Overview
In this age of mass content consumption, it can tricky to know where to spend those finite Marketing budgets when it comes to video content creation. Do you create lots of informative tabletop product videos? Or do you instead focus on making a higher budget, more well thought out product category commercial that gives your audience an emotional experience? This blog post will share the pros and cons of 6 different product video concepts and how they can lead to sales. The article also has Case Studies as examples and Pro Tip’s for those of you that are already leveraging this type of video content.
1. Product on Table
An easy, cost-effective way to create video around your product (you have probably already done a million of these) is the “Tabletop Product Video.” You get someone internally to jump on camera with a wireless lavalier microphone and you let them spew out the features, benefits and competitive advantages of your product. These videos are best placed on your product sales page as a way for customers to watch rather than read. You have the customer right next to that ‘Add to Cart’ Button so this video is what can help nudge customers to purchase your product.
Case Study: We worked with Leach Co Agency and FiTech EFI to make tabletop product videos more interesting by bringing in a professional host and creating an Episodic style intro. A great host can help lead the conversation and bring out the best in your company representative. The host can also add interesting points and keep viewers engaged. In this example, Courtney Hansen interviewed Jason Oberhelman about the FiTech GoStreet EFI- 400 HP System.
Pro Tip: Your on-camera talent talking about EFI Technology for 5-Minutes can be very informative but can also create some yawns. An easy way to make your tabletop product videos better is to shoot your product on a black backdrop or in a different setting to keep your audience more engaged. It also helps to be able to have cutaways to cover up your on-camera talent mistakes rather than aiming for the perfect take (unless you have a one-take wonder…in that case, you should get this person in front of the camera ALL the time).
2. All Text No Talking
Rather than getting a person in front of the camera or having a voiceover script recorded, it can be more effective to incorporate onscreen text. A pumping soundtrack, cool visuals and written features and benefits can be a great recipe for keeping your audience engaged while talking about your product. This style of video can live on your sales page but since it’s flashy and short form it can also be a great piece of content for your Instagram audience.
Case Study: Rather than going for the traditional tabletop video, BOOSTane decided to put their product features and benefits into an action-packed video series. They asked us to repurpose previously filmed lifestyle footage and stock footage to accompany the product beauty shots that we captured on black. Check out the result:
Pro Tip: If you are going to produce this style of video, dig up some footage from previously produced videos to go along with product beauty shots. These shots can include: driving shots, product being used, installation footage or lifestyle footage.
3. Product Infomercial
No we aren’t talking about the “But wait, there’s more” or “Buy today and you’ll get a second one free” infomercials that keep you company at 3 AM. There’s a reason why the informercial script works so well and why it’s made you pick up the phone for something you may or may not have needed. But what if your company could take the best of the informercial style without being cheesy or over the top? What if you could make the infomercial look more like a commercial and less like 80’s broadcast? What if you could create the product need and desire in your customer with a buy now button nearby?
Case Study: That’s what aFe POWER wanted to accomplish with their Infomercial series. They talk about results (HP and TQ gains), easy installation (a lot of times in 15 minutes or less), product quality (manufactured in California) and fast shipping (as little as one business day). At a price under $400, it seems like a time and cost-effective way to upgrade your Diesel Truck. See this example in action:
Pro Tip: Do you want to keep people engaged in your infomercial? Going for a faster pace edit style with transitions and motion graphics can keep your audience eyes glued to the screen. This style of informercial isn’t meant to give you the technical features and benefits of why this Cold Air Intake System is designed to create better X amount of better flow…it’s meant to give people an emotional experience. If they still need some convincing, they can read more on the sales page. But for a large number of consumers they want to know the high-level overview to make a purchase decision.
4. Educational Branded Content Series
Sometimes guys and gals are afraid to admit that they don’t know the difference between air intake systems or the benefits of thin ring packs versus thick ring packs. That’s why consumers love to watch Tech shows such as Hot Rod Garage or Week to Wicked. It gives them new knowledge in an entertaining and digestible way. It also gives a natural spot to integrate your specific product into one of these Series or Shows.
Case Study: We worked with eBay Motors and the MotorTrend Group to put together a series called “Parts and Performance: Your Supercharged Guide to Vehicle Mods.” We brought in TV Host Dennis Pitsengbarger to educate viewers with short 2-5 Minute videos. A great example from this series is on Pistons, Rings and Rods:
Pro Tip: Each one of these videos had a strong script behind it. Dennis utilized the script as the basis for talking about each of these topics but he didn’t read it verbatim. This gave the videos more flavor and humor, which any great host will naturally add. However, since Dennis was encouraged to steer away from script reciting we had him finish each video by reading the actual script just in case. That just in case scenario actually paid off because there were a couple instances where we needed to add in more information or reword something, and having those script reads meant we could easily match the audio environment and not have Dennis rerecord lines in his home studio.
5. Product Commercial
Cool driving shots in picturesque locations. The sound of an engine revving. Fast shots that are almost incomprehensible. These are some of the elements that come to mind when we think of car commercials. There’s a reason that these commercials cost so much to produce. They require a lot of time, thought and resources to pull off a 30-second spot. Perhaps your company doesn’t want to spend all it’s entire yearly Marketing Budget on a single piece of content but you do want to have that super polished, sexy commercial for your product. You may not have $200,000 to spend but you may have $20,000 for that product launch.
Case Study: Our team worked with Street Rodder Magazine and Ford Performance to create a video series around the Ford Performance Coyote Power Module. With a price tag of $13,000+, depending on how you configure your specs, this is a high priced item that benefited from a Commercial piece. After wrapping up the series we came up with the idea of creating a dark, ominous personality around the Coyote translated 41′ Woody. The result: ‘A New Identity’ product commercial was born. The purpose of this piece is give viewers an entertaining experience while making people imagine what the Coyote Power Module could do for their project vehicle.
Pro Tip: With commercials, and really any piece of content, it comes down to the concept. The more time and thought that can be put into the pre-planning phase of a commercial, the more likely it can produce the intended result. The Ford Performance Power Module Commercial was in pre-production for months with an evolving shot list, location scouting, script reworks, sound design discussions and much more to hopefully make this an impactful piece. Even without a huge budget and lots of resources your team can still dream up a great concept and execute it on your level.
6. TV Episode Product Integration
Getting your product on a build show like Week to Wicked or Hot Rod Garage can get you in front of a large audience with trusted and respected industry authorities. Yes, it can be an investment because you are not only going to be providing product but you’ll also be paying to get in front of the audience, but the content is created for you by a professional production team and the content is distributed for you to a large, targeted audience. As company’s like MotorTrend shift to an audience that often prefers digital content over print, product integration into shows in front of or behind paywalls will continue to grow.
Case Study: Ryan Foss Productions has produced all 23 Week to Wicked Episode’s for the MotorTrend Group. Week to Wicked is a tech focused build series that takes a vehicle with good body and paint (either restored or just a shell) and in 1 week builds it into a running and driving vehicle. This isn’t one of those reality shows where a crew comes in at night and actually builds the vehicle over months or years…the build team actually does this in a week and then proves it with a first drive and big burnout. Over the 23 Episodes, we’ve incorporated over 250 featured products into the show:
Pro Tip: When you are sending your product to a show, we recommend sending a company representative on-site (if they allow it) to make sure your product is being talked about and installed properly. It’s also important to make sure that you send in your product in pristine condition. Make sure fabric isn’t wrinkled, there aren’t smudge marks and everything is included. You are investing money into this show and you want to make sure your product appears in the best way. If you can’t make it on-site, make sure you send a detailed list of features and benefits to include. Ideally it’s more than a copy-paste of your technical sales page. On-camera talent will do their best to cover each point but when you get into the nitty-gritty technical details not only will viewers zone out but it will feel unnatural for on-camera talent to cover the points. Therefore, try to make the notes easy to regurgitate and colorful enough to be interesting. Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask for some of the footage to use for future video purposes. We have been approved to deliver raw footage to many clients over the years.
We hope this article was helpful in your pursuit of producing better aftermarket automotive product videos. If you have questions or need resources please leave them in the comments below or reach out to us via e-mail.
-Ryan Foss
Director / Producer for Ryan Foss Productions
Ryan Foss Productions works with Aftermarket Automotive companies to create product videos, branded content and documentaries.
