[The following is taken from Chapter 6: Programming in Alan Richardson's Corporate and Organizational Video.]

The key to an effective video program is proper design. Program design begins with the client, which in the case of the corporate video department is often another division of the corporation such as marketing or personnel. The client is often charged with specific duties or responsibilities to the organization, and the role of the video department is to aid or to provide service to help the other department reach its objectives. Generally the client comes to the video department with a communication problem that might be solved in part through a video program.

DEFINING THE PROGRAM PURPOSE

Knowing the purpose of a video program is important when making decisions about appropriate style. Generally programs are produced either to entertain or to inform. This is not to say that informational programming cannot be entertaining or that an entertainment program cannot contain information. For any program to be effective, it should contain elements that both entertain and inform.

The most frequent purpose of a video is to provide information. That information can be used to solve a variety of communication needs that the organization might have, either internal (employee needs) or external (customer needs).

Employee Recruiting

Company recruiters travel to colleges and universities searching for fresh talent for technical and managerial positions in their organizations. Many of the best students are sought by several companies, and often the student's choice of an organization will not be based solely on which offers the largest paycheck. The recruiter armed with a video presentation detailing the advantages of living in a particular geographic location as well as explaining the benefits of working in the friendly environment of the corporate family will have the advantage in the recruiting marketplace.

Employee Orientation

Whether formal or informal, the orientation can transmit the values of the organization to the new employee. Feelings about the corporation are not yet formed and the manner in which information is presented will create powerful first impressions of the organization.

Video, which offers the advantages of sight, sound, action, and color for our visually oriented population, offers the additional advantage of consistent, accurate, and complete information every time it is presented. Information on videotape can be repeated over and over again for those who might miss something during the first orientation. With control of the playback unit, the individual employee can structure the pace to his or her own speed.

Employee Information

A major use of video is to provide standardized information to the employees of large corporations and organizations. Information about company goals and philosophies should be presented to the employees on a regular basis. Communication with the employee is necessary in order to understand the purposes of the organization and their role in helping the company reach its objectives. It can also show employees role models of correct corporate behavior and its subsequent rewards. Another advantage is the ability to reach all members of the organization with exactly the same message delivered in exactly the same manner, as in the case of a CEO speaking to squelch rumors of a takeover or layoff.

Employee Training

As new technology comes on line, old technology employees must upgrade their skills to remain employable. The corporation has an investment in each employee, in previous training, accrued benefits, experience, and loyalty. The corporation's best use of that employee investment is to provide continued training so skills are kept up to date.

In addition, the corporation must train each new employee for the specific job for which he or she will be assigned. Video can be a cost-effective method of providing the necessary training precisely because of the advantages of consistency of content and repeatability.

Employee Motivation

An employee must have a reason to work at his or her full potential and the motivation must be beyond that which is provided by a paycheck. The employee must feel part of the social fabric of the corporation by knowing and identifying with other employees. In large and impersonal corporate structures, the typical employee will have little opportunity for contact with those outside his or her own work unit. Video can be used effectively to introduce different departments within the organization to one another, and to introduce the officers to the employees. Once an employee learns of others within the organization and their roles, he or she is better able to understand his or her own function and the organization's goals and accept them as his or her own. Any employee will be better motivated if the organization does not appear to be just a faceless bureaucracy. Video can provide the faces of the organization and explain its goals in human terms.

Sales Information and Motivation

Each year many corporations refine existing products and introduce new ones. It is essential that the sales staff understands those new developments and product features. Usually the staff is brought together (an expensive event) or provided with brochures and other printed materials. While much cheaper, printed material is usually less effective: the motivational impact of the group interaction possible at a sales conference is lost. Using video, the excitement of a conference can be transmitted, as can a demonstration of the product.

Product Demonstration Programs

Programs produced about products can be directed to both the potential buyer and to the service industry in addition to the sales staff.

The point-of-purchase (POP) demonstration uses a continuously repeating video tape to provide shoppers with fashion shows and demonstrations of kitchen gadgets. Located near the product, these videos hold the viewer captive for a short period of time. The theory behind POP is that the viewer will buy the product on impulse after seeing it demonstrated in an attractive manner.

Point-of-information (POI) videos are similar but rely on a slightly more subtle sales pitch. The most common examples of such programs are found in home improvement stores. The tapes show, for example, the step-by-step details of the installation of a ceramic tile counter top for the kitchen. Although the program does not necessarily promote a particular product, the POI monitor is generally located next to the products necessary to complete such a project.

Another type of POI video can be found a many large convention hotels or resorts. Programs playing on monitors located in the lobby and often on a channel of the hotel's closed-circuit in-room television system can detail the coming attractions of a convention, or can give tourist dining and attraction information for the community in which the resort is located.

Product service information (PSI) videos have become necessary as increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated products have become increasingly difficult to repair or service. The video format has become a convenient way to inexpensively provide the necessary training for service personnel as new products are introduced. The Ford Motor Company has used a videotape network for years, teaching service technicians each step of the repair process on a new system. This has been more efficient that asking these employees to wade through volumes of often poorly written service manuals.

Archives

The camera can be used to capture some important event for archival purposes. A speech or presentation made before a live audience can then later be distributed to remote audiences. The camera acts as a participant viewing the event.

Public Relations

Every corporation is interested in putting its best foot forward with its various publics, including governmental officials, potential customers, and stockholders. Video is one of the most effective tools that the public relations department has to get the corporation's message to its publics. Videotapes are often played to boards of directors, civic organization meetings, governmental boards, school classrooms, and citizens groups. Video programming for public relations purposes is also produced for local cable channels. For years large corporations have been producing films and videos that extol the virtues of a particular industry and, in doing so, prominently display their corporate identification or logo.

An internal public relations use of video is the production and display of programs used to enhance stockholder meetings by presenting the philosophy and direction of the organization in a highly entertaining, dynamic, and motivational manner. These programs, while communicating necessary information, are intended to excite the audience and convince them the future is bright under the present management structure.

Video News Releases

In recent years many public relations departments have expanded their output to include the video news release (VNR). This generally takes the form of the news package, a complete news story of a particular event that the corporation would like publicized. The 30- to 90-second videotaped package is often produced in two forms. One includes a reporter who sets the scene, interviews participants, and describes the action included in the carefully edited video scenes. The other is often less complete and allows the television station to use its own reporters to do the "stand up," which sets the scene for the story.

While many television news departments do not accept or air VNRs for philosophical reasons, some stations, with smaller news budgets, will air the VNR in its entirety. Other stations will use footage from the VNR along with a story written by its own reporters. Generally VNRs have a better chance to be aired if they are not blatantly commercial and if the only access the television station has to technical or proprietary footage is from the VNR.