I spent years making “hero” videos to launch campaigns.
Here’s why that’s a bad idea and what to do instead.
Why you should stop making one big campaign launch video
❌ Betting on one video is a huge gamble
Our video Five Ways to Disrupt Racism got 35 million views but it was actually our backup idea, after our main video concept flopped. Why put all your eggs in one basket?
❌ You don’t have insights before launch
Posting lower cost social media content lets you understand what language and messages resonate with your audience.
❌ Timing is everything
A video does much better when it connects to public conversations instead of being uploaded on an arbitrary campaign launch date.
❌ Consistency is key
A hero video commissioned externally often doesn’t bear much similarity to other campaign content. Meaning the audience that loves the video may not convert to loyal supporters.
What you should do instead
✅ Explore creative approaches with low-cost formats
Start with text and image posts to quickly see what creative approaches cut through with your audience.
✅ Upcycling assets for social and video content
Successful Twitter threads can be turned into Instagram carousel posts and press releases can be adapted into video scripts
✅ Make more videos
Adopting simpler video styles like smart-phone presenter videos means you can create several videos for the cost of one higher budget video.
✅ Build internal capacity to respond rapidly
Building in-house skills will let you jump on current events and massively improve your performance.
Join the Campaign Content Accelerator
If you’re looking to put some of these lessons into practice then we’re launching a new course to help.
In the Campaign Content Accelerator we’ll take you through a step by step process to create a suite of social media content for your campaign including text posts, images, videos and campaign actions. You’ll learn alongside a group of like-minded people working in campaigns, communications and digital roles.
At each stage you will build on the assets and insights from the last, massively speeding up content creation and improving your hit rate by helping you identify the most successful creative approaches.
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