How to use video on a corporate website

How can you effectively integrate video in a corporate website? In this newsletter we will inspire you and provide you with best practices.

Several listed companies provide online access to webcasts of their results presentations. But other than that, video is not very common on a corporate website. When offering video, most companies either offer a corporate video or a video message. Why is video of importance to a listed company?

The internet’s unique possibilities to combine and integrate content, images, audio, and video attribute to the tangibility of the company. The company, its products, its employees and its values can come alive by use of visuals and video. This in turn helps to even better communicate the value proposition of the company.

When is a corporate video effective?

Several visitors of the website (job seekers, clients, private investors, sometimes even journalists or analysts) wish to get a feeling of the identity of the company. Besides the facts in text, they appreciate a more tangible interpretation of the company. It could be useful to offer a video that clearly shows:

• Who your company is (corporate identity)
• What your company does (business activities)

But mind, even though a corporate video can be very useful and entertaining, it should definitely not be too long. A video with a duration of 5 minutes is alright.

It is even better to use flash and create several ‘modules’. Visitors may have a different back ground and knowledge level. A traditional corporate DVD could be cut in pieces of 1-5 minutes each. The website should always indicate in a clear ‘menu’ what content will be revealed in each specific part. This way the visitor knows what to expect and can consider whether the content is relevant to them.

From the homepage of Akzo Nobel the visitor can choose a business line (chemicals, coatings or healthcare) and is offered several video fragments to illustrate these business activities. Because of the use of Flex technology, the menu and the video are entirely integrated in the page.

Intel has its board members explain about important business activities. Why is it important to develop markets? Why is Intel committed to education? A video message, integrated in the web page, tells you all. The visitor can easily switch between the three interviews through a RIA application.

A valuable CEO interview

The CEO of Imperial Tobacco is seen in a so-called Cantos interview on the corporate website. The window has been designed very clearly. The interview can be viewed either in its entirety or in sections, or even in an audio version.

The advantage of offering an interview with the CEO is that an interview is two-way communication. This increases the interactivity of the medium. Moreover, an interview can seem unbiased to a visitor. The journalist, posing critical questions, can give the interview great depth.

CEO Message

An alternative to an interview is offering a CEO video message. This is less interactive, but will still give a personal touch to the website. The CEO addresses the visitors, which will make him come alive to the financial stakeholders.

This will enable the stakeholders to make some degree of contact with the company’s executives. After all, the average private investor or local newspaper journalist will never speak with the CEO in person.

TNT provides a welcome message of CEO Peter Bakker on the introduction page of its ‘About Us’ section. A summary of the message is also available in text.

UBS has placed several videos fragments on the landing page of the IR section. The section is called ’meet our executives’. When choosing the Q&A videos, the visitor can choose the speaker he is interested in and make a choice between different questions. He can choose a subject that is of relevance to him and does not have to scroll through or watch the entire video.

Next to a video of the CEO, of course it is also possible to place a video of employees (in the Careers section for example), Management, or the CFO.

In short

When offering a video...

• Use indexation
• Use Flash (quick to download)
• Consider offering video in multiple languages
• Let not just the CEO do the talking

What to expect in the (nearby) future?

Jungle Rating sees a trend that corporate websites do get more and more visuals and video functionalities. Internet is a completely different medium than print, and it should be treated that way. In order for a website to be as effective as print, enrichment with multimedia often is necessary.

This enrichment is getting easier with for example the creation of Rich Internet Applications (RIA) and growing bandwidth. In our next newsletter we will explore the world of RIA.

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