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WHAT ARE VIDEO BRAND GUIDELINES?

Video brand guidelines are an instruction manual for how to present your company when creating videos, whether that’s training videos, social media, or promotional videos. It’s more than just colors and fonts. It’s language, tone, sound, and style… and a well-designed guide is not only more effective at communicating your message, it saves money. Which is why you should have one if you’re interested in video marketing.

COMPONENTS OF A VIDEO BRAND GUIDELINE

A brand guideline establishes your brand identity and shows what makes your organization unique. Your video guidelines are a road map for creating video content, outlining how they should look, sound and feel, and anyone who reads your video brand guidelines should understand just what ingredients go into the mix. If you’re adept at marketing strategies and have created your own company vision and mission statement, video branding guidelines are something you can tackle yourself. But many companies feel more confident working with a professional. There’s more complexity— and more opportunity for creative expression— in video, and working with a production service that will ultimately create those videos adds another layer of professionalism… and ultimately saves time and money. We offer video brand guidelines development to companies starting at $1,100 for a two-day consultation.

CREATING YOUR VIDEO BRAND GUIDELINE

Creating a video brand guideline can be a time-consuming process, especially when working in teams.  There are a number of tools and tricks we use for competitor research, brainstorming ideas, narrowing your choices, and building consensus.  For example, there’s specialized software for analyzing color palettes; but if you’d like a quick refresher on how to brainstorm effectively, check out our Facebook post. The sections below are ordered based on how you should develop your guideline, starting with tone and finishing with distribution. There are interactive elements in the “TONE” and “COLORS” sections.  If they don’t appear, try refreshing this page.

TONE

Tone refers to the general “vibe” of your video. For example, do you want them to be humorous and fun, or serious and professional? Pick 2 to 3 words to describe your tone. This is an important first step that guides the rest of your brand elements.

Define your brand tone – drag and drop the adjectives into the yellow boxes.

If there isn’t an interactive image here, please refresh this page!

These tone choices may be too “broad” for your company brand.  Take a moment to review and refine them. Do you mean “rugged” or outdoorsy?  Humorous or quirky? Are there other adjectives that more accurately convey your brand?

LANGUAGE & VOICE

This will describe the more granular elements such as how your company should be referred to and how products/services should be described. It includes things like tag line, preferred adjectives, as well as more broad aspects like male vs female voices for narration.

COLORS

Your company has probably chosen its color palette already, and you want to make sure they’re used in your videos. You should include guidelines on how and where these colors should be used as well, such as fonts colors, bottom third solids, and backgrounds. If you haven’t settled on a color palette, this is one of those areas where working with a professional is especially beneficial. Not only are they more skilled at color science, but they can present your choices in a way that’s easier for your team to understand.

FONT/TYPOGRAPHY

This may be influenced by your existing guidelines, or you may need to adapt your typography for video. Typography guidelines should include information for title font and paragraph font, as well as color. Choose fonts that match your tone and voice. Avoid fonts that are overly ornate or curly– video is a fast moving format and the viewer needs to be able to read text quickly.

LOGO

It’s important to include your company logo in your videos. This section of your brand guidelines should indicate where and how your logo should be used. For example, will it be used in the intro or outro of videos? Or should it be watermarked in the corner? Do you want your logo to be static or animated?

GRAPHICS

If you plan on using animation in your videos, you will need to decide on a style that best represents your brand. Will it be 2D or 3D, cartoon-style or something more corporate? Are there rules for how the “tone” is represented in your animation?

This is also where you’ll present guidelines for the use of specific graphic elements such as lower thirds. What information should be included?

“Brand Guidelines save money… and time”

MUSIC AND SOUND

Sound is one of the most important aspects of video, and it’s often overlooked in video brand guidelines. What sort of music and sound will fit with the way your brand looks and feels. Music and sound is also one of the more flexible elements of brand; it’s perfectly acceptable to have your explainer video have a different musical tone than your product commercial.

VIDEO TEMPLATES

If you’re going to be producing a large number of videos in a similar format, such as educational videos, you may want to create video templates and including them in your video brand guidelines. These can be the foundation for your videos, saving time and money, and insuring consistency.

VIDEO FORMAT & DISTRIBUTION

Your video format (such as 1:1, 16:9, etc.) should depend on your distribution platform. Instagram works best with 1:1 or 4×5. Facebook 1:1 or 9×16, Snapchat with 9×16, etc. Format is a vital piece of information for your actual production to ensure that all of the important elements or “inside the frame.” If you use multiple platforms, you may need several formats for your video.

SO WHY DO YOU NEED VIDEO BRAND GUIDELINES?

Your brand is your business’s identity and it’s likely to appear in a few places: your website, your product or service, your social media and your adverts. Having video brand guidelines ensures that:

• ~ Your brand is consistent across all your content channels
• ~ Your company is immediately recognizable in your video content
• ~ Your video content is associated with high quality and trust
• ~ Your video production costs are reduced through pre-planning and re-use: it’s cheaper

HURRICANE IMAGES creates video brand guidelines that companies can use in-house or with professionals. After all, most companies produce a mix of self-produced content and professional content. Our prices start at $1,100. The complexity of the process can increase based on the number of people participating in guideline development and whether you have developed traditional brand guidelines for your company already. Contact us today for a free consultation and proposal.

HOW WE CREATE VIDEO BRAND GUIDELINES

Slide the timeline to see how our guidelines are created.

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