Documentary-Style Promotional Films

Over the last few years there’s been a shift in marketing videos.

We’ve all seen documentaries. They are entertaining and inform on subjects in a cinematic way. At AO Films, we strive to tell stories, using a cinematic style.

More and more brands are looking for ways to stand out amid the “noise” of commercials.

A couple of interesting stats:

Viewers are 95% more likely to remember a call to action after watching a video, compared to 10 percent when reading it in text format (Forbes, 2017).

Videos help keep users on your website longer and also keep them more engaged. The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video (Forbes, 2018).

Where both video and text are available on the same page, 72% of people would rather use video to learn about a product or service (Wyzowl, 2018).

Viewers are more selective in what they watch and why. Choices in what to watch, when and where has never been greater.

Video has always been a great choice for branding your company, but it’s no longer enough to just “produce a video.” The challenge now for brands is to create something that’s memorable and lasting. That’s where documentary-style branding comes into play.

Stories are universally appealing to audiences and thus the documentary style film is a great way to engage your customers and directly speak to the “why” behind the “what.” It allows brands to create emotion, and connect with audiences, who will be more likely to organically share the content, thereby attracting more viewers.

While documentaries are typically long-form, they don’t have to be. We see value in brands creating films anywhere from 2-20 minutes.

Here’s a doc we produced for ‘Circle of Friends’ to help capture the goal of their new school.

Here’s a mini-doc that focuses on a particular person who is part of an organization, to further solidify the “why” behind the “what.”