A few weeks back, I came across an online marketing video produced by Cisco that I thought was superb. You can read my original post about the Cisco video here.
I wanted to follow up with the Cisco folks and find out more about how the campaign was created and what kind of results they saw.
I spoke with Melissa Mines, a manager with Cisco Systems.
1. What was your goal for this campaign?
Overall, the goal was to drive market interest and engagement as Cisco introduced a new router (ASR 9000) into the market. We wanted to do so in a creative way that showed a little of the creative and fun side of the Cisco personality. As with the recent ASR 1000 launch, we used Web 2.0, collaboration and social media tools to develop a Virtual, Viral, and Visual launch that efficiently and effectively reached our customers, investors, press and analysts. The videos on techedgeweekly.com created a fictitious scenario with a “reporter” bumbling his way through the halls of Cisco attempting to get the “scoop” on a big launch from some of our top executives. The series reveals hints and humor along the way.
2. Could you please give some specifics of how the final campaign was structured? Wasn’t it five different videos?
The Tech Edge Weekly video series included 5 separate videos. All were less than 3 minutes long.
3. Had you done anything like this before?
Yes. As a continuation of our market engagement around the ASR 9000, we released a fun “love note” in the market. Also, in order to showcase the contrast between a Connected Life and the alternative, we developed a series of videos to show how a couple is affected by bandwidth issues. Finally, we’ve recently developed some mobility-centered videos aimed to articulate various aspects of the Cisco mobility story – showing that the network is what’s most important. Be sure to look at the at-home, on-the-move and out-takes from the series on this channel.
4. Why did you decide to conduct the campaign in the manner you did?
We decided to go with this approach for a few reasons.
- Video adds depth and identity to a message.
- The ASR 9000 is the newest “crown jewel ” in our routing portfolio, and we wanted to depict the importance of the launch in a creative manner.
5. How many people worked on it? Was it an in-house production? How long did it take?
The internal creative team for Tech Edge Weekly.com consisted of three people. The videos were developed in conjunction with an outside creative talent. The concept phase too approximately two weeks. The filming took two (long) days. The filming and editing team consisted of three people. And, the editing took a total of four weeks, with the videos being revealed over a two week period in that time.
6. What was your distribution strategy?
The distribution was done through word-of-mouse, or, online. The videos are posted on both Tech Edge Weekly and YouTube. The videos were promoted via blogger, media, Twitter, and other online outreach.
7. What were the results of the campaign?
To date, the videos have received over 70,000 views. Given their targeted subject, this exceeded our goals.
The videos were a key driver for Cisco exceeding its target for launch day registrants. We received 9,000 registrants from over 130 countries.
The media and analyst teams view these as a key part of their pre-launch outreach and engagement. These efforts resulted in over 200 positive media placements.
8. What will you do differently/same next time?
Well, we’d allow more than two days for filming. Two days simply weren’t enough, but the crew delivered. Given the intent and the targets for these videos, I am not sure what we’d do differently. We will continue to evolve the way we develop and deliver online videos, though. Success shouldn’t always be measured by sheer volume. At times, YouTube hits are the right metric. At other times, a targeted message that can be used over a longer-time frame (see mobility videos cited above) might be the right answer. We are committed to online videos as a way to deliver visual analogies to our core messages and to continue to showcase the witty, intelligent, and human side of our brand.
Thanks, Melissa, we appreciate your insights.
If you have questions, please write to us at Video Production Tips.
Lorraine Grula
Thanks, Lorraine. We’re eager to share and learn. I think online video marketing is still early and it’s going to be exciting to see where it goes and how we can use it to better connect and collaborate with our customers and communities.
Hi Melissa.
Online video marketing is indeed so new, many of us feel like we are flying blind.
That’s why it is important for those doing it to share our experiences so everyone can learn.
I think the results of your campaign pretty much spell it out. You had great results. Why?
1. Your videos were well-done stories that were entertaining to watch. Brief and focused.
2. You got your videos out there in front of potential customers. You promoted them.
3. You had a clear goal.
No doubt there are other factors too, but seems to me these three are probably the most important.
I appreciate you sharing your experience with online video marketing so we can all learn and grow together.
Lorraine
Hi Thanks for all the information, there are several methods and strategies that helps to improve the online business, even there are several internet marketing softwares that helps to improve the business.
This is cool! Indeed, more and more folks are getting interested about this video marketing thingy considering its many benefits in terms of lead/traffic generation. Sharing relevant information should really be done especially by those who have in-depth knowledge about this stuff so it can be done and used by many or other eager marketers. Cheers! 😀
Online video marketing is exciting, new and has enormous potential.
Thanks for reading video production tips.
Lorraine
I watched the videos on the techedgeweekly.com website. You have to watch them in the right order, of course. The one at the bottom of the page is number one.
They were fun, short and interesting. I liked the ending, which was a surprise.
I guess we mortals could do a series of web videos to promote our sites, too. We don’t have to be CISCO, now do we?
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