The categories I judged were videos for business purposes, so I figured the most important quality would be how well the video achieved its business purpose.

Wrong! “Effectiveness” counted for just 20% of the score.

Think about that. Clients paid to create these videos to achieve business outcomes, but how well the video did that was barely considered.

So, what was more important than effectiveness?

Judging Criteria

• 60% for technical quality – cinematography, colour grading, audio, video editing techniques.
• 20% for “impact” – essentially the power of the concept to move the viewer.
• 20% for effectiveness.

They’re essential criteria, of course, but that weighting is a relic of an awards program with its roots in the craft of cinematography, not strategic communications.

Verdict

So were the videos any good?

Well, yes! There was some really outstanding work – beautifully conceived and created videos that hit the nail on the head for their clients. And some of those scored very highly for the technical aspects, so received top recognition.

But highly effective videos missed out because they weren’t technically demanding. Equally, technically beautiful works scored well despite having little going for them strategically.

I got used to being the odd one out among the judges! They were gracious, but we were on a different wavelength.

We’ve submitted and won awards from this organisation before. We didn’t submit this year, but we will probably do so again someday. Having seen the process from the inside, I now know that a video that has really kicked goals for our client is no more likely to win than a beautiful indulgence!

But that won’t change what we do.  Here’s an example of a video that ticks all the boxes for delivering the intended message.

Wrap up

Award-winning videos are not always those that do the best job for the client.

Are your videos delivering ROI? If not, get in touch with us and we will work with you to ensure that your video is strategy is in line with your business outcomes.

The post Is ROI a criterion for award winning videos? appeared first on Anvil Media.

The little girl in the opening scene of this video turned 20 this year.

In the years since that clothesline scene, video took over the internet, social media became the place we watch it, and the phones in our pockets got better video cameras than the professional gear used at that shoot in 2001.

So, a lot has changed. But if you’re going to invest in video for any purpose, you still need to start with a solid strategic understanding. Know what result you’re looking for and work back from there. That much is no different.

The clothesline video was right for its time and context. But what should you do differently today in video production?

Our top tips

10 from 1

Segment it and make them short! Today this single 13-minute video would be up to 20 short segments. If you’re about social engagement, think in terms of creating a calendar of content to keep your audience thinking about you.

The sound of silence

Make your videos work with the sound off. At least 85 per cent of the Facebook video is watched without sound. If we made this video today, we’d use of on-screen text and graphics so silent viewers get the full story.

Drone on and on

If it can be filmed using a drone, do it. Aerial drone vision is now almost a standard part of the videography tool kit. Everything looks better from up there! We wish we’d had a drone available to us back in 2001.

Like a version

Customise your content to different audience profiles – your customer “avatars”. If we were making the Australian Cotton Story again, we would create variations of the video for different demographics, and get it to them using social media targeting.

Storage wars

If you’re doing it in-house, get ready to be drowned in data. A 30-second clip of raw 4K video will usually take about 1GB of drive storage – and that’s without backing it up. Multiply that by about 120 for a full-day shoot. That content is your asset, so store it securely. And have a system of digital asset management so you can use and re-use it.

Wrap Up

One thing that will never change is the fundamentals of clarity and elegance in writing, quality and resourcefulness in production, and strategic thinking before all else. They’ll never lose their currency.

If all of this sounds complicated, it is! Which is one reason professional video production companies like Anvil Media exist. It suits most leading organisations to work with a video production partner to organise and maximise the impact of their higher-value content.

Get in touch.

The post 5 tips to the give your video production the ‘now’ factor appeared first on Anvil Media.

Small on space, but big on industry collaboration. Netherland’s agricultural industry is focused on bringing government, businesses and research organisations together to enable and drive innovation in this sector.

Referred to as the triple helix, and The Anvil recently had the opportunity to learn more about this structure by speaking with the Netherlands Consul-General to Australia, Frank van Beuningen.

“It means that everyone can come together, sit around the table and talk about how they best can organise the production and transport of agricultural products,” Frank said.

“This has led to a lot of innovative practices. For example, 20 years ago we needed 22 litres of water for one kilogram of tomatoes and now we only need four.”

Mr Van Beuningen said that Australia can learn from the Netherland’s strict planning and transportation of agricultural products.

“When agricultural products come either by lorry or by train to the Port of Rotterdam or to Schiphol Airport Amsterdam for example, it is unloaded very quickly and then flown straight to the consumers,” he said.

While Australia’s and the Netherlands ‘ agricultural systems have different strengths, both industries feel pressure from consumers on how agricultural systems operate.

“Most of the people in the Netherlands do not only want to eat healthily, but they also want to eat products that are environmentally friendly,” he said.

The Anvil is a video series that brings together influential figures and thought-provoking conversation. Each episode explores a current issue or topic relating to the agricultural industry or wider Australian industries.

The post Dutch lessons in ag innovation appeared first on Anvil Media.

Australia’s agricultural sector has many global competitive advantages, from a clean and green reputation to its proximity to Asian markets.

While on-farm technology may not be currently be considered amongst these advantages, it is an area that is gaining rapid momentum across the industry.

The Anvil joins AgThentic CEO and founder Sarah Nolet to talk about Australia’s AgTech expansion and the factors that are driving its growth.

“It’s about making sure that the technology being developed actually solve real problems, and that the people with those problems are connected to those technologies and well-suited to adopt and get value from them,” she said.

Ms Nolet said that she is optimistic and positive about the current status of AgTech in Australia.

“I would say two years ago the industry was aspirational and ambitious but wasn’t really there yet,” Ms Nolet said.

“We now have a number of startups that are competitive globally, and we’re attracting funding from traditional venture capitalists and offshore venture capitalists.

“It’s not that it’s all about the money or the funding, but that is a good metric for how much of an ecosystem we’ve already built and how vibrant it’s becoming.”

AgThentic is a global food and agriculture technology consulting firm, connecting the agricultural industry with technologies that solve problems and deliver on-farm value.

The Anvil is a video series that brings together influential figures and thought-provoking conversation. Each episode explores a current issue or topic relating to the agricultural industry or wider Australian industries.

The post Building Australia’s AgTech momentum appeared first on Anvil Media.

Anvil Media has won three awards at the 2018 GlobalTrend Video Awards, picking up bronze in the food and beverage, finance and training categories.

The GlobalTrend Video Awards is an international competition that attracts outstanding digital and creative professionals, cinematographers, videographers and video production agencies from around the world. The 2018 competition results were announced on 31 August 2018.

Two of Anvil Media’s winning entries showcased Australia’s vibrant rice growing industry, through recent projects that were completed with Sauce Communications for SunRice.

The SunRice ASX Listing video picked up bronze in the finance category, for its role in conveying information to shareholders before the company’s transition to a publicly listed company. The Bringing Your Rice to Market video targeted export markets by highlighting Australia’s rice supply chain and quality. It received a bronze award in the food and beverage category.

The third entry was the Meat Industry Essentials series developed for National Meat Industry Training Advisory Council Limited (MINTRAC). The 10-part series was awarded bronze in the training category. The series demonstrates correct safety and hygiene practices for the meat processing industry and educates processing facility employees nationally.

Anvil Media’s winning entries are on the GlobalTrend Video Awards website and can be viewed at the below links:

• SunRice/Sauce Communications – SunRice ASX Listing
• SunRice/Sauce Communications – Bringing Your Rice to Market
• MINTRAC – Meat Industry Essentials. 

The post Anvil wins three bronze international awards appeared first on Anvil Media.

Blockchain has the potential to revolutionise agricultural supply chains, and the technology is already becoming a reality for the Australian grains industry.

AgriDigital is a cloud-based, multi-participant, commodity management platform at the forefront of blockchain technology for the grains industry supply chain.

In this podcast, Anvil Media speaks with AgriDigital co-founder and CEO Emma Weston about the opportunities for blockchain within agriculture and what technology is already available for growers.

“The idea behind blockchain is that it can bring all the participants across a network together to share in and collaborate around certain pieces of information or data that pass through that chain,” she said.

“A key area for farmers, and indeed all sellers, in the supply chain, will be the speeding up of payments, so actually reducing the amount of settlement time, the latency that sits within the supply chain.”

The success of the blockchain technology is dependent on its adoption by all users in the supply chain, and AgriDigital is taking the steps to bring the key grain industry players together.

“We’ve developed a digital commodity platform that tracks the physical commodity from the farm all the way through to the consumer out into the marketplace.” Ms. Weston said.

“We have got 1750 active users and another 5000 casual users on the platform.”

Developed by Anvil Media, The Anvil podcast brings together influential figures and thought-provoking conversation.

The post How Blockchain will change Agriculture appeared first on Anvil Media.

From an anti-GMO activist to a keen advocate and international campaigner for GMO use in agriculture. Author and environmental campaigner Mark Lynas joins The Anvil to discuss why scientific literacy is important in the GM cropping debate.

“In the mid-to-late 1990’s I was involved in campaigning against GMOs, even going to the extent of destroying them in test fields,” he said.

“Through working on climate change and becoming close with the scientific community, I realised that it was not based on any real scientific evidence, so I’ve sort of reversed my position.”

Mr Lyras said the negatives of GMOs are mostly in terms of public perception, with science making it clear that that the health impacts are non-existent.

“Studies around the world show that insecticide rates have declined to 30 to 40 per cent now on GMO as opposed to non-GMO crops and to me that’s something to celebrate as an environmentalist,” Mr Lynas said.

The Anvil is a video series that brings together influential figures and thought-provoking conversation. Each episode explores a current issue or topic relating to the agricultural industry or wider Australian industries.

The Anvil episode one features Richard Heath from Australian Farm Institute and is available here.

The post Finding truth in the GMO debate appeared first on Anvil Media.

Anvil Media released the first instalment of its new video series, The Anvil.

Aiming to bring together influential figures and thought-provoking conversation, The Anvil will explore current issues and topics relating to the agricultural industry and wider Australian industries.

In this first episode, Executive Director for Australian Farm Institute (AFI) Richard Heath joins The Anvil to discuss the potential for AgTech within Australia’s agricultural industry.

AgTech was the focus of AFI’s Digital Farmers Conference held in Sydney, New South Wales, on 13 and 14 June 2018. The conference was attended by producers and organisations from across the agri-supply chain.

A key theme of the conference was on-farm data. Mr Heath said that data gathering and analysing technology is transforming the decision-making process for farmers, and attracting new players to the industry.

“Data is starting to inform new decisions and generate new ideas, and the technology side of things is bringing a lot of new people and skills into agriculture,” Mr Heath said.

“It is important that farmers are confident that their data is being collected for the right reasons and that there will be a value returned from the process.”

The next episode of The Anvil explores the GM cropping debate. It features author and environmental campaigner, Mark Lynas, and can be viewed here.

The post AgTech, the new $20-billion industry appeared first on Anvil Media.

Joint venture partner, ACCIONA Australia is working with the NSW Government to build a light rail line from Circular Quay to Sydney’s south-eastern suburbs. The Acciona Group is a leading Spanish corporation that employs around 33,000 people in five continents and delivers more than 300,000 hours of staff training each year.

This was the first time Acciona had implemented online induction training in an Australian project.

Acciona’s Project Training Coordinator, Sonia Bellon Rico, said that implementing an online video training system was a positive solution for such a large construction project.

“Our initial method of induction training was time consuming for the presenters and attendees. The online induction provides a consistent message and it also ensures that all the important information is given to the inductee. Our assessment is that the large range of items covered are better undertaken online rather than face to face.”

The online induction is supplemented with a face-to-face induction. A senior management representative outlines company information and reinforces the strong safety focus and management commitment on the project. Trainers then complete the project induction process with task hazard analysis training and confirmatory assessment.

“But new starters can do the online induction whenever they want, and at the moment we have around 80 people completing this induction each week,” said Sonia.

“Since we started in late May, almost 2000 people have completed our online induction training.”

The project induction system integrates a familiar slide deck of presentation notes with lots of very short videos, a professional video presenter and interactive quizzes to test knowledge retention. The whole induction takes around 90 minutes to complete.

Feedback from participants has been that it was a different way to complete induction, and they enjoyed being able to complete it at their own pace and not having to complete the whole course in one go.

The video production process started with Sonia sending Anvil Media her presentation slides. From there Anvil Media producer, Michael Neil-Smith, developed the script for the presenter and developed each of the small videos that accompany many of the slides.

While it was challenging to complete such a complex training video, our client is pleased with the outcome.

“I am quite happy with the final product and we have learned a lot about the process should we need to implement this in other large projects,” said Sonia.

Talk to us

If you want to incorporate induction videos into your training program, contact us on 1300 768 101 or info@anvilmedia.com.au to discuss your ideas … or complete an enquiry form now.

The post Interactive training for Sydney Light Rail project appeared first on Anvil Media.

One of our long-time clients, Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), recently took to the road with a series of events to build understanding of one of its key programs among cattle and sheep.

Key staff from the company visited each state of Australia throughout March and April to present up-to-date information on the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) meat grading system. The whole event series attracted around 600 livestock producers, as well as some livestock agents and meat processors.

Fairly late in the event planning phase, MLA approached us with an idea to film the MSA Roadshow, to extend the message beyond those people who could attend a face-to-face seminar.

“We were thinking about filming the forums ourselves but to his credit, Darryl [Anderson] showed us how well it could be done professionally. Correct lighting and no background noise. He assured us that it could be organised in time,” said Sarah Strachan, MSA Operations Manager.

“Our original plan was to film the presentations and create short highlights videos from each one. But Darryl suggested that we interview each presenter at the event. We would use the interview to give each video structure, with excerpts from the presentation providing the detail.”

“We also felt confident that Anvil Media had a good understanding our audience and what we were trying to achieve. Anvil has worked with MLA on many video projects, like the meat industry projections video series and FeedbackTV.”

While we knew we could deliver what MLA needed, the job came with its own complications.

“We had not much more than an hour to do seven interviews,” said Anvil Media’s Darryl Anderson, “and we needed to film them before I had seen the presentations.”

“Preparation was critical. Sarah had sent me the slideshows for each presentation and I had a late night at the motel picking through them to frame the interviews and plan our video content.”

One of the challenges of filming staff in corporate videos and training videos is that they don’t always present well onscreen.

“We only have a certain number of media-trained people working at MLA so using staff as video talent can be tricky,” said Sarah.

“But fortunately Anvil’s video production crew was very conversational, which helped us to relax in front of the camera so it wasn’t such a big issue after the first few takes.”

Our client was happy with the outcome.

“For the whole event, media pickup has been quite favourable, and the videos are helping to extend the impact even further,” said Sarah.

“Darryl has been very helpful in advising us how to optimise delivery of the videos to livestock producers, to make the most of our investment. By implementing Anvil Media’s video content marketing advice, we hope to extend the shelf life of the roadshow by about 6 months.”

“We’ve hosted the videos on our YouTube channel and published them on our website and social media channels (Facebook, Twitter). We’re also building a weekly email newsletter around each topic, and pushing out the videos, one per week, to our 22,000 members.”

The post Take your message beyond the road appeared first on Anvil Media.