The Importance of Video Branding

November 11, 2021
Contents

Every minute, thousands of hours worth of videos are being shared on the internet. Many marketers and brands are using video marketing effectively to reach their goals. 92% of the marketers are using video marketing. But what is the point of sharing amazing videos if they don't align with your brand? Video branding is an important part of video marketing that is often overlooked. We pay attention to branding when we are dealing with products, websites, or even images. But when it comes to creating videos, branding is often ignored or left out. Ignoring branding in videos can have serious consequences. You may not see an overnight plummet in sales, but your brand image in eyes of your viewers will slack off.

How to pay more attention to branding in videos? It's simple. Start video branding or follow video brand guidelines.

What is a branded video?

A branded video is any video that focuses primarily on brand awareness/ branding. At this moment, you may believe that adding a brand logo to the video will make it branded. But that is not the case, Branding is much more than just adding a logo. A branded video will not only have your brand logo, it must be spreading brand awareness among the viewers.

Here are some amazing examples of brand videos, you can take inspiration from -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=B6zVzWU95Sw

Slack has always come forward with the most creative videos. This high-quality case study video of Slack not only makes an impression on the viewers but is fun to watch! Kudos to their marketing efforts.

Another video that excels in following the brand guidelines is this Apple video

"It already does that" is a great example of how Apple offers the best products in the world!

If you have already worked hard at establishing your brand, you must try to keep up the quality of your videos as well. A lack of branding across your video content may business in a poor, even unprofessional light. To be recognizable in the trade, you need to start creating videos with a significant trademark.

Have you watched John Lewis Christmas ads? all of them have a touch of Christmas spirit and they surely make the viewers teary-eyed and happy.

Why is video branding important?

You may think that video alone will attract viewers, so why waste time on branding? But the truth is following a set of video brand guidelines can drive brand recognition up. Have you seen the "Turn up your Rhythm" Coca-Cola ad?

This ad not only displays the product but also follows a brand color scheme. Did you know that brand colors alone can drive up brand recognition by 80%? Crazy right? If you do not believe these numbers, then below we have mentioned a few logical reasons why you should focus on video branding, create and follow video brand guidelines.

  • Without video brand guidelines you will not be able to consistently represent your brand across all mediums.
  • To create a strong online presence you need to follow your brand style guide.
  • Strong branding will make your video stand out. It will be more recognizable to the audiences. Like when we see a Coca Cola video, we know its the brand!
  • Brand guidelines are also a type of declaration act. You mark your territory, by claiming a style, color and design. Video style guide ensures you have an identity and other agencies/ brands do not misrepresent it.
  • If we haven't stressed it enough, then lets talk about it again. BRAND AWARENESS. A video style guide will increase the brand awareness among the viewers.

A video style guide is necessary if you want to start branding your videos. But where to start?

What is a video style guide?

A video style guide is like a handbook on how to create a branded video. It contains all the rules on how your video should feel, look and sound like, from brand colors to brand personality, everything should be included in a video style guide. Your style guide for branded videos can be long and dense, or just plain and simple. It can also include, a set of dos and don'ts. This simple brand style guide of Zendesk's shows how they want their videos to be

Zendesk Brand style guide for videos

To make successful brand videos, one needs to follow brand guidelines. Every guideline has a set of elements. You need to be clear about what you want to do, and what you want to avoid in your video content - your tone, graphics, music, font, transitions, etc, all must align with the brand. These aspects are called brand elements. To make sure the video creation aligns with the style guide you need to focus on the video brand elements.

Vibe of the video

The first and foremost thing is what do you want the tone of your video to be? Should it be entertaining, or do you want it to be strictly professional? Decide the general feel of your video. Here are two examples, Starbucks follows a friendly, customer-centric tone in its videos. Most of their videos are about educating their viewers, like "why they blend coffee?"

Whereas, on the other hand, Airbnb's tone may be friendly but it is not educating. The brand wants to make the customers feel at home away from home.

In this video, the tone of the brand is reflected.

Your goal is to create videos that carry the brand voice. The vibe of the video should be what you want your customers to experience from your brand.

If you are in a hurry or don't want to spend much on video production then Offeo's Branded Design maker can help you out. with the Branded design maker you can create your brand guide with all necessary elements.

  • Background : Choose the suitable animated background or footages to set the tone for the video.
  • Text and Color: Choose the color and font for each text block and decorative portion of the ad.
  • Custom Fonts : Use your brand font or choose from our extensive font library.
  • Timeline : Use timing to your advantage. Stagger long sentences into short texts throughout the video to convey your message effectively.
  • One click animation : Choose suitable animation presets to introduce your message effectively. Create animated videos in a few clicks.
  • Soundtrack : Add impactful soundtrack to complete your video.

Offeo is the best on-the-go option to create brand guidelines for your social media videos.

Other than the tone of the video, there are elements like logo animation, brand colors, and sound that also plays a huge role in setting the brand image.

Brand colors

Any brand that wants to step up its branding game, needs to have a brand color palette. And brand colors must be used consistently throughout the video marketing campaign. A color palette is essential for creating a brand identity. Instagram has a specific color palette

Instagram Logo Gradient Color Code

It is not only used in the company logo but across all channels. Your videos should hero your brand colors, this way audience will know how to recognize you. Louis Vuitton is known for its classic color scheme of old burgundy and dirt, a shade of light and dark browns. In its Spirit of Travel campaign, in 2019 the brand used the brand colors subtly in a few places in the ads.

The video is a snippet of luxury incarnate, the boat at the end of the video is in dark and light brown colors, which are the signature colors of Louis Vuitton. So, no matter what your video concept may be, try to be creative and incorporate your brand colors in the videos.

Video Editing

There should be rules about how the branded video should look like. Brand elements like graphics, fonts, transitions, and animation(if any) come under this category.

Graphics: For graphics, the main concern is how the video must look like. Will, there are borders, what will the introduction be like, what should be the video frame, etc. Skeleton created brand guidelines for Internet society regarding their lower thirds.

Lower thirds of Internet Society

The brand has to follow these rules for consistent branding in all its videos. Create an outline of how the video should look like, intro, starting point, frames, aspect ratio, etc.

Transitions: While making brand videos, another important element to keep in mind is transition. How does your video move from one scene to another? There is no one rule that brands follow for transition. It is up to you, whether you want a traditional style simple and classic transition or a fun modern transition. while moving from one scene to other does not drastically shift focal points, as it may jar the viewers. Make soft transitions.

Voiceover and music: Not all video formats will require audio, we recommend you design the videos in such a way that people can watch them with the sound off. However, audio is also a huge part of brand voice, quite literally. So carefully choose a voice/ audio that matches the feel of your brand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXBPUPzulRw

In 2016, Jockey released an ad " Feels like Jockey" using the famous Michael Buble song " Feeling Good". The ad became an instant hit, not just because of the popular song, but because of the FEEL of the ad.

Shooting: How to shoot videos also defines your brand. Whether it is animated or not, video creation needs to be definitive. Apple has always been a leader in seeing things differently. In its mind-boggling video ad in 2014, it takes viewers on a cerebral journey where they really "see differently". The camera work, the editing, the typography, the science behind it all is genius!

Even, the way you shoot can define your brand. Be careful about how you want to portray the brand.

Brand Logo

There is a reason why the brand logo is synonymous with branding. A viewer can instantly recognize a brand just by looking at the logo. When you look at this symbol, what are you reminded of?

Logo of Luxury Brand Chanel

The word that instantly comes to your mind is Chanel. The logo has become synonymous with the brand. Using the brand logo in branded videos is the necessary marketing strategy. It will increase overall brand awareness, and create an impression on the audience.

Fonts and Typography

Every video has text, and subheadings, sometimes even captions. For brand consistency, the sizes for headings, sub-headings, and body text, and even when and where text should appear should be pre-decided. It gives the brand videos a professional feel, it also creates a brand identity among the audience. The McDonald's logo is a well-recognized font, if it was written in any other font viewers wouldn't associate it with the brand. The font used here is Lovin' sans.

McDonalds logo and symbol

Animation

Nowadays brands want to be more creative. Animation is a great way to let the creative juices flowing. With animation, you can showcase what's going on inside your head. That's an added advantage. In brand guidelines for video content, you can curate the animation styles the brand wants to follow, and what you want to avoid. If you think animation may be tricky, try stop motion to create videos, or try Offeo Animation maker to bring your ideas to life. Animated videos provide an immersive medium for the viewers.

Brand style guide for videos is the holy grail that marketers and the creative team should follow. May it be colors or transitions. If you follow the guidelines for a brand website, images, and social media posts, videos should also be effectively branded.

Create audience-winning branded videos with these tips

Sometimes you do not need to create a whole new brand guideline. Sometimes it is okay to just tweak things up a little, and add a few things to the existing guidelines. Here are some handy tips that will help you in creating audience-winning brand videos -

  • Know your audience. This is the key to pleasing them. what do your viewers want to see? What kind of videos do they love? It is highly crucial that you plan the content around their taste.
  • Always plan the content. Have a clear video objective, make a road map on how to make the content.
  • Place your products, brand color and logo into the video. Be loud or be subtle about it. It is your choice.
  • Do not spread yourself too thin. Create company brand video within your budget. Do not go overboard for a brand video. Do what you can do.
  • Make sure all the brand elements in the video are aligned. The brand experience the viewers get shouldn't feel off-brand.
  • Optimize all the social media videos accordingly. Youtube video won't be suitable to post on Instagram, optimize all branded videos before posting it. Ensure that the videos work well on mobile devices.

Conclusion

In this age of social media, it is very easy to lose track of brand identity to please everyone. But having video brand guidelines makes sure that you do not stray far away from your brand ideals. You can create branded videos and win audiences without compromising your brand values. With a well-thought-out video brand guideline, you can create a video with quality and consistency. Looking for an easy way to create a brand design? Give Offeo Branded Design maker a try! With this intuitive new tool, you can churn out content faster than ever.

Written By
Ankita

Create Stunning Videos Easily

Skyrocket your video marketing efforts today

OFFEO Video Templates

Create stunning animated social media videos in afew clicks

Related articles