[Video Strategy and Format] Best Practices to Stay Ahead

Best practices for capitalizing on your videos

To get a step ahead, you can:

• Create your own channels to engage with your audiences and offer them a wide range of content, organizing it like a media outlet with your HR channel, your innovation channel, and, above all, your marketing channel. You can even decide to organize your content by country, as some major banks and insurance companies do.
• Host your videos on YouTube to facilitate sharing and virality of content, or choose other hosting and distribution platforms for sensitive and internal content;
• Create calls to action to redirect users to your site or at least add interactivity to your media to make internet users want to find out more about you.

Three points video Strategy to consider before creating a video

Step 1: Create a detailed brief

Start with a brief that clearly explains the creative direction of your video whether it is creative, unconventional, and original.

The more detailed your brief is, the easier it will be to align expectations and ensure the final result matches your video needs.

Step 2: Choose the format that best supports your video strategy and communication goals

Once your objective is clear, identify the video formats that best support your video strategy.

Look for inspiration not only from your competitors but also from other industries. Exploring different sectors can help you discover new ideas and formats that strengthen your video strategy.

Step 3: Identify reference videos and analyze their strengths

Once you have selected a shortlist of two or three reference videos, analyze what makes them effective and identify their strengths:

• duration
• intro/ outro
• how to edit the footage
• shots selected for filming
• detailed script writing...

In short, the ideal approach for your video strategy is to identify one or more reference videos and adapt them to your communication goals and video guidelines (see our motion design white paper).

Releasing new video formats for social media engagement

Outside of headquarters, the banking and insurance sector is primarily represented through local services delivered by branch networks. The challenge is to manage and engage a network that may either be directly owned or structured around independent agents, much like a franchise network.

In your commercial activities, you are also required to sell complex or white-label products. This includes, among others, pocket products or affinity insurance products, which often require dedicated training programs so that your sales teams can fully understand and confidently promote these new offerings.

Transparency is also a key challenge. Explaining terms and conditions, clarifying the specifics of certain products, and raising awareness about potential risks are all essential. In this context, a strong video strategy can help communicate clearly and continuously with your clients while making complex information easier to understand.

These issues relating to promotion are therefore many and varied, and are reflected in the following communication objectives:

• Communicate using sales and marketing training materials;
• Develop, disseminate, and adapt the national message: display and presentation materials;
• Develop new pre-sales and after-sales tools;
• Optimize customer relations: relieve call center congestion/eliminate irritants by providing valuable content;

Example: humanize your expertise by having your brand embodied by a real person.

We all know Cerise from the famous insurance brand. Here is an example of videos where you humanize your expertise by having your brand embodied by an “iconic” person, who has been played by several actresses.

It's up to you to decide whether to choose an actor (Groupama's choice), an employee (Carglass's choice for its ads, for example), or a celebrity (as we describe with Allianz later in this article).

Developed as a web series, Cerise represents Groupama’s voice through short formats of under three minutes, each episode exploring the challenges related to a product offered by the insurer. The format is clear, engaging, and easy to understand. The interview is supported by a few key on-screen keywords, along with graphics and subtitles that help highlight the main messages. The primary shot uses a shallow depth of field to create a soft blur between the interviewee and the background a technique that works particularly well when the setting is not ideal or when the planned shot does not fully meet expectations.

Ensure your digital transformation both internally and externally with video

Digital transformation involves the adoption of new tools by both customers and employees. It means enabling customers to interact with chatbots, navigate your website easily, or use a new mobile application without difficulty.

For example, Société Générale Maroc has introduced a 24/7 branch concept with no on-site agents. This new approach requires the development of various communication tools to help customers carry out their transactions independently.

In France, the same challenge arises when the bank with the red and black logo launches a new application. In this context, using digital communication tools and a strong video strategy becomes essential to support your organization’s transformation:

These video materials that introduce and promote new digital projects can support both your employees and your customers at the same time. This is the case, for example, with the artificial intelligence platform Ask, which helps agents optimize customer relationships while also providing better support to clients.

Create inspirational and viral video content to boost your top-of-mind awareness

As professionals in banks and insurance companies, you work with a large number of project leaders on a daily basis. This is where you will find a gold mine of inspirational content.

Your B2B clients may be associations supporting a noble cause. They may also be students, professionals undergoing retraining, or serial entrepreneurs who have decided to change their lives to develop their projects and pursue their passions. The big advantage of this format is that it delivers original, authentic content and addresses specific customer issues.

For this type of initiative, CNP Assurances chose to produce reports with documentary filmmaker and presenter Olivier Delacroix.

The idea was to create a three-minute report, with a recurring format and broadcast frequency, to discuss a customer's project. The report and interview are discreetly branded. And if the video is of high quality, the title appeals to the audience in a very B2C way. For example:

• ”Audrey created an app that makes life easier for thousands of people” has almost 4 million views,
• ”Jean-François is fighting to save his village from becoming a medical desert” has 2.7 million views, and "At 20,
• ”Vincent invented an app that is revolutionizing online donations" has 2.5 million views.

As you can see, this content has gone viral!