With the dawn of the smartphone era, guerrilla video is becoming an increasingly popular way to transmit a message in real time. Superphones and pocket sized camcorders are able to shoot video at a passable quality that can be uploaded to YouTube before most major news outlets get wind of the story. CNN has capitalized on this by allowing user submitted footage to be a regular part of their content when covering a major story.

With that said, not all guerrilla videographers are created equal. Getting your camera out and putting the action in your view finder is about as good as sticking them with the pointy end in a sword fight. Here are some tips to help set your on-the-fly footage apart:

1. Always Shoot Hamburger-style

If you shoot how you normally hold your phone (Hot Dog Style), then you will end up with very odd looking black bars on the sides of your footage or a pixelated, forced zoom version that will not look very good. As soon as you set your camera/phone/cameraphone to video mode, make sure that it is shooting horizontally.

2. Zoom With Your Feet

Get your thumb off the zoom button! These are not DSLR cameras with awesome lenses and lighting attachments. These are the things you use to play Angry Birds. The best way to get a close shot of the action, get closer to the action. If you can’t get closer to the action, you may want to reconsider shooting your video. Take as much risk as you can handle getting the shot that you need.

3. Think in Shots

If you find yourself in the thick of a breaking story, you probably won’t have time to storyboard the video you want to make. But if you can think in clips and work in a few different angles, your video will be that much better in the edit room.

4. Frame Your Shots

A simple tip while shooting video from the hip is to try to frame your subject. This coincides with tip number 2, where you need to remember that you+your camera=mobile. Move around to get the shot you need. If your talent is looking to their left, give them some head room and line their eyes up with the top left green dots on this grid. If you can’t get their eyes in the top intersection, try to get them at the lower intersection (indicated by the blue dots). Avoid shooting your subject in the very center of your viewfinder.

5. Use a Tripod

The Waco Kid provides us with some transcendental wisdom in this clip: No matter how steady you think your hand is, a tripod is always a better option. And if a tripod is not readily available, check your surroundings for a ledge or pillar that you can use to support your arm as you film. This will cut down on the “Blair Witch Effect” (unless that’s what you’re going for).

6. Keep The Brightest Light Behind You

This keeps your subject matter from silhouetting and becoming too dark to see. This also goes back to the idea that you should adjust to your environment to get the shot that you need.

7. Budget Your Roll

While you want to err on the side of getting too much footage, you need to remember that you have a limited memory space. That footage of the sleeping baby panda seemed like a good idea until your device died right when the tiger got out of its cage.

8. Closely Examine Your Shot (Bonus Points)

If you’re setting up a shoot or have control over the setting, be sure that everything is in the same spot as you take multiple angles. A good editor can cut out some audio/visual miscues, but they can’t make that apple switch places with that globe.

 

9. Go Easy on Your Editor (Bonus Points)

If you find the event lasting more than a few minutes, consider stopping and starting your recording. This will allow your editor to separate the necessary shots from the unusable footage with a lot less (read: A LOT LESS) headache.

“The times they are a-changing.” – Bob Dylan

 

One of the best things about working in the ever-changing world of social media is that it is, in fact, ever-changing. The Facebook Timeline for brands was announced and we are here to break down what that means for you:

 

• Cover Photo

The first thing that you will probably notice is the fact that brands will now have cover photos just like personal profiles. This presents an opportunity for your brand to be creative. Here are examples of some folks that are maximizing their cover photo potential.

 

• Square 180 px Profile Picture

Your brand’s “Profile Picture” is going to change to a square shape, that is 180 px by 180 px. This is an important thing to consider when thinking about brand standards.

 

• Highlight Photos/Apps/Tabs/About

The new layout will be more visually driven (read: Pinterest-y/Tumblr-y) and will bring your brand’s photos and apps to the forefront. Now is a great time to go shoot that album of photo content or dive into that app you were thinking about making.

 

NOTE: This means that “gating” fans from your content in a “Like our page to see our content!” strategy will no longer work. Move forward.

 

• Friend Activity Gets a Boost

Friends that “Like” a page and friends that are talking about a page both show up in the top right of the timeline view. This will be a good credibility builder for people on the fence about following your content.

 

• Star Posts/Pin Posts

This will be an interesting feature for page administrators. You can “Star” posts allowing the post to become larger and draw the eye to it. You can “Pin” posts keeping them at the top of your page for seven days. There will be potential uses for these features that would be used for pushing content, highlighting your best content, rewarding fans, etc. Admins must note that this has the potential to create more social clutter and therefore should proceed with caution.

 

• Milestones

No timeline would ever be complete without publishing a few milestones. Red Bull is using this feature to create a contest for its fans.. Some things that you may want to consider as milestones:

Fan Growth

Key Events

Product Launches

Founder/Leadership Events

 

• New Admin Panel

Facebook is also touting a new Admin Panel that should make page management easier. It lets you see insights, latest fans, messages, and tips to help grow your community. We will have to see how this works out in the future.

   

• Direct Message From Page

Another feature that had been missing was the ability to message as a page. This will save future, “Hi, my name is X and I work on behalf of Y…” messages that end up (too often) with that awkward moment of whether or not you should friend request the person from YOUR account. This means that you really can’t ignore comments on the social sphere in the future!

 

• Hiding Posts/Changing Dates

These features were added to help you clean up your timeline. You will be able to change the dates of posts as well as hide posts from the past without deleting them. As people search your posts retrospectively, you will be able to control what your fans will be able to see.

 

• March 30, 2012 Rollout

The new layout is scheduled to launch on March 30, 2012. But page admins will have the ability to publish their new layout before that date.

 

What else do you want to see Facebook change? What does this trend toward visually based profiles suggest to you? How will this make it easier to tell your brand’s story?

Last Friday night was a busy time for both our Louisville office. In Louisville, Bandy Carroll Hellige team members attended the Louie Awards.

Here’s the breakdown of the awards from Louisville:

Louies:

Judges’ Choice

• Kentucky Lottery Jackpot Day- TV

Gold

• Kentucky Lottery Jackpot Day- TV
• Delta Dental- Annual Report

Silver

• Frazier Civil War- Outdoor
• Zoo Bears- TV
• Kentucky Lottery Rooftops- TV
• Bluegrass Cellular Bluephoria- TV

Congratulations to all of our staff who had their work honored!

Now that the Super Bowl is in the books, let’s get busy dissecting the ads. We’re going to run down the winners and losers of Ad Bowl XLVI in 140 characters or less per ad:

Winners:

Dogs

Fact: people love dogs. If we use Puppy Bowl VIII as an indicator, Dog-vertising isn’t going anywhere.

VW-

Even though they’re STILL going on about last year’s ad, everyone loves a fat puppy.

Doritos-

Paired the age old war between cats and dogs with a mafia storyline for a humorous result.

Bud Light-

This ad accomplished 2 things: 1) Bud light helps rescue dogs. 2) Made you remember a pretty generic slogan “Here we go.”

Skechers-

Dog+Booties+Moonwalk-Animal Cruelty=Skechers. Or so this ad would have you believe.

Suzuki-

Fact: Driving in the snow is fun when there’s nothing around you to hit.

Cars

Chrysler-

Clint Eastwood gave the nation a pep talk. #epic

Chevy-

Nice use of the timely issue of the Mayan Doomsday prophecy.

Acura-

Maybe I have a soft spot for Seinfeld, but this ad made me chuckle.

Audi-

Vampires. Are. Everywhere.

Samsung-

Between poking fun at iPhoners, acting out “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” and an awkward Brian Urlacher appearance, this ad has it all.

Budweiser-

Piggybacking off a the recent “Prohibition Era” popularity (see Boardwalk Empire, Newsies), Budweiser gives us another timely spot.

Losers:

Sex

These super bowl ads tried for “sex sells” and achieved “sex makes you uncomfortable watching the Super Bowl with your friends and family.”

H + M-

I understand there are a lot of David Beckham fans, but this ad struck me as a little over the top.

Teleflora-

I feel scummy for re-watching this ad at my desk to review it.

FIAT-

See Teleflora comment.

Toyota-

I remember back when the Camry was a family car! Toyota manages to cram bikinis, poop jokes, and a llama into this add. #toomuch

Cadillac-

In another weird move, Caddy decides to take its American car to a German racetrack. Then wants you to tell folks to go to “green hell?” Bizarre.

Coke-

Dear Coke, I buy your product because I like the way it tastes. It has nothing to do with Polar Bears. Sincerely, Steve

What was your favorite ad? Did we miss any winners or losers?

The Art of War

Stop me if you’ve heard this in a meeting before:

“What’s our strategy for Client Project X?” “Well, we’re focusing heavily on media relations.”

or “We’re reaching out to consumers through social media.”

or “We’re planning a guerrilla marketing event.”

Did you catch the glaring problem with the responses? The answers are all valuable tools to achieve client goals, but they’re tactics, not strategy.

Sun Tzu said in, The Art of War, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” While we might think differentiating tactics versus strategy is a concept to be mastered sometime before college graduation, time and time again campaigns are presented with great emphasis on tactics, and hardly any thought on overall strategy.

Strategy, of course, is the master plan outlining desired outcomes. Tactics are the tools used to carry out the strategy. A strategy should be personal, unique, and tailored to the specific goals at hand; two strategies should never look the same. Tactics, while still tailored to each initiative, are more universal: media relations, social media, experiential marketing, focus groups, etc. Put another way, strategy is the blueprint of the house; tactics are the hammer and nails.

Occupy Wall Street is the latest (and most notable) example of a campaign with plentiful tactics and absolutely no strategy. Its tactical tools are numerous: Twitter, Facebook, a website, live stream, group forum, chat room, user map, guerilla tactics, media relations, and so on.

Yet their strategy is still nowhere to be found, even with the addition of a Manhattan-based PR firm representing the group pro bono. The group doesn’t have a list of goals or demands. There’s no specific mission or vision statement. They haven’t outlined how they’ll measure success. In fact, Occupy Wall Street hasn’t even defined success. They don’t declare their target audience, stakeholders, allies, partners, or adversaries.

It isn’t just large-scale campaigns that fail to produce coherent (or any) strategies. Nearly everyone has been told to send out a press release announcing the hiring of a new big wig in the corporation, or to design a “quick and simple” billboard. Even these seemingly routine task need a strategy. Is the goal to obtain ten new accounts because of the draw of the CEO? Overshadow the news of the company’s poor fourth quarter financial showing? Stand out against the competition that just began a new ad campaign? If you think your strategy is, “Get the press release out and get a hit or two in local outlets,” or “Design a billboard that my client approves,” you need to go back to square one.

To avoid the same pitfalls of Occupy Wall Street, and so many other more run-of-the-mill campaigns, clearly outline the following at the start of any initiative, no matter how small:

What are we trying to accomplish on a large scale? What specific actions do we want to come out of this? How will we define success? What does success look like now and in the future?

While the “wars” of the agency professional may not be exactly what Sun Tzu had in mind, his advice, given more than 2,000 years ago, rings true today. Take the time to solidify a strong strategy before contemplating tactics and you’re sure to win the battle.

When it comes to selling, trust between producer and consumer is crucial. Testimonial videos are great ways to back up product claims that you make as an advertiser. Consumers will believe their neighbor before they will believe a stranger. The key idea is to hit the sweet spot where the person being interviewed is obviously not an actor but they can display their expertise and make a recommendation accordingly.

Recently, Brian Garr and Ted Eckel, Associate Creative Directors of the BCH Creative Team decided to share a little knowledge. Having brains like they do, they often have to relieve the pressure of their enormous expertise by sharing some pointers with the world at-large. Usually, no one is recording their off-the-cuff brilliance, but today they let me in on some tips for shooting testimonial videos.

1. Make the testifier comfortable

This is the number 1, paramount, most-important, basic rule. The people are there to talk, so facilitate their talking as much as possible. Don’t just throw them in front of the camera right after meeting them. Take some time to banter with them ahead of time so that conversation will occur instead of regurgitation.

2. Be mindful of the context & medium

When setting up testimonial videos always remember the why and how of the whole process. Keeping these two concepts fresh in your mind will allow you to be more consistent with your shooting and the questions that you are asking.

3. Start with open-ended questions

A wide net catches more fish. But you’re looking for a Pacific Blue Marlin not a Catfish. Start with a wide question (What do you like about…?) and listen to their response. Then ask reactive questions from there (That part about X was interesting, could you talk more about that?).

4. Develop a system to mark footage

Having a great interview shoot is all well and dandy, but having a great interview shoot AND effectively marking your footage will get you on your editor’s Christmas card list. There are different ways to do this: cutting after every question, deleting poor footage during the shoot, coming up with a phrase to say when beginning to tape, etc. Find a way that works for you, your crew and your editor and you will save hours in the studio.

5. Pauses (Let them finish)

Letting the person being interviewed finish has two great benefits: First, you are not stepping on their words at the end of the clip, which can be very difficult to edit out. And second, it allows the interviewee to maintain their flow and train of thought.

6. Staging

Depending on the location of the shoot, there are several things to consider. Background noise can disrupt the audio. Poor lighting can skew the visual. Other people may throw the whole thing off with a cell phone or a crying child. Consider the basic elements of shooting film (audio/visual) in regards to your location and prepare accordingly.

7. Mistakes

This person is not an actor. They will make mistakes. It is your job to help guide them back on topic and to keep them talking. At the beginning of a shoot, this task may be easier than at the end of a shoot when patience is diminishing. Remember that point as well!

8.Take a Break

When mistakes are piling up or you can’t get the talent to use the right verbiage, consider taking a break. This can allow everyone to cool their jets and to resume some of the banter with the person being interviewed that you created at the beginning. Pro tip: leave the camera running just in case you get a golden sound bite.

9. B-Roll

While you are at the shoot, be sure to get some B-Roll for your editor. Keep a log while you are filming of any specific things people talk about in their interviews. Then get footage of said item to use to tie everything together back at the studio.

What is your #10 tip for shooting testimonials?

Pitch Non-News.

Many times a client will approach you, acknowledge they have no news (or worse, insist that an irrelevant or very minor bit of information qualifies as news) and expect the PR team to land coverage in every major publication in town. Don’t do this. By spamming out information that isn’t newsworthy, you’re conditioning the reporter to ignore you, your client, and eventually anyone who identifies themselves as a publicist. Instead, come up with ways to create an initiative that actually does warrant media coverage, or brainstorm other ways besides media placements to accomplish the clients’ goals.

  Promise Anything.

It’s too easy to get swept up in the excitement of a new campaign or client and promise the world: “The media is going to eat this up!” “We can definitely give you an exclusive interview with our celebrity spokesperson at 4 a.m.” “There’s no way the Today Show would turn this down.” Yet it just takes one broken promise — whether it was under your control or not — to alienate a client or journalist. Promise the client that your team will work hard. Promise the journalist that you’ll do all you can to secure an interview that meets their deadline. But never promise results. In the field of PR, there’s no such thing as a sure bet.

  Measure placements with AVEs.

PR isn’t advertising, so why measure PR success by advertising standards? AVEs (advertising value equivalents) don’t take into account tone, accuracy, penetration, or true reach. While the topic of PR measurement warrants a blog unto itself, a great starting point is this presentation from Joanne Puckett, Vice President and Research Director at Ketchum Global Research Network. She makes excellent points as to why AVE’s don’t do PR any justice, and what metrics to use as a better alternative. Start here to break yourself of the terrible AVE habit and educate your clients as to why they should too.

  Say “No Comment.”

Repeat after me: There is never a reason to say “no comment.” “No comment” means “I have something to hide,” or “The bad things you’re hearing are true,” or “The rumors are accurate but I’m not allowed to confirm them yet,” or “My company doesn’t value our relationship with the media.” Instead, provide all the information you can disclose, and explain why you aren’t able to provide the information a reporter may need if you’re truly prevented from disclosing it. Then give exact details about when you can provide more information — and follow through.

  Step Into Unethical Territory.

While this sounds like obvious advice, PR ethics can be complicated and hazy, especially as these rules try to keep pace with the changing digital times. A few of the big ones: Do insist bloggers and journalists disclose freebies and perks received by your company or clients. Don’t expect coverage in return for anything — favors, ad buys, free products, or special treatment. Do remember to disclose contributing authors of blog posts rather than stray into the murky territory of “ghost blogging.” Essentially, don’t engage in any PR tactics or strategy you wouldn’t want revealed on the front page of The New York Times.

What Facebook’s changes mean for strategy

We may not know (yet) how Fan Pages will continue to evolve over time, but we do know Fan Page strategy needs to shift from where it was even just six months ago.

Shift focus away from fan procurement. Brands used to think of their Facebook Fan Page as a numbers game; entire brainstorming sessions were spent developing ways to get a user to hit the all-important “Like” button, with success measured solely by number of fans acquired.

While growing a loyal fan base is still an important strategy, Facebook’s new open graph buttons, ticker, and timeline features make the sole action of “liking” much less relevant. Think less about getting new fans in the door and more about encouraging current fans to engage with the brand often. Speaking of…

Strategize natural engagement and seamless “real life” integration. Facebook’s new user features favor a strategy of frequent, natural engagement. The ticker, displaying Facebook action in real time, best benefits a brand that provides numerous avenues for a user to interact with it (then broadcasting these interactions for the user’s friends to see and hopefully continuing brand engagement from a new user). Rather than just the one-time action of liking a brand, users can share how they’re incorporating the brand in real time in their online and offline lives. This kind of relationship is leaps and bounds more valuable to the brand and the consumer.

In other words: It’s not good enough to update a brand’s status regularly, push out promotions, or have a snazzy, designed Facebook Fan Page. This means brainstorming ways a brand can flawlessly (or “frictionless-ly,” as Zuckerberg put it) fit into a user’s life, and the natural ways a consumer might want to express this online.

Boost engagement of current fans. Facebook’s overhauled “Top Stories” news feed on the main page may mean that brand messages are pushed toward the bottom — or not seen by a user at all. Even frequent postings from brands won’t do much to change this algorithm. Instead, brands must come up with new and exciting ways to keep fans interacting with them frequently, both increasing the chances that the brand’s stories make it into a user’s newsfeed and allowing other users to see this brand interaction in the real time ticker.

Find a great digital partner. Agency folks never like to admit their hands are tied, but Facebook’s modifications put less of a focus on messaging and content strategy and more on specialized app technology. Develop ideas for apps that let a user share you brand in a natural manner as they go through the day, then research an innovative digital agency to partner with. These shops can offer technical guidance, refine your idea, and ultimately build an app that achieves your PR goals. Working with a preferred Facebook developer, such as Carrot Creative, can help agencies navigate the new Facebook app waters.