Non-Product Advertising: How Video Strengthens Internal Communications

This blog will give you a rundown on how to improve internal communications with videos, and how you can use those techniques to also raise brand awareness and cultivate a community of loyal customers with Non-Product Advertising!

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We’re living in an age where everyone–from brands to side hustlers–are competing for consumer attention in an increasingly saturated world of on-demand content. Audiences now have total control over what they choose to watch, and as marketers, we have to play by their rules.

Now more than ever, consumers know when they’re being marketed to and they don’t always like it. According to Hubspot research, “91% of people believe ads are more intrusive now compared to two or three years ago.” A big reason audiences view these ads as an “invasion of privacy” is the belief that brands aren’t trustworthy. Entrepreneur Magazine says, “Brands can no longer buy attention as they used to in the old advertising model. They must earn it. This can be done by being honest, transparent, and reliable, first as a company and then in their messaging.”

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Here’s the thing though: this is a lesson that goes well beyond simply selling your product. Creating honest, transparent content to convey who your brand is overall can be a compelling way to strengthen how you communicate internally with your teams. From onboarding to clever ways to conduct staff training to simply sharing your companies core ethos, video has unlocked new ways for employers to build connections with their employees.

More so, just as the world saw an unprecedented shift in how consumers make decisions on what brands they support, employees are doing the same with their employers. As a younger workforce looks for jobs, they are being selective in what brands they approach based on their track record with important issues. What is their position on national issues, how are they taking action, and what are they doing to benefit their community? They also want to know what goes on behind the scenes to have a better understanding of how any given organization treats its staff. Today, the workforce (and consumers) have put a much higher premium on a brand’s values when choosing who they want to work for.

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What is Non-Product Advertising?

In summary, non-product advertising is when a brand tries to promote an idea, concept, or interest that it feels is important and will resonate with the target audience. In other words, it’s advertising without showing the product. It can be used to strengthen your customers’ idea of your brand, or it can be used to improve internal communications.

We break down a few non-product advertising video types that your brand can use to breed trust and transparency in your internal teams, allowing for stronger relationships in the workplace.

Internal Communications Video: Which Types Work Best?

1) Explainers

Explainers are short and effective videos that creatively demonstrate everything there is to know about your brand. This type of internal communications video leverages education by positing a problem or question and then demonstrating where your brand fits into the conversation.

If your employees skew younger, like Millenials and Zoomers, use relatable issues, like falling incomes and rising rents, to position yourself as an employer who deeply understands their employees. While this animated explainer QuickFrame enabled Roomi to create is ultimately around a product, it does a marvelous job toeing the line between selling a product and selling itself as a brand.

2) Culture Content

Another way you can convey your brand values using non-product advertising is with Culture Videos, which gives consumers a sense of what it is like to work at your company. The goal of this video type is to use your values to establish a strong connection with audiences and stakeholders, making them excited about the prospect of being associated with your brand.

Examples of Culture Videos can include:

• Social media takeovers
• Vlogs following specific employees
• Meet the Team videos
• Employee Testimonials

Culture Videos are the perfect type of content to illustrate your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, as well as any other social commitments your brand has made. Creative video marketing like this humanizes your brand, achieving transparency, honesty, and trust by pulling back the curtains on your everyday operations.

The video below, which QuickFrame enabled Cruise to create, highlights their intern program. Cruise is able to seamlessly convey its commitment to an inclusive culture, without expressly discussing DEI topics, simply by showing the diverse talent pool that makes up its brand’s DNA. 

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3) Cause-Focused Content

Employees increasingly want to work for brands that have the same worldview as their own. They are looking into what social causes they are championing, and if that dedication to progress is being reflected in the brands they are interested in joining.

Maybe your brand prides itself on empowering consumers to support small businesses. You can build an incredible amount of integrity and trust in future employees by producing videos that focus solely on how your brand invests in these communities.

Two campaigns that effortlessly demonstrate this approach to content are Billie’s “Think of a Woman” campaign for International Woman’s Day and Mastercard’s True Name™ promotion which rolled out for Pride 2021. The “Think of a Woman” video featured a spectrum of women in all their beauty and there was no sight or mention of Billie’s products. The video for Mastercard’s True Name™ card was a heartfelt scene featuring a member of the Transgender community, who explains the importance of having his preferred name on his card.

4) Mini-Doc

Mini-Docs are a great way to inspire your employees by highlighting the lesser-known stories about your brand and staff. Mini-Docs can come in a variety of forms, including:

• A video series on the company’s history
• Showcasing the evolution of a new product launch
• Overview of unique fan communities (like Peloton or Harley-Davidson)
• Highlight notable celebrities and professionals who use your product

The trailer for this Mini-Doc series that QuickFrame enabled hair care brand Kenra to create, spotlights three hair professionals and what their job means to them. The series was effective in showing the “why” behind the brand by going beyond their product to the personal lives of these three successful professionals. 

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5) Educational 

We all have questions about our favorite brands, and most likely your employees and potential employees are wondering the same about yours. Educational videos are entertaining, digestible pieces of content that can provide answers to these questions. These videos could feature: 

• A tour of your office
• How a product is made
• Highlighting brand partners 
• What your supply chain looks like

Giving employees a glimpse into the backend of your operations and how you produce your products can offer transparency and insight into what makes your brand unique and human. 

For example, check out the handmade beauty company Lush’s How It’s Made video series on YouTube and Instagram.  In the “Honey I Washed my Hair Shampoo Bar” video below, they used their content as an opportunity to not only educate consumers on how their unique product is made but also to show off their fun company personality.

Non-Product Advertising: The Takeaway

In short, you should be using video marketing to go beyond simply selling your products. Use videos to improve internal communications to make your teams run more efficiently 

Make your organizational impact more than a transaction by cultivating a clear brand voice by adding cause-focused content, culture content, explainers, mini-docs,  and educational content to your arsenal. These video marketing examples are just the tip of the iceberg. If you’re looking for more video promotion ideas for your organic content, ads, or anything video-related, you’re in the right place. 

Traditionally, video production costs have been high, or ads are too subjective to be scalable. That’s why QuickFrame created a corporate video production solution that unlocks more audience-specific, high-performing videos faster and more cost-effectively than ever before. To learn more about how you can affordably create non-product advertising videos that can support your marketing efforts, check out our Solutions.

It’s not too good to be true. It’s just how we do business.

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