When it works, keep doing it

05/09/24 • 8 min

Death to the Corporate Video

Don't get bored or try to be too creative if your current formula is driving results.

Key Points:

Umault received a comment pointing out their frequent use of movie trailer parody videos, suggesting they had become formulaic
Initially, Guy wondered if they were overusing that concept, but realized the flaw in that thinking
The goal of marketing is to deliver your message effectively to the audience—if you've cracked that code, why change it?
Guy draws a parallel to working at a radio station playing the same 50 songs on repeat - seems repetitive internally but not to the audience
Even if some audience overlap, most people don't critique using the same shtick twice if it's impactful
The bigger risk is deviating from what works and missing with an untested new gimmick
Jerry Seinfeld: "The rule in Hollywood is when you have a hit, don't touch it because no one knows why it's a hit"
Breakthroughs in marketing are so rare - changing things up on a whim is irresponsible
You have to milk a proven winner until interest naturally declines before moving on

Quotes:

"Who cares if insiders perceive a pattern when your audience doesn't?"

"When it works, keep doing it. Do not move on from it."

Episode Links:

Teamwork.com "The Client" movie trailer parody video

Umault's past Halloween video promos

Don't get bored or try to be too creative if your current formula is driving results.

Key Points:

Umault received a comment pointing out their frequent use of movie trailer parody videos, suggesting they had become formulaic
Initially, Guy wondered if they were overusing that concept, but realized the flaw in that thinking
The goal of marketing is to deliver your message effectively to the audience—if you've cracked that code, why change it?
Guy draws a parallel to working at a radio station playing the same 50 songs on repeat - seems repetitive internally but not to the audience
Even if some audience overlap, most people don't critique using the same shtick twice if it's impactful
The bigger risk is deviating from what works and missing with an untested new gimmick
Jerry Seinfeld: "The rule in Hollywood is when you have a hit, don't touch it because no one knows why it's a hit"
Breakthroughs in marketing are so rare - changing things up on a whim is irresponsible
You have to milk a proven winner until interest naturally declines before moving on

Quotes:

"Who cares if insiders perceive a pattern when your audience doesn't?"

"When it works, keep doing it. Do not move on from it."

Episode Links:

Teamwork.com "The Client" movie trailer parody video

Umault's past Halloween video promos

Previous Episode

Market to the human source code, not the trendy operating system

Tired of chasing trends that quickly become irrelevant? This episode offers a contrarian blueprint for crafting marketing that resonates with fundamental human truths that never go out of style. See why enduring creative work like Monty Python connects by satirizing eternal experiences, while topical trend-focused content often dates itself rapidly.

Learn more about Guy and Umault at umault.com

Next Episode

The most critical moment for your B2B video ad

In this episode, Guy breaks down what he believes is the single most critical step in producing an effective B2B video ad campaign. He reveals it's not the initial concept, scriptwriting, storyboards, production, or editing - but rather successfully getting buy-in on the script draft itself.

Guy likens this script review phase to the "max q" moment during a rocket launch - the point of maximum dynamic pressure where if not handled perfectly, the entire mission could fail. Similarly, the first script draft is where a video ad concept transitions from abstract idea to concrete reality, making it extremely fragile and vulnerable.

Guy provides tips for expertly navigating this make-or-break script approval process, including:

Never just send the raw script draft - "prime" it first by recapping the strategy/goals
Consider reading/acting out the script instead of just circulating text
Intentionally including some "playground areas" that stakeholders can tweak
Making the case for why this step requires careful handling

He stresses that once you get through this maximum pressure point of script approval, the remaining production steps become much smoother since everyone is firmly aligned on the creative direction.

Link: "Freddy reads script" opening scene from Mad Men

Learn more about Guy and Umault at umault.com