Unilever paid $1 billion for a startup selling f**king great razor blades. Sure there was brilliant business execution in an undeserved market but the value of great video is now undisputed. Dollar Shave Club launched an epic viral marketing video that has seen over 23 million views - yip for a company selling men's shaving products. The power of story telling, humour and a clear message can be communicated incredibly well using video. The trick is that video needs to be done well. If you haven't seen the awesome Dollar Shave Club video staring CEO Micheal Dubin, its worth clicking the thumbnail below and checking it out (also check out the short McRock video above).
Video has been used for luxury products and automobiles for years but somehow less exciting products have not been worthy of video. In the Industrial tech space I would argue that video is a rare occurrence and if it is done, it is not done particularly well. Industrial technology companies need to move past the thought of video as just lame testimonials or over-done animation explanations. The power of a tightly produced and entertaining video is simply contagious. These days it doesn't have to cost a fortune but should be created, directed, filmed professionally and all pulled together with slick post-production editing, sound and film colouring. At McRock Capital we have been on our own video journey and started with no-budget DIY videos with free consumer editing software in 2012. Oh yah, we even had a home-made cardboard green screen in a spare office. |
Our video experimentation proved the power of video in creating a culture and differentiating our firm. It made people feel like they knew us before ever meeting us. Think about the power of that. It also required us to have some big Kahuna's because it opens you to criticism from anybody. Since we never do anything half-ass at McRock, we stepped up our game to prove a point and we put on the spandex super hero costumes and hired our pals at Reform and the Field to make the McRock Twins come to life. These guys produce music videos for artists like Headley, Drake and Rihanna. As a VC firm that values analytics, we use Wistia to embed our videos on our website and we can track engagement and success. We know who watches and for how long. Digital marketing is the future and if you are a company that has a b2b product, don't pass up on video. Think about how easy it would be to differentiate your awesome product if you just attempted to adopt the best marketing tools from outside your industry. |
It's obvious why Dollar Shave Club was so successful. They told a f**king great story while entertaining the viewer. Like us, they also inserted a random bear. Why? The video market is a "bear" necessity when it comes to telling your story in a powerful way.