Learn how Rolls Royce are driving their PR with video in Asia, should you film with a green screen

Hello and welcome to this episode of Speak PR. My name is Jim James and I'm your host on this show. Now, on this podcast, I like to help business owners to unlock the value in their business with free and effective communications advice. This is information that I've gathered from over 25 years as an entrepreneur myself, but also running an award-winning public relations agency for all of those years since 1995. Today, I'd like to talk about the power of corporate video. Should you make selfie videos and post them on LinkedIn? And the tech gadget that we should all have. I'm joined today by a guest called Andrew Clark. Now, Andrew Clark is the partner of AsiaWorks who's based in Singapore, and Andrew and I met over 20 years ago actually on a plane flying from Singapore to Phuket. He was that passenger with just So much luggage that you hope you wouldn't sit next to him on the plane. Lo and behold, he was sitting next to me on the plane, and we got chatting. He took up all the storage room in the overhead lockers with his kit, but it turned out that he was a TV anchor and producer. So he had been working at the time, uh, for BBC and has worked for CNN as well, and has since been working for AsiaWorks for the last 9 years. Which is a video production company with offices in Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, and Beijing. Now, Andy, welcome, and the first question I've got to ask you is, what makes kids big and small stop whatever they're doing to watch video?

Well, I think we're attracted to video because it's a primal thing, isn't it? It's colors, it's sound, it's pictures, it's moving things. I mean, a great example is my kids. They're attracted to anything on a screen. They can't help themselves.

So changing the subject slightly from your children to the work you do as an award-winning video producer, Andy, just tell us an example of a video that you've made, low to mid-budget, that has helped to bring in PR results for a client of yours. Because obviously we've worked together, for example, on the Brompton Uh, cycle race in Singapore, which is very successful. Can you just share with us any others that you've made that you'd like to give us a case study?

I think that I want to give you 3 examples of videos that I've made, actually low to high budget, that have brought PR results for my clients, because I think that it's important to put into perspective really the types of videos that you can create, because there's so much you can do in the video Space. So the first example would be the kind of Rolls-Royce end, and actually it's a series of videos that we've made for Rolls-Royce. Rolls-Royce in Asia are in a position where they're in the business of perception change, changing the perception that Rolls-Royce is a car for a slightly elderly gentleman into a car that is more universally and younger and attractive to an Asian audience. So over the last few years, we've been working on a campaign with them to make first-person stories, customer testimonials from Rolls-Royce owners around the Asia-Pacific region. So we filmed in Hong Kong, we filmed in New Zealand, we filmed in Australia, and we've told first-person told stories about Rolls-Royce owners, which which have brought results for Rolls-Royce that we and they are very proud of. The second example would be sort of medium budget. We work with UNICEF and we produce a whole load of different types of content with them. But recently in Jakarta, we've been making videos during COVID period for best practices in the areas of hygiene and communicating some of the important messages that UNICEF have during this period. And again, that's something where results have come from it, but more importantly, I think it's something that we as a company and they as a client can be very proud of. And the third example is a project that I did with a dear friend of mine last year. His name is Irfan Tayyabali and he is an entrepreneur. And last year, I helped him make some videos for a Purpose Planner, which is a written 6-month planner that he developed and sells online. And we made a series of videos to help promote his planner on his website And on social media, and they've done extremely well for him.

Thank you, Andrew. Really 3 entirely different and entirely worthy video production roles there, I can see. Tell me then, if a company, maybe a small one, an entrepreneur-led or an SME, wants to make their own video, could you give them some tips to get them on their way?

So a lot of people say, you know, keep your video really short, keep it to 8 seconds or something like that, because that's how long people's attention is on social media. Well, look, that might be true, but at the end of the day, once you win someone's attention— and that's really what the key thing is here— then your video can basically be as long as you want. So my advice, before we get into the 3 top tips, above all of the top tips, is not to be boring. Now, how can you not be boring? Well, you're going to show your video to people, right? So find someone that you really trust, someone who knows you well, and show them the video. They'll tell you if it's boring. So here are the 3 top tips. Number 1, keep it simple, stupid. The old KISS strategy. K-I-S-S. Keep it simple, stupid. Simple messaging, okay? Keep it to 2 or 3 messages in your video, okay? 2 or 3 key messages. Any more, you're overloading the viewer, especially if you're in a kind of sales or product or customer testimonial situation where we need about 2 or 3 messages. Second thing, be authentic and polite. Don't go out to interrupt your viewer. Don't use those kind of salesy style scripts or TV advert style script lines to capture attention. Those are old school. People don't like that. They don't see it as authentic. They know they're being sold to. They can immediately tell that what you're doing is inauthentic. So be polite and be, and be real. Tell real stories and feature real people. And finally, end with a call to action. Make it compelling and ensure there's a specific action the viewer needs to take after they watch your video. So number 1, KISS— keep it simple, stupid. Number 2, be authentic, be polite. And number 3, end with a call to action. That's it, 3 top tips.

Well, thank you, Andrew. You make that all sound You know, simple, but I know having worked with you that it seems that you make it seem simple because you're, you're really so experienced and so good at this. Now, what about if we are filming? Should we use green screens at home or for recording, or can we just film anywhere? What's your guidance on that?

Well, I'm very disappointed, Jim, that you're even contemplating using a green screen. I hate them. Um, back to point number 2 in the 3 top tips: be authentic. Um, I think that people obsess too much about using green screens. I think one thing which has come out of what's been going on with COVID is the buying of a Zoom subscription, a green screen, and a nice microphone off the internet. The green screen then becomes a portal for you to put extremely Horrible backgrounds that don't look nice and that break apart and that don't necessarily make you look any good as well, but in a kind of do-it-yourself way. But also, we can get a little bit over the top with green screens in terms of making them add things that aren't really there. So simply put, from an authenticity point of view, for being authentic, I would not advise to use a green screen. I would advise always to work on trying to make a nice shot in a place that's real. Now, that means simply getting onto YouTube and finding out what things like good framing are, decent lighting, stuff that you can do with a domestic— even with a webcam. You know, just get online and get onto YouTube and find out what it is to, to to film a nice-looking image.

Okay, well, um, considering where I'm recording this, it's probably just as well we're doing this with, with audio only and no need for green screen at all. Um, Andrew, just tell us then, um, how much impact do you think these handheld kind of earnest into-the-camera speaking videos there are? You mentioned everyone's dashed out to buy, you know, a new mic and a Zoom subscription and maybe a green screen. Guilty as charged on all fronts, I'm afraid. Do you— what do you think of those, uh, that we're seeing, for example, on LinkedIn a lot, on Facebook, people sort of talking at you with today's top tip, today's thought for the day, and so on?

My opinion about this really comes down to who you are. Um, the first thing is that there's too many of these types of videos. There was a period last year where everybody seemed to be doing them, and I still see a lot of them on things like LinkedIn. I think that people are a little bored of them now, to be honest with you. When it comes down to who you are, it's really about how well you can present and how concisely you can present. I have a problem with getting things right first time. So if you're not good at getting it down right first time, you need to practice and you need to ensure that your messaging is really tight. Keep it simple, stupid. And in these— and with these type of videos, I would also advise to try and keep them short. Follow the 3 top tips: 2 to 3 messages, keep it simple stupid, be authentic, be polite, and then end with a call to action. Follow those rules. But overall, I would say that there's a bit too many of these types of videos out there at the moment, and people are a little bit tired of them.

So assuming that someone has got the budget and realizes really the value of engaging professionals to help them, how can they go about that, Andrew?

The good news is there are so many places you can go to outsource your video making. The bad news is, is because there are so many ways and people and websites and solutions out there. It's very hard to get a gauge of even things like sort of market rates for doing things like a shoot or doing things like an edit. The simple fact is, is that if you want to find somebody to shoot something for free for you, you could probably find it. And if you want to find someone to put a whole video together for free for you, or for very little cost, you could probably do that as well. I would say the best way to outsource video making Is really to find people like yourself and find out who they're using. And to really check anybody who is going— and to really check any potential partner that you're going to work with on the past work that they've done. And crucially, find out what they've done, because it's very easy these days to put up a website with a video on it and say, I made this. But when you scratch beneath the surface, you might find that they've only done a very small component of that video that they're saying that they made. So, I would be very careful in terms of choosing someone to help you make a video, and I would check through your network to find somebody, and I would check their references and check their work very closely. And on a final note, I'd also say that if you're looking for services like animation or you're looking for services like editing, then websites like Fiverr can be very useful. But again, you want to check those freelancers' credentials and you want to check the work that they've done previously.

Thank you, Andrea. Great tip there to check not just the showreel but actually the work that they've done within that piece. Now finally, is there a cool technology that you think we should all have, buy, borrow, or steal when it comes to our video making?

I think that these days having a smartphone with a good camera is definitely a must-have. I wouldn't advise going out and buying a nice camera to film videos from the outset. I would practice on your own camera. I think that a lot of the peripheral stuff is really overlooked in terms of buying equipment when you want to start making your own videos. So investing in something like a good tripod, I think, is really important. Investing in a good microphone or a good microphone system that either works with your phone or works with your computer. A USB microphone, perhaps. Those things are really important. Both Jim and I have Rode NT-USB mics. They're excellent, for example. I would also say that if you're going out to make a video and you don't have any kit, have a look into renting the kit. There's plenty of places either online that you can rent camera equipment from, or there will be a local rental house near, near you that has really cool kit. that you can rent.

So thank you, Andrew, for those words of wisdom. And I actually sold my, uh, digital Sony, uh, when I saw the quality that my daughter's iPhone 11 had and found really that the, the interface on the screen and the peripherals were, were so much easier to carry around. And the quality of the 4K video now on the iPhone is fantastic. But like you, I, I felt that There really can't be a compromise on the microphone and the steadying of the shot with the tripod, and also the ring lights, which is one item that you didn't mention, which creates an even coloring for indoor photography, is really key. But obviously not the green screen, we don't need that. So thank you, Andrew, for sharing some of the insights, the work you've done in Rolls-Royce, that you've done on UNICEF, and that you've also done with an individual on personal branding. Shows us that video can play a key role, but also that video doesn't have to cost as much as it used to. There are people out there on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, for example, that can bring certain skill sets. And remember, even the big movies are made with basically a consortium of individuals who come together for a project. And also that equipment can be rented, so we don't even have to buy lots of fixed cost equipment. So video can and should play a key role, and I found today in managing to use the new Zoom update that I can live stream video to my Facebook from the Zoom call, and I can save the video file afterwards. So video now production, both outdoors and indoors, online and offline, is becoming so accessible to business owners And it really is becoming as easy as holding your hand phone. But as Andrew said, and thank you for that, Andrew, that being authentic is really what people are looking for. And letting people know what's real with you is going to be a key to being successful. And of course, ultimately, that's great because being authentic doesn't cost anything at all. Just take some forethought and some planning. So with that, I'd like to thank Andrew Clark, the partner of AsiaWorks, longtime friend and video guru. And yes, Andrew, uh, we may have to do some editing to get all this in the time frame, but as always, you're a mine of information and delight to work with. So if you want to find Andrew Clark, I'll put his contact details in the show notes, and you can find him also at asiaworks.com. I wish you now the best of health, a profitable business, And that you get creative with your communications. My name is Jim James. Thank you for listening to this episode of Speak PR. If you'd like more information about what we do, please come to our website eastwestpr.com, and you can find our Speak PR Mastermind course contents there. And subscribe also to our newsletter. If you like this podcast, please do subscribe. And as they say on YouTube, Leave a rating. It really helps. Thank you so much.