If you’re a video service provider working independently or as part of a video agency, you will know how important it is to be aware of the work your industry peers are doing. You could learn about the styles and aesthetics other video production services are using and which among them have managed to find the most amount of audience. Keeping yourself updated about the content and quality provided by your rival video production agency or competing illustrators engaged with another video production company could help you design your videos better. In fact, you are able to specify standards for yourself and your video production company to match up to when you are informed about the videos and video production styles, which can boast of the most popular in contemporary times. 

Here’s a list of some fine examples of commercial video production and creativity from video production services agencies from 2019 –

·         Gillette – “We Believe: The Best Men Can Be” – In 2019, Gillette managed to come up with an ad commercial that got the entire world talking. The "We Believe: The Best Men Can Be" ad seamlessly integrates a political and social justice message with a self-awareness that many brands lack. The Gilette ad paints a picture of toxic masculinity. It initially came into the fire by a significant population of men who felt personally attacked by the video content. Safe to say, the Gillette ad hit the right equal rights activism notes.

·         The Truth is Worth it (New York Times Ad) – Of late, mainstream media has come under a lot of brickbats from the public. In such a climate, the New York Times strategically out a video commercial trying to win back audience trust by crafting an ad that depicts the lengths that its reporters go to, to do their job honestly. "The Truth is Worth it" ad shows reporters working for the NYT collect and fact-check five stories, which made it to the publication's front page in the recent past.

·         Nike’s Dream Crazier Ads – The Dream Crazier ads by Nike take on the double standards that female sportspersons have to be subject to, in their career. Women face wage-inequality in sports when compared to male athletes and also have to struggle a lot more to receive similar amounts of recognition. Nike puts a spotlight on the difficulties faced by women in sports in its Dream Crazier ad campaign.

·         Washington Post “Democracy Dies in Darkness” – Yes, established news agencies have been finding it hard to maintain credibility with cries of “fake news” doing the rounds across the world. The journalism industry is going through a rough patch, to say the least. Washington Post, like NYT mentioned above, tries to reaffirm itself as a trusted source for authentic news in the eyes of its readers by fashioning this ad. The “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is as bold as it’s beautiful – it is also fairly controversial, just what the audience likes.

·         Burger King “Eat Like Andy” – Burger King’s popular ad “Eat Like Andy" has very little innovation. It depicts footage of the famous erstwhile avant-garde artist Andy Warhol eating a Whopper burger. The scene is sourced from the 1982 art film "66 Scenes from America," and Burger King had to do little to produce this ad besides gain the creative rights of using the footage. The audience was left wondering whether they were really watching Andy Warhol eating a burger. A deliciously weird ad that succeeded in gaining audience interest for its uniqueness with minimal effort but maximum ingenuity. The Burger King "Eat Like Andy” ad was definitely a chart-topper when it came to video commercials produced in 2019.

Lessons to Learn

The video commercials listed above gained a massive number of views last year. In fact, most of them were part of popular discussion and may actually find themselves go down in pop-culture history. So, what lessons do these video adverts have for video production services and video agencies? The answer would be to keep it simple. The audience responds to ads that can clearly convey a simple but valuable message without convoluting the message. In order for the brands to profit from these ads, the product/service sales pitch should also be included but not as an eye-sore. It should seamlessly intertwine with the story the video is seemingly narrating to its audience.