How to create an inspirational brand purpose video
By Creative team.
Smart ways to overcome the challenges when you need to reveal the brand feels
Increasingly consumers support brands that exist for a reason beyond making profit. It’s no longer enough to make a great product. People want to know that you share their values, too.
Thus a brand purpose video must show that you “get it.” It must authentically reveal your brand’s core beliefs, how it improves people’s lives, and its reason to be - other than shifting units.
Most of all the work must inspire and motivate. It’s got to flood your customers, employees, and partners with that overwhelming feeling of, “Yes! This is why we do this!”
Get it right and your brand can build social capital. Over time, increasing your brand’s cultural influence - as measured using brand health metrics (see below) - will translate into a larger commercial footprint. Or, if you’re already on top, it will enable you to stay ahead of the competition, protect margin, and edge functional feature comparisons.
The ask
The core belief of videogame brand, Logitech G, is expressed by their tagline: Keep Playing. Keep Playing is simultaneously a rallying point for gamers everywhere, a reference to the enabling role of the brand’s products, and the internal ethos that drives forward their culture of innovation.
Our task was to articulate that brand purpose in a video designed to kick off Logi PLAY 2024 - the tech firm’s massive annual keynote event.
Why are we doing it?
This is the question that every brand purpose video must answer. In this case, the brief was to channel the very essence of play itself. That fundamental human need without which there is no games industry.
As gamers ourselves, we knew that meant tapping into the emotional swell of joy, togetherness, challenge, creativity, escapism and pure fun that makes play so captivating.
And if we could bottle that lightning then we could show that Logitech G stands for facilitating, advancing, and furthering access to play for every member of the gaming community.
Emotional story-telling
If a brand video doesn’t connect emotionally to human truths then it’s going to fail. Hence you must craft a compelling narrative that enables the brand to be felt rather than heard. The following framework can help:
Beginning: Introduce a relatable goal, idea, or dream.
Middle: Show a journey of transformation that realizes your vision.
End: Deliver an inspirational resolution or call to action.
Naturally brand purpose videos are not about pushing product, but they can show how product helps achieve the dream.
The story beats
Before you script, you can block out the story beats that the video must hit. For example:
Establishing shots of people playing: lean into the power of nostalgia as play begins in childhood.
Recall what pure play feels like: include shots that evoke joy, fun, and achievement.
Show how those feelings connect the entire community: from kids receiving their first console all the way up to esport pros.
Introduce the transformative power of technology: from the early arcades through to cutting edge gaming rigs and gear.
How those innovations meaningfully contributed to the world: shots of advances in connectivity, inclusivity, and accessibility that turned gaming into the universal language of play.
Show the dream: playing with friends or team-mates using the ultimate gaming kit.
Play is for everyone: reminders of how gaming unites people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and abilities.
Call-to-action: Keep Playing.
With your story beats established, you can join the dots to create your script. Or feed the beats into your favorite generative AI. The AI’s draft of the script will be crude but it will get you started. From that starting point, you can continue to develop, refine, and incorporate feedback.
Spreadsheet of make or break
Ultimately, it’s your production choices that will make or break the video.
Of course, you may need to film the entire piece from scratch. But you can get a long way with stock footage, archive material, and cleverly repurposed brand assets, too.
However, transforming those resources into brand-elevating video requires tracking and sifting through thousands of clips and files. (A whopper of a spreadsheet is advised!)
This process is like panning for gold because the vast majority of footage:
Isn’t impactful enough.
Features off-brand products, or colors, or is unsuitable in some other way.
Is too generic or doesn’t feel authentic.
Requires permission from the copyright holder(s).
Bespoke footage shot especially for the project solves these challenges but can be costly.
Stock library footage avoids cost and permission issues but is frequently off-brand or disappointing.
Original archive footage often feels highly authentic but requires a lengthy process of permission-seeking and fee negotiation.
Team up
All of these issues can be overcome by an experienced production team that knows how to combine the best resources for your project.
From there, it’s a question of picking a music track that packs an emotional punch or, more likely, commissioning your own for a more reasonable fee.
Now just add an editor who excels at creating energy on screen by selecting complementary shots, and cutting them perfectly to the beat in a way that’s exciting and surprising.
Measurement
Naturally, it takes more than one campaign to move the needle but you can measure progress by monitoring brand health KPIs including:
Brand mentions, reach, and growth: organic and paid.
Brand sentiment analysis including reviews, ratings, comment and feedback.
Follower counts.
Brand / product perception versus competitors.
Key messaging awareness.
Customer Loyalty Index measurement: likelihood of repurchase, willingness to recommend, new purchase intent.
Customer satisfaction score (CSat).
Cultural trend analysis: increases in related search and social trends, cultural relevance metrics.
Market share.
When it all comes together you’ll produce an inspirational video that creates a bigger stage for your brand, fires up your stakeholders, and demonstrates the difference your products make to the world:
If you would like to discover more about our integrated approach and work together on a project, get in touch.
