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Typi

Typical Creative Ingredients in a Video Case Study

1. Interviews

Interviews are the backbone of any case study and the final cut will edit this footage in such a way as to form a narrative. Your interviewees are the mark of authenticity that makes case studies stand out from other forms of marketing, helping to substantiate your claims through independent testimonial that comes across as genuine and heartfelt. Whilst you can’t tell interviewees what to say, it’s important they back up your brand strategy and appeal to your audience in some way.

2. Support footage and Cut Aways

Support footage and cut aways add visual variety to your case study and are a very useful way of breaking up the interview. More importantly however, they also help tell the story visually, often demonstrating evidence or examples of what the interviewee is talking about and bringing the story to life.

3. Structure

Case studies have to create a narrative that is both convincing but can also hold the viewer’s attention. Like all storytelling this should be broken down into a beginning, middle and end. More often than not this involves setting out the challenge or problem at hand before going on to address how you dealt with it and what the results were. Case studies are designed to promote your brand but they should also give viewers useful and practical information about your product or service offering.

4. Locations for Shooting Case Study Video

The location is a critical design element and will help you set the tone of your case study video. The setting is often related to the nature of the interviewee’s business and what your product or service has helped them with. More than one location can be used, but shooting time is often limited so this needs to be carefully considered.

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EXAM

EXAMPLE PROJECTS

NHS Ambulance - Recruitment Film

NHS Ambulance

‘Recruitment Film’

‘Recruitment Film’

The video needed to deliver a positive image about the Trust, inspiring people to join the Trust and helping staff stay at the Trust. Our creative centered on ‘A day in a life’. It comprises a brief introduction followed by a series of ‘interviews’ of paramedics and patients.

Babylon - NHS GP At Hand

Babylon

‘Your GP At Hand’

‘Your GP At Hand’

Babylon is a subscription health service that lets you book virtual GP consultations with professional physicians, monitor symptoms and receive prescriptions. The film mixes lifestyle, commercial feel with documentary.

Adva

Advantages and Benefits of using Case Study Films

Third Party Endorsement

Unlike so many other forms of marketing material, case studies allow you to present an endorsement of your product or service from a third party. Unlike written testimonials through, video has the power to create a sense of genuine authenticity around the interviewee by placing them in front of a camera. Online reviews and customer endorsements are becoming an increasingly vital component of how people make purchasing decisions and case study films can go a long way in capitalising on this trend.

Using Case Study Video to put your Product in Context

A case study is the perfect opportunity to showcase your product or service in action, without all the gloss and sheen of a marketing video. By keeping the focus on the customer, case studies satisfy the golden rule of marketing, which is to talk about the product’s benefits and not its features. The potential case studies have to build trust in your product and therefore your brand is huge, so proper promotion is essential at the activation stage.

Multiple Uses and Delivery Channels

Case study videos have a variety of uses. You could create a series of them and host them on your website via an interactive player. As well as the ability to promote them through a number of social platforms like YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook, your case studies could be included in your email marketing campaign or converted into interactive PDFs. In the non-digital space you could screen them at pitches or presentations, or incorporate quotes from them into your media packs or marketing materials.

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Watc

Watch-outs and Considerations when Producing Case Study Films

  • What was the challenge?

    It’s important that you get your interviewee to set out from the start the problem or challenge that needed solving. This should set the narrative up and hook the viewer in.

  • What did you do to achieve it?

    The crux of your case study video should be how your product or service tackled and overcame the challenge or challenges set out at the start. Quite often this can be accompanied by a shift in style or tone.

  • What were the results?

    Lastly you need to show the benefits your product or service has brought about. The more tangible and demonstrable these results are the better. There are a number of production, scripting and logistical considerations to be taken into account when planning a case study film.

  • The interviewee has a huge bearing on how your case study film will come across. The final decision on who to use might be out of your hands but an ideal situation would be to use someone who has direct experience of working with your company or product and who is also comfortable speaking in front of a camera.
  • Sometimes you might feel the need to use multiple interviewees or add other contributors. It’s important that they’re all reinforcing the same narrative though.
  • Case studies can easily become self-congratulatory, which undermines their authority and could easily come across as disingenuous. Keep it positive but avoid including anything overly gushing in the final cut.
  • As a production company we like to avoid the use of a script, as with most interviewees this almost always comes across less genuine. We do prepare a list of questions and message prompts beforehand though and these can be shown to the interviewee beforehand to help them prepare.
  • Often it can make sense to film a case study at your facilities to give the narrative context. That being said, it’s best to avoid filming in dull meeting rooms or bland offices if possible.
  • Whilst including a call to action at the end of your case study film can run the risk of making it feel more like a piece of marketing (which ultimately it is), it can really encourage click through’s and conversions.
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To understand both how we work and see an overview of the types of work we do please take a look at our showreel and expertise pages. We’d love to hear from you and learn more about the projects you have in mind and how we might help.