Frank: Welcome to the season finale of Casual Fridays. Today, we're going to take a look behind the scenes of why we created the show, how we did it, and what we learned. And no, it wasn't just a ploy to see how far I could push my coworkers, although that was really fun.
Gary: Frank, I got my shorts on. I'm ready for my scene now.
Frank: Oh, sorry Gary. The season's over.
Gary: Oh.
Frank: Our number one goal, was to humanize our agency. It's very easy to dismiss a brand, a logo, but if you attach a face or a personality to your company, it builds trust, and creates a relationship that otherwise wouldn't exist.
Michael: Why does it take so long for you to make my coffee? I've been standing here for 20 minutes, and the line hasn't moved.
Teresa: Here's your coffee. Just the way you like it. Sorry for the wait.
Michael: No worries, Teresa. Have a great day.
Frank: Videos starring our employees, written in our voice, and evoking a positive, emotional experience through humor, was the perfect way to show the world exactly who Quinlan is. First, we had to set our goals. Along with the intangibles like humanization, or brand awareness, we also set some measurable targets. Our goals included at least 100 views, 75% engagement rate and 3 email sign ups per video.
We achieved these for most of our videos, and often times, did much better. Views are a vanity statistic, but they do tell us something about the how, or why, we are attracting our audience. Views alone won't tell you the entire picture, but man, does it feel good to see that number climb.
Jillian: Frank, have you seen the views on this week's episode? Amazing.
Frank: Statistics like engagement rate, social media shares, and email conversion, can actually tell you quite a bit more about the quality of your content. Quality is what drives the success of a video series, and frankly, any content project. To ensure quality, ensure authenticity first. Be yourself. Write in your own voice, and build your content around your own experiences. The moment you start pretending to be something you're not, your audience will see right through it.
Yep, finished in about 2 1/2 hours. Would have won my age group, too, if it wasn't for those damn Kenyans.
Because we were trying something new, we wanted to keep production costs down. Every episode this season, was produced entirely in-house, in a week. For each episode, we threw up a few lights, made sure the backdrop was interesting, but not too distracting. $10 to whoever can guess who is in that framed portrait. We used our zoom H1 microphone to record dialogue as best we could, and we shot everything on the Canon 60D DSLR. Full disclosure, the best production tip that I learned, was how raising the camera and my key light higher, would shave a few pounds off my face.
As you can see, nailed it.
Well, that's a wrap. Thank you for your support through our first season. It was a little scary coming out of the gate, but we pulled together, found a rhythm, and we learned a ton along the way. In a world full of distractions, you kicked back with us for 3 minutes each week, and shared a few laughs, and we sincerely appreciate that.
Now, you're going to have to wait a few months for Season 2, but it will be worth it. If you sign up after this, I will send you a handwritten invite to our premiere. Yes, it will be that good.
Greg: Keep laughing, Conjerti. Season 2? Not if I have anything to say about it.
MacLaine:I don't know, I mean, it's kind of funny.
Episode 12 - How To Humanize Your Brand Through Video
There’s no doubt that the office has some fun with Casual Fridays, but why exactly do we do it? For our final episode of the season, Frank reveals the secrets behind the series. Get an inside look at the power of video, why it’s important to humanize your brand and how to encourage your coworkers to embarrass themselves.
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