We were beyond delighted to receive an award for “Best use of content with an existing external community” for the work we did with Avaya last year, building them the biggest and most immersive customer experience yet.

Avaya is a technology company that specializes in business communications. They have moved heavily away from physical products to software-based solution, which as we all know are extremely hard to communicate the benefit of in an emotional manner, especially using traditional media.

That’s why they decided to build the biggest and most immersive experience inside their purpose-built Customer Experience Center in NYC, and we were asked to “wow” their clients through video content and digital experiences.

Our brief was to make Avaya’s clients aware of the myriad of ways Avaya technologies can accelerate their business, cities and even government institutions. Our idea was to create Persona-Driven Spaces to help them feel and visualize “what would it be like if they used Avaya’s products and services”.

The floor-to-ceiling screen curves around most of the room would be immersing healthcare professionals in a hospital environment or hospitality clients in a virtual hotel, for example. Visitors are encouraged to play with the phones, pads, haptic table and other multimedia devices on the central kiosk to understand their real-time effects on the screen.

“Wyzowl claims that 74% of people who get

an opportunity to see a product in action via

an explainer video will buy it”

 

This beautiful screen was our canvas and we have created over 50 pieces of content. A series of scenes that depicted specific client settings and demonstrated how Avaya products and solutions touched every process from customer interaction to call center, servers and management portals.

The screen that wraps around three walls and completely envelopes you in content, which makes you feel as you are inside each environment, be it a hospital, school, hotel, call center, shopping mall, bank or modern office – all at breath-taking 22K resolution!

Examples of environments created at 22K resolution

If this was not WOW enough, we also developed content for a number of product demos using a technology called Bluescape. This allowed, video stills, Power Points, charts and live feeds to seamlessly combine on a 40-foot wall, so a presenter could perform a sales pitch directly to an existing customer with whatever information they required.

So what did we learn through this process?

First of all, that however experienced a production company is at big scale high resolution video, a project at 22k or 4 x that of IMAX is going to give you new learnings!

To start with, no camera in the world can produce an image over 8K, so whatever we created was always going to be a meshing together of a series of high-resolution elements.

Rendering times on final delivery of assets was always going to be huge if we played a traditional “final sign off of assets, then render” model. Instead we worked with a complex client approvals mechanism to render certain aspect of the content as and when we got approvals, thus meaning that final render stages were massively reduced.

And finally, in a usual project the briefing stage might be around 10% and production be around 90% of the project timescale. This was never going to work on a project of this complexity and with so many inter-dependencies. Instead around 50% of the time was front loaded to develop the projects brief, creative possibilities and technical solutions.

To conclude, I can honestly say this was a great team effort and there was a lot of enthusiasm from all to make something truly great. It is not often that you get the honor to work on a project of this scale, break grounds in your industry and be recognized for it. The initiative was  such a success for Avaya that we are now building a second Experience center for them in Dubai!

So, if you are reading this article and considering whether something of this scale would be good for your brand, my view is that painting a picture of the future on a big screen is perfect for a company that has big vision and a big story to tell. It places the customer at the center of that vision both physically and metaphorically and builds a confidence in delivery of that vision that is truly priceless.

Click here to find out more about Avaya’s Customer Engagement Center on their blog

See video overview below

And if you don’t have a video presence then it is time for change.

Let’s start with interesting facts to give you some reasons why marketers need video content more than ever.

97% of marketers claim that videos help customers understand product. (HubSpot)

 

Today’s consumers and businesses are less responsive to traditional communications strategies.

Instead, an internet search helps them to find the best product in their neighborhood –

or even in the world. And videos excel at giving customers an up-close look at a product or service.

By 2021 over 80% of all Internet traffic will consist of video. (Cisco)

Search engine algorithms favour videos because they see them as high-quality content.

Using videos in various types of content as well as on your main web pages can significantly improve SEO.

By 2021 live video will account for 13% of traffic. (Cisco)

Staying competitive is crucial. Instagram Stories and Facebook Live are both great for offering people intimate glimpses or short,

personal glances of what you’re up to and they are so great for creative tools.

They create more of a real-time feel.  Real-time, ephemeral content is great for:

• Offering a feel of face-to-face interaction
• Building brand trust
• Offering audiences casual, interesting updates (e.g. behind the scenes)

     81% of businesses are now using video for marketing. (HubSpot)

A concise, engaging explainer video is a particularly effective way of educating people about the ins and outs of a product.

By using storytelling and unique types of media you can easily catch people’s attention and hold it while they’re actually entertained.

Consumers live their lives in a sea of content and there is a risk that any content

not correctly designed or initiated will become swamped and lost.

90% of consumers claim a video will help

them make a purchasing decision. (Social Media Today) 

Ultimately, video boosts conversation. Moving pictures create greater reactions than still pictures.

Landing pages are great places to place videos, too.  Another reason why video is great for conversions on

websites is that they keep people around for long enough to look around on the site.

OUR ADVICE

Where are the opportunities?

• Create a YouTube Channel. YouTube is the second most popular website after Google
• Refresh hero video: make it exciting, problem/solution
• Achievement video: what’s been done, what’s next?
• Recruitment video
• Case studies: let customers tell the story, show people not just graphics
• Transition from showing “how your company works” to explaining why, and what’s in it for the clients

CONCLUSION

Video is one of the most popular content forms in the world and let’s face it – it won’t change anytime soon. We are craving connection and personality even though we are always on our phones and computers. We want to see and hear people in a real-life context – it’s meaningful, believable, human.

Video is not only fun but gives your audience an insight of the people behind the business, behind the screens, behind the phone. It is the best way to give your audience a glimpse of you and your business. Without a doubt it will create more trust or at least nudge their curiosity to reach out and find out more.

The main thing here is to also think past revenue and product – show them something about your viewpoint, or share some information on an interesting event, or offer some valuable insight information. The more they know about you, what you do and your practices, the more likely they are to stick around.

Sources:
https://www.thebroadcastbridge.com/companies/entry/207/cisco

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/state-of-video-marketing-new-data

https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1853168

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/white-paper-c11-741490.html#_Toc484813971

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/state-of-video-marketing-new-data

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/the-state-of-video-marketing-in-2018-infographic/518339/

https://www.alexa.com/topsites