How to ‘give life’ to a big lump of stone

I recently took a gruelling, ten-hour drive to the very north of Scotland, near John O’Groats, as part of a project to promote a particular type of stone.

Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it?

Stone, in itself, is much like any other inanimate object, a bit dull. The same can be said for machinery, metal parts, plastic tubes, or cleaning products. How do you get people interested in something dirty that comes from the ground? Or a machine that churns out little bits of metal on a production line?

It’s a challenging business for any company trying to market the mundane and every day.

Whilst some products or processes might not be the most exciting to talk about, the benefit for the end-user can often be considerable.

So how do you best tell the story of ‘the ordinary’?

Static imagery and wonderfully written descriptions of what they do, how they work and the benefits they bring, are useful, of course. But, there’s nothing quite like seeing it all in action.

And that’s the beauty of the moving image.

Film and video can bring your brand to life whatever business you’re in. Whatever you’re selling. However ‘ordinary’ it might seem. If it’s important to you and it’s your way of doing business then the most powerful communication tool going can be an amazingly effective assistant.

There is no ‘ordinary’ story that film or video can’t tell well.

There’s nothing better than film when bringing to life the satisfaction of someone showing us how to make a complicated process look easy.

Nothing quite brings clarity like the sound and vision of a robust machine, effortlessly executing a process that would otherwise have taken human hands many hours. Or a “live”, side-by-side comparison that demonstrates beyond doubt why one product works better than another.

There’s nothing quite like seeing someone passionately argue why a simple gadget will help save lives or even the planet. Or watching a centuries-old craft of a man splitting stone by hand, that then becomes the very paving that many of us will walk on, as we go about our daily lives.

And no words can explain the amazing interaction inside the otherwise ordinary walls of a pre-fab classroom quite like that of film – when happy, smiling children are shown by their teacher how to make wonderful sounding music from long tubes of hollowed-out plastic.

Film and video bring stories to life. Making the ordinary, extraordinary.

Unless you are skilled in video production (briefing, storyboarding, shooting, editing, sound, animation, etc) then you shouldn’t think that a DIY smartphone video is acceptable – it isn’t! Professional businesses will seek out professional video production companies to work with.

Blunt thinking on using video in your marketing mix – Yorkshire Powerhouse

Have you any questions?

Here at Yorkshire Powerhouse, we’re happy to help as much as possible – is there anything else we can do to help you, do you have any further questions or can we help introduce you to an expert – please let us know: