What Makes For A Great Product Video?

We’re living in a special era.

One in which creativity, business acumen and technology are all colliding, and always with innovative results.

If you sit back and observe the tech scenes in Silicon Valley, the Silicon Roundabout, or Siliconallee, you’re sure to notice they’re all spectacles in their own right. Ballsy entrepreneurs are simultaneously making waves and reinventing the wheels of their respective industries. Creating brand new verticals was never going to be straightforward, but at least these types make it look easy.

Nevertheless, if you’re a rising entrepreneur looking for your own slice of the fun, you’ll have plenty on your mind. As just two examples, finding those fellow superstars to make it happen, or that round of Series A funding. But above all, how do you get your product well-known and well-used?

 

AMIGO, YOU’RE GOING TO NEED A PRODUCT VIDEO.

 

This format of messaging is one of the best ways to showcase a demo of your offering, and some of its mojo in the process. Get those two factors aligned, and your product will sell itself. So on that note, let’s look at some stellar examples.

With product videos, these guys are scaling what were once totally unscalable businesses.

‘So Yeah, We Tried Slack…’

In terms of the energy and sheer personality involved, Slack and Sandwich Video were the ideal meeting of minds. Their energy, and the trademark Sandwich-pizazz they show in this video both speak for themselves: they genuinely had fun making it.

In parts meta, and all parts charming, it cements Slack’s fun, lively tone of voice in the moving image. Sandwich don’t totally overdo singing the platform’s praises, but make a point of communicating the ease it brings to their working lives. And most importantly? They do it with honesty; they’ve thought about their audience, they’re know they’re not stupid, and instead aim to entertain.

 

 

‘Introducing Wake’

Billed as the ‘private space to share and discuss design work with your team’, Wake opt for a very different approach to selling their style. It’s still fun, just comparatively laid-back and low-key.

Probably because they’re catering explicitly to a designer audience, this one’s still equal parts self-aware and self-referential – just like Slack’s is. But their difference comes with a tongue-in-cheek approach – the kind their audience will appreciate and respond to. In case you missed that designer high-five, that’s my case in point, right there.

It even comes complete with the ‘Gotta Get That Money’ sample at the end. How much more ‘meta’ can you get than by manipulating gummy, commercial hip hop – for something you’re trying to sell? To sum up, I definitely dig their sense of humour, so kudos to you, Wake.

 

‘This Is Tictail’

 

Well, this video just oozes uncomplicated, Scandinavian understatement, with a dash of sophistication for good measure. Yeah, way to show off how Swedish you are Tictail.

What sets it apart from the first two examples, is that this video places real end-users front and centre. They explain how they use the platform in their own words, and Tictail even displays their store URLs – and prominently. This reinforces the strong sense of community that this ecommerce platform has worked so hard and steadily to build.

The video is also very well cut and edited – showing a glimpse of the demand for Mutti’s wares online at 0:26 is hard to resist for budding vendors – and demonstrates that anyone can make this kind of success happen with hard work.

 

The Answer?

So, going back to that titular question: the following are necessary ingredients of a great product video, tailored for what you’ve got:

  • Nail your tone of voice
  • Communicate your product or brand’s personality, and honestly
  • Know your audience, and how best to speak to them
  • Have fun doing it!

Honestly, Slack makes me feel like a caveman for sending documents to colleagues through Gmail. Tictail makes we wonder why I’m not a Nordic ceramicist, selling beautiful things online. And Wake, well – I’m no designer, but it does make me want to work on a Wacom all day.

Here at Dauntless, we know a thing or two about truly original, top-drawer creative thinking. If we see any more unmissable videos like these, we’ll be sure to share them here.

And what about you – seen anything unmissable on YouTube lately?