Branded Video Content For More Than One Business: Killing Two Birds With One Stone

In Part 1 of our coverage of The YouTube Advertiser Playbook, we talked about how businesses need to come up with a plan before shooting a video.  One of those involved coming up with a creative strategy for your video: will you have a testimonial, will it be a how-to, will you tell a story?  Sometimes two businesses find a way to compliment each other, as with the case of mobile payment company GoPayment and three small businesses that use their service.  GoPayment figured, why not show these businesses bringing their services to the public, using their mobile technology to process credit cards?

These Videos Capture The Essence Of Both Businesses

Here's how Intuit's GoPayment and Austin's Birds Barbershop went about it:

SEE ALSO: 4 Key Considerations for Business-to-Business Video Content [ReelPop Q&A]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEBOuDX3zck" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEBOuDX3zck']);" rel="nofollow, external" target="_blank"><img class="nopin" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi//0.jpg" alt="Branded Video Content For More Than One Business: Killing Two Birds With One Stone" title="0"/></a>

This is an excellent video.  Here's why:

GoPayment basically gave a forum to Birds Barbershop in this video to do something great for the community and to tell their story.  They called it "Get Business Growing" and created a situation where their mobile payment technology could be used en masse while the featured business did their thing.  GoPayment's inclusion into the video is part of the story rather than a mere advertisement.  The video becomes a testimonial to GoPayment's service.  I love how they establish Austin right at the beginning, then they introduce the owners, and they tell their story, their background.

Here's another one, for New York City's Dog Nanny:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m3U_LuKLds" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m3U_LuKLds']);" rel="nofollow, external" target="_blank"><img class="nopin" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi//0.jpg" alt="Branded Video Content For More Than One Business: Killing Two Birds With One Stone" title="0"/></a>

You can see that the creators of these videos had a theme in mind when they made them.  Establish a setting, establish "characters" (real people), show them providing for the community, show them using the technology, get a testimonial for success.  By the end of it, both businesses look great.

Here's one more, for Jeff Coston's Golf Academy in Seattle:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJoiKM9WTc4" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJoiKM9WTc4']);" rel="nofollow, external" target="_blank"><img class="nopin" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi//0.jpg" alt="Branded Video Content For More Than One Business: Killing Two Birds With One Stone" title="0"/></a>

These are phenomenal examples of one business creating a sound strategy to spread the word, and allowing other businesses to take the spotlight while making a great play to show their technology at work.

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