Assignment

9 Visual Media LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you will be able to

1 Explain the power of business images, discuss six principles of graphic design that help ensure effective visuals, and explain how to avoid ethical lapses when using visuals.

2 Explain how to choose which points in your message to illustrate.

3 Describe the most common options for presenting data in a visual format.

4 Describe the most common options for presenting information, concepts, and ideas.

5 Explain how to integrate visuals with text, and list three criteria to review in order to verify the quality of your visuals.

6 Identify the most important considerations in the preproduction, production, and postproduction stages of producing basic business videos.

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COMMUNICATION CLOSE-UP AT GoPro

gopro.com

If you’ve watched a daredevil video on YouTube in the past few years, chances are the video was shot with a GoPro camera. GoPro’s digital cameras have captured everything from extreme snowboarders to Felix Baumgartner’s epic 24-mile freefall leap from the edge of space. The “adrenaline market” is at the core of the GoPro brand, but the growing population of GoPro users also includes filmmakers, sports and wildlife photographers, oceanographers, atmospheric researchers, and others who need high-quality video footage from a small, rugged, and relatively inexpensive digital camera.

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Viewer interest in extreme sports and other eye-catching events and phenomena created a huge market for GoPro’s video cameras. Under the leadership of founder and CEO Nick Woodman, the company has capitalized on this visceral appeal with an extensive social media presence centered on online video.

© epa european pressphoto agency b.v./Alamy Stock Photo

Not surprisingly, for its own business communication needs GoPro makes extensive use of video. Like many companies, it uses video to showcase new products and provide how-to advice for customers. However, GoPro has gone far beyond what many companies do with video by harnessing the amplifying power of social media. The company has taken user-generated content to the extreme, using a variety of recognition and reward mechanisms to encourage GoPro customers to submit video clips. For example, GoPro runs a nonstop contest that recognizes customers for the best footage shot on GoPro cameras. These photos and clips are then highlighted on the company’s website and all across the major social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram.

The company’s strategy of building a global video community has been a huge success. When Google (which owns YouTube) announced its first-ever monthly ranking of the highest-performing branded channels on YouTube, it determined that GoPro had the most engaged fan base. To measure engagement, Google factors in such variables as the amount of time visitors spending watching videos, the number of repeat visitors, and the number of times people “like” a video or leave a comment. When you consider that virtually every video on GoPro’s YouTube channel functions as an advertisement for the company’s cameras, you get an idea of the immense promotional power that this high level of engagement represents.

After several years of rocketing growth while amateurs and professionals scooped up its ever-improving cameras, GoPro captured 70 percent of the market for action cameras. However, the market became more or less saturated at that point, as most people who wanted a camera had one. With its primary market satisfied, the company faces the classic “now what?” question that many growing companies face. GoPro has decided to move into the drone market, where its cameras have been used on other companies’ drones for some time. Whether it can gain a foothold as a drone manufacturer remains to be seen, but the company will surely continue to leverage the power of video and social outreach as it tries to repeat its early success.

Video is an obvious choice of medium for a company that makes video cameras, but video has become a primary business communication medium for companies in virtually every industry. From product tutorials and demonstrations to employee training to seminars and speeches, many companies now use video to supplement or replace other media choices. And video is part of the larger shift toward visual communication that has altered the business landscape in recent years. Even if your job doesn’t involve snowboarding off cliffs or parachuting from space, you’ll probably use video and other visual communication tools to connect with colleagues and customers.1