Marketing RAVE: One of the Great Marketing Videos of 2017

One of the great marketing videos of 2017 was produced for a New Zealand police department, and this video ROCKS, when it comes to challenging people to consider becoming a police officer.

Instead of a boring scene with an officer speaking into a video monitor, this video features exciting and funny chase scenes with younger police officers asking: “Do You Care Enough To Be Cop?”

Their approach to one of the great marketing videos of 2017 was to create a compelling combination of action and humor. The chase scenes in this video look like something out of an action movie. Young, agile officers are running, dodging obstacles, jumping fences, and delivering one-liners with the timing of Bob Hope.

This marketing video makes use of a great strategy that comes from the movie musical, “Singin’ in the Rain.” In this movie, the very agile dancer Donald O’Connor sings and dances his way through a rousing song called “Make’em Laugh.” And that’s what this New Zealand marketing video accomplishes. It’s so engaging, and so utterly unexpected that you can’t help but watch it to completion to see the next wild stunt the officers are going to perform, or the next unlikely police situation they need to handle.

And while the humor and action is incredibly fun, they’ve managed to layer in the serious nature of police work with the tagline:  “Do you care enough to be a cop?” which manifests throughout the video.

We consider this one of the great marketing videos of 2017 for the following 5 reasons:

1. It takes a totally unexpected approach.
2. It’s funny.
3. It’s also serious.
4. It’s got a lot of whiz-bang action.
5. It went viral beyond any entrepreneur’s or marketing director’s wildest dreams.

The morals to this case study are many and varied. Here are some basic tips about video marketing if you want your video to be effective and considered one of the great marketing videos:

1. Tell a story
2. Be inventive and unexpected in HOW you tell your story
3. Use humor if and when it’s appropriate
4. Release the video on Facebook as well as posting to your YouTube channel
5. Choose appealing people to represent you on screen
6. Be clear about your objectives: what is the number one message you want to convey?
7. Take the time to develop a script; it’s critical for developing your shot list, and being able to get accurate estimates on what it will cost to produce the video.
8. Be sure to include a clear Call to Action in the video, i.e. What do you want the watcher to DO?
9. Chunk your messages & stories into smaller pieces, i.e. Don’t make one huge, long video. Make a series of short videos of less than 2 minutes.
10. Be sure to BRAND the video, i.e. make sure that you have an animated opening and closing to the video with your logo and your website address.

Watch the video and we think you’ll agree it’s one of the great marketing videos of 2017.