Grab Attention With Video Walls And Stunning Motion Graphics

So, you've got a new multi screen video wall and you're wondering what to put on those bad boys. Creating content is no easy feat! There are so many factors to what makes a video wall successful, but it all boils down to one thing: purpose.

Do you have one?

That's not meant to be existential or anything. Or is it? But really, do you have a purpose in mind for your video wall? Let's think for a moment. When you're walking the halls of a major trade show like, let's say, NAB SHOW IN LAS VEGAS, what are you going to see? You're going to see your favorite brands that you already love, you might stop to watch a new product demo. You might even see a little performance in the booth. Hey, gimmicks work for grabbing attention.

But what about specialized brands that have a more focused audience? In a world of overabundance, how do you cut through the noise and be heard? And not only that, but how do you build loyalty and recognition?

Well, that's too many things to cover in a single blog post. But we're talking about video walls here. So, we'll stick with that!

For TIGHTROPE MEDIA SYSTEMS at NAB Show, their answer to this problem was to build a new trade show booth that would feature an impressive 12 panel video wall. But there was just one problem. What in the world to put on the screens? Photos? Advertisements? Little videos of software interfaces? You have 25 million pixels to fill. That's a ton of resolution. Ack! What to do?

When Tightrope came to us with this project, we had about 5 business days on the clock, so we went straight to brainstorming. As we rushed right into the creative work, we realized we needed to work a few things out with the customer before going any further. Here are the questions you will need to answer before you start developing ideas for your project:

Who is your audience?

Before you know what you're going to put on those screens, you really need to know who you're talking to. We put this first before determining your goal because of the old adage: if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

So who is it you're talking to? Customers and potential customers? Nope! Not specific enough. We've found that in determining the audience, sketching out Buyer Personas is the best approach. What are Buyer Personas, you say? We'll go more in depth with that in our next post, but essentially it's like writing a profile on a fictitious person whom you believe would be an ideal fit for your company. It helps to personify your target audience because you'll come up with better ideas that are more authentic and personal.

What is the one goal of your video wall?

As a creative agency, we can come up with a million ideas you might consider as a goal, but you have the intimate knowledge and history with your own brand to see what challenges have held you back in the past and what could use improvement. As we sorted through purposes of the video wall content, we came up with a few decent ideas. But nothing as elegantly simple as what Tightrope came up with, internally.

As Tightrope's CEO JJ Parker stated, "we need a way to have our trade show both grab attention amongst a sea of unrememberable companies."

Even though that statement was communicated via email, we are convinced that JJ dropped a mic after hitting 'send'.

What do you want your audience to do?

Considering that you want your audience to notice you, how do you convert their attention to action? What's the key takeaway? You might want to sign someone up as a new customer. Or, maybe perhaps you'd like their email so you can send them relevant and useful information. Or, maybe you want to spark a conversation and create a sense of community.

Really think about this one. You went through all that effort to grab their attention. You've got it. Now what?

And Finally, how will you measure the success of your content?

Here's the thing. Even if you've done this a million times, every project, every scenario is different and is subject to failure. How we get better is based on how well we measure success. For this, it's best to set a tangible goal. Something realistic and something you can physically carry with you. More leads in your pocket for example. Well, how many? How many did you get last year and the year before? Do you have a growth rate? Factor that in and aim higher. Whatever makes sense for your specific scenario, set a hard goal that you will need to reach before you can call it a success.

"People were stopping by and taking selfies of themselves in front of our video wall because the content was so awesome!"

For Tightrope, the success was measured in total leads that were scanned on the trade show floor. It was not too surprising that they made their goal. What was completely unexpected was the amount of people who were drawn by the video content, engaged with the products on the show floor, and tons of conversations were sparked. "People were stopping by and taking selfies of themselves in front of our video wall because the content was so awesome!" says Parker. For a massive, international trade show like NAB, that is pretty impressive! OH, AAAND THEY WON THE AWESOME COOL EXHIBITS (ACE) AWARD FOR BEST SMALL BOOTH.

Tightrope was gracious enough to grab some footage at Digital Signage Expo 2017! Take a look.

 

As you can see -- not to mention the insane deadline -- you may want to consider hiring an agency to brainstorm, sketch, storyboard, shoot, animate and slice up your content. If you have the means to do this in house, that's amazing! But man ... that deadline though! Either way, this is the kind of leg work you must do prior to any of the creative stuff. The creative stuff is fun, but so is winning awards. And to do award winning content, it takes a lot of time, energy, passion and collaboration.

If this gets you pumped and you're excited to talk about your next video wall project, please SCHEDULE A CALL OR MESSAGE US DIRECTLY.