What problem does the video solve?
Competitors having videos is not a reason for you to make a video. The only strong reason is a clear business objective.
Videos are worth investing in only when tied to a specific business goal: launching a product, explaining complex features, building long-term awareness, or driving a clear action. Making a video just because competitors have one is the weakest reason and can easily waste money on something no one remembers. Before discussing format and pricing, clarify whether the video serves brand building or sales activation.
- launch or brand repositioning
- Explaining complex products requires visuals.
- the message needs movement and emotion
- the business goal has been clearly defined
- the only reason is that a competitor just released a video
- not being able to specify which behavior-changing video
Video is one of the most time, labor, and money-intensive formats in the branding toolkit. Therefore, the question "Is it worth doing?" needs a clear answer before discussing anything else about format, length, or production cost. Sinh Vũ always pursues this question in the first week of the brief: what behavior or perception of customers does this video change?
Two roles of the video, do not confuse
Before deciding to make a video, you need to determine where that video fits in the business journey. According to research by Les Binet and Peter Field (IPA), communication activities clearly define two roles with entirely different operational mechanisms.
Build a brand (long-term): Create a slow effect, accumulating over time. Measured by brand awareness, associations, and prioritization. The impact is often only clear after several months.
Short-term sales activation: Create a quick boost, immediate response. Measured by clicks, sign-ups, direct revenue. The effect fades quickly when the campaign stops.
Choosing the wrong role leads to incorrect metrics and misplaced expectations. A beautifully branded video evaluated by next week's sales will always be deemed a 'failure' even if the video is doing its job.
Four questions before pressing record
Google's ABCD framework outlines four key objectives that every advertisement video needs to clarify: attract attention, brand early, connect, and direct action. If you haven't identified the desired action after viewing, it's not time to hit record. Sinh Vũ translates these four points into four practical questions:
- Who are the viewers and what stage are they at in their buying journey?
- After viewing, what do they need to understand or feel differently?
- What is the next action you want them to take?
- Can this challenge be solved more cheaply through another channel?
The final question is often the most overlooked. If the goal is merely to announce a short-term offer to an audience already familiar with the brand, there are less costly ways than producing a full video.
When to do it, when not advisable
Not every stage requires video. Here are the situations where Sinh Vũ finds video truly worth the investment, and the situations where you should pause and think further.
- Should be done: Launching a new product or service that needs to create quick awareness on a wide scale.
- Should be done: The product has complex features that text and static images cannot adequately explain.
- Should be done: The brand needs to convey emotions, stories, or movements that other formats cannot capture.
- Should be done: Repositioning the brand, needing to break an old market perception.
- No need to do: The only reason is that a competitor just released a video.
- No need to do: You cannot specify how the video will change customer behavior or perception.
- No need to do: The budget is only enough to create one video that encompasses all messages at once.
Common mistakes when making a hasty decision
According to observations from Sinh Vũ, most brand videos fail not due to poor technique but because of unclear objectives from the start. Nielsen also noted that the quality of creative ideas is one of the significant factors affecting advertising effectiveness: beautiful videos without clear goals cannot be saved by technique.
- Creating a video out of fear of falling behind competitors, without a specific goal.
- Stuffing every message into one video out of fear of waste, resulting in no memorable ideas.
- Discuss the format and production cost before finalizing what the video will address.
- Set short-term sales expectations on a video that was designed to build long-term brand.
Each image must serve a specific purpose. If you cannot articulate what that purpose is, do not press the shutter.
The Sinh Vũ lens, from the first week brief process
The viewpoint of Sinh Vũ
Sinh Vũ views video through the lens of brand identity, not as a standalone production. This means that each video needs to understand its place within the overall brand system and serve a specific purpose in the long-term strategy.
When clients come to Sinh Vũ to discuss video, the first question Sinh Vũ asks is not "How long do you want it to be?" but rather "What is the real problem behind this video?" If the answer is "because the competitor has it," Sinh Vũ will say directly: that is a weak reason, and there are more effective ways to use the budget. If the answer is simply to sell a straightforward offer, Sinh Vũ will also clarify that there are cheaper ways than a full production video to achieve that.
A video is worth making when it is the best answer to a real problem, not just the only answer you can think of.
Decision checklist
Topic: Which business problems video should solve, or just because competitors have it. Sinh Vũ guide, sinhvu.com
Select each item you find appropriate, then print or save as PDF to take with you.
If you have marked most of the signs above, this is the time to discuss in more detail. Sinh Vũ can help you review and propose a direction.
References
Think with Google, ABCD framework for effective video advertising; IPA, Les Binet and Peter Field, The Long and the Short of It; Nielsen, factors driving advertising ROI.
Frequently asked questions
A competitor just released a beautiful video; should I make one right away?
You shouldn't start filming just for that reason. Competitors may be wasting their budget on ineffective things, or they may have completely different goals than you. The question to answer first is: what problem does that video solve for your business? If you don't have an answer yet, waiting is not a weakness but a budget discipline.
Is a long, informative video much better than several short videos?
Not necessarily. Stuffing every message into one video out of fear of waste is a common mistake. The result often leads to no clear takeaway. Each video should serve a specific purpose and desired action. Multiple short videos, targeting the right audience at the right stage, are often more effective than one long video trying to cover everything.
How can you tell if a brand-building video or a sales video is more suitable for you?
Ask yourself: how long do you want the results and how will you measure them? Brand-building videos create slow but lasting effects, measured by awareness and associations. Sales activation videos create quick but short spikes, measured by clicks, sign-ups, or direct revenue. Choosing the wrong role leads to measuring the wrong metrics and misaligned expectations.