback mechanism; it's not just, "Oh, here's a video, stream it." If there's actually a way to bring the community into the conversation and have a comments feature, they'll let you know very quickly whether it's a success.

A good example of that is the Whole Foods video blog we mentioned earlier. They have been receiving a lot of praise from their audience saying, "Hey, great job, keep it up. This is awesome." I think there were a few sprinkled in saying "Oh, this particular one is kind of lame. Try this or try that," and it's a great way for them to kind of modify their content and let the audience guide them through development. That is invaluable feedback and granted, you can't necessarily attach numbers to it, but companies can establish some internal guidelines for what success means. If it means 50 positive comments over the course of a month, we're doing awesome. That's great guidance. Another one of the qualitative type things is if something is posted to YouTube, obviously it's the same format. The audience is going to let you know whether they like it. You can take a look at just plain views or how many people have viewed the video on YouTube. Everyone can see that. It is very clear under the video—they show the number. There's also a star feature. You can rate something from zero to four or five stars, and that's a great indication. They have their feedback right there. You can also look at how many people have marked something as a favorite, which means "I'm giving this the seal of approval and I'm recognizing it." You can also look at how many people have links to it. There are a lot of tagging tools that are out there to tag something. All those social bookmarking features are a great tool. You can search and if your video pulls up and there are 30 to 50 people who have linked to it, they're basically saying "Hey, this is cool." And, right there, it's a good indication of success. Unfortunately, with the metrics there's no one system to fit one number. So, you have to pick and pull from a lot of those different resources to establish your own guidelines and go from there.

Q: Does Web streaming video or podcasting provide some kind of return on investment?

Andrew: The ROI is a company's ability to create content designed to reach audiences in niche communities. While it's not mass syndication, the intimacy of online video leads to customer interaction and brand loyalty—something that is difficult to achieve through TV. And, certainly the metrics help: video streams, plays, downloads, and subscriptions are all very trackable and reportable.

Using Video/Audio for PR 2.0 Communication Success

Streaming video, VOD, video blogs, podcasts, and video podcasts are all amazing social media tools to use in your communications planning for both B2B and B2C companies. There were several key take-aways that the experts in this chapter emphasized:

• Streaming video and VOD tell an interesting visual story. These applications are changing the way companies communicate to audiences (mainly direct to consumer).
• Video and podcasting can be used internally on a company's intranet for training, demos, for highlights of meetings, and clips from executive presentations. Externally, applications can be used for customer testimonials, product demos, and support tools, and can also be included in company news announcements posted in a newsroom area on your Web site.
• The use of video has evolved from being the traditional prototype video to more of a short, news-style clip that can be posted on YouTube or put on your site for a journalist to watch or for a blogger to paste into their blog and make it more viral.
• Both B2B and B2C companies are posting their video clips on YouTube and other video content sharing sites with the understanding that they need to keep the content appropriate for audiences.
• Video and audio applications on the Web eliminate the cost of the old-school hard copy distribution, such as videotapes and DVDs. The delivery time is fast and there's no duplication process. You can view video or listen to podcasts, download them, and in many instances, take them with you. These applications are mobile.
• There are expert resources that enable you to increase your brand's reach and go beyond just producing and posting video content on your Web site. Your video can be posted on every conceivable video sharing space from Google Video to YouTube to MySpace.
• The best approach is to walk before you run. You should start small and see what the possibilities are—for instance, begin by just doing tutorials or announcements through video or a multimedia news release. Get comfortable with that first and then work into bigger applications, including video blogging, video podcasts, or a series of them.
• Your audience will let you know if they like your video content. Measurement includes plain views or how many people have viewed the video, star feature ratings, comments with feedback, and marking your video as a favorite. In addition, if you can search and if your video pulls up, and there are 30 to 50 people that have linked to it, that's a good indication of success.
• If you do streaming video the right way, that means your content is relevant and you have the right safeguards in place. Although anything you do has a risk attached. However, that risk is certainly worth the potential rewards.
• A big take-away for your brand is to always remain authentic and relevant to your audience. Don't try to fool people with scripted or overproduced video content that has no real value.

Endnotes

1. "Definition of a Fad," Wikipedia.com. June 2007. www.wikipedia.com.

2. "Definition of a VNR," Wikipedia.com. June 2007. www.wikipedia.com.

3. Sandoval, Greg. "YouTube: The Talk of Tinseltown,"CNET News.com,'sMarch 30, 2006.

4. Mills, Elinor. "Yahoo Launches New Video Cite," CNET News.com. May 31, 2006.

5. Sandoval, Greg. "AOL Acquires Video Search Engine," ZDNet News, Truveo.. January 10, 2006.

6. Flash introductions are typically 10–60 second animations that appear on the home page of many Web sites before any actual content is displayed. Thankfully, nearly all these animations included "Skip" buttons, enabling impatient audiences to bypass these superfluous introductions.

7. Miletsky reviews and evaluates PFS Marketwyse Web site tracking studies weekly.

8. "About Us," Cisco.com. July 2007. www.cisco.com.

9. ZDNet News, Marguerite Reardon, "Cisco adds video to conferencing suite," December 2004.

10. "About Us, Welcome," Peppercom.com. July 2007. www.peppercom.com.