1. Introduction (00:00 – 00:00:22)

• Guy welcomes listeners back to the podcast, “Death to the Corporate Video.”
• A quick note on Chicago’s unpredictable spring weather, jumping from 70° to snow in a week.

2. The “like” challenge (00:00:23 – 00:00:50)

• Guy shares his personal goal to reduce the filler word “like” in his speech.
• Emphasizes taking a brief pause instead of using verbal crutches.

3. Why invest in creative B2B video ads? (00:00:51 – 00:02:23)

• The main topic of this episode: exploring the value of creative vs. uncreative ads.
• Acknowledges the inherent risk in creativity and why many brands shy away from it.

4. Risk vs. reward: the carnival mallet analogy (00:02:24 – 00:06:30)

• Introduces a scale from 0 to 10 to assess advertising outcomes.
• Uncreative Ads: Low floor (potentially ineffective) and a low ceiling (moderately effective).
• Creative Ads: Same low floor (could flop), but a much higher ceiling (could be a big win).
• Explanation of how the downside risk is the same, but the upside is vastly greater with creativity.

5. Distilling the key takeaway (00:06:31 – 00:07:44)

• Highlights that being in the “98%” who play it safe means missing out on maximum impact.
• Encourages advertisers to be in the “2%” that leverage creative risk for greater reward.

Focus Your Attention on One Channel

• Pick the platform where you already have the highest engagement (LinkedIn, YouTube, X, etc.).
• Funnel all traffic—emails, social shares—through that single post for maximum algorithm impact.

Mention or Message Influencers

• Research a list of relevant influencers ahead of your launch.
• Tag them or send them direct messages when you go live.
• Even if they don’t respond, the algorithm may push your content to related influencers.

Find a Press Angle & Use PR

• A solid press hook (beyond “look at this video”) can spark media interest.
• Working with a PR professional ensures your press release is compelling and angled for coverage.

Optimize Your YouTube Title & Thumbnail

• Use titles that match what people are searching for—avoid clever or abstract titles no one will type in.
• Thumbnails should feature people or images that reflect the core idea of the video.
• YouTube’s algorithm often rewards strong click-through rates and clear metadata.

Choose Your Launch Day Wisely

• Guy’s rule of thumb is Tuesday—people are settled in from Monday and more likely to engage midweek.
• Avoid launching on days when major news events could overshadow your video.

Encourage Employees & Advocates to Share

• Ask team members and loyal customers to like, comment, and share on launch day.
• Avoid giving them identical copy to post; personalize messages to keep social platforms happy.

• Create Something Worth Going Viral
  • The best “hack” is genuine, resonant content. If it’s not engaging, none of the above tactics will matter.
  • Don’t chase virality—focus on delivering real value and entertainment.

• Originality over “safe jokes.” Recycled humor feels stale and won’t get shared.
• Take risks to stand out. Uncertainty is a part of creativity—lean into it for bigger payoffs.
• Avoid forced funny faces and clichés. True comedic impact comes from authenticity and fresh perspectives.
• Embrace your doubt. Sometimes, your biggest second guess might be the thing that resonates most with an audience.

Incremental Creativity

• You can’t jump from a “zero-risk” corporate video to an ultra-creative ad overnight.
• Start with small creative experiments to help your stakeholders get comfortable with new ideas.

Big Brand vs. Challenger Mindset

• Larger organizations often have more to lose, making them more risk-averse.
• Challenger brands with fewer constraints can take bigger leaps faster—but still benefit from a gradual approach.

Learning to Read and Approve Creative

• Many teams and stakeholders aren’t used to evaluating scripts or bold ideas.
• Introduce them to the concept of “creative risk” in small doses so they can learn how to give productive feedback.

Nitrogen Metaphor & Boiling the Frog

• Guy uses a story about alien life forms adapting to nitrogen as a metaphor for acclimating stakeholders to creativity.
• Slowly turning up the heat (or adding “nitrogen”) ensures your ideas can survive without being killed off prematurely.

Practical Next Steps

• Try smaller, in-house projects that push creativity just a bit further than usual.
• Gradually build trust and familiarity among internal teams before bringing in bigger, bolder campaigns.

Show Notes:

• Opening & New Year's Resolution (0:00)
  • Guy's resolution to be more socially proactive with friends
  • Choosing achievable resolutions over typical ones
• Main Topic: The B2B Marketing Mistake (1:36)
  • Why focusing solely on product differentiation falls short
  • The reality of product similarity across competitors
  • Examples of AI companies (ChatGPT, Sora, Google's Vo2)
• The Solution: Prioritizing Audience Connection (5:05)
  • Moving beyond product features
  • Using emotion as your "trump card"
  • The importance of entertainment and relatability
• Case Studies & Examples (6:37)
  • Australian Lamb's "Generation Gap" viral campaign
  • Note-taking apps comparison (Fathom, Otter)
  • Apple's approach to emotional marketing

Key Quotes:

• "Your trump card is not your product, your trump card is emotion."
• "Your customers, your prospects don't care about your product."
• "When they go to buy, because all products are the same, they're going to pick by who they have an emotional connection with."

Key Takeaways:

• Storytelling is King: A compelling narrative with conflict keeps viewers engaged.
• Authentic Performances: Great acting brings the story to life and makes it believable.
• Realistic Dialogue: Writing that mimics natural speech enhances relatability.
• Visual Excellence: Aesthetically pleasing visuals attract and retain audience attention.
• Quality Audio Matters: Good sound design is essential for a professional ad.

Show Notes:

1. Introduction to Chris LeClerc and his company, Territory6 (0:00)
2. The meaning behind the name "Territory6" and its connection to storytelling (1:30)
3. Discussion on the simplicity and power of storytelling in marketing (3:45)
4. The importance of visual storytelling and showing vs. telling (9:00)
5. Trends in brand storytelling: from mini-documentaries to narrative films (11:30)
6. The "barbell approach" to marketing: balancing entertainment and brand messaging (14:15)
7. Challenges of long-form content vs. traditional commercials (16:00)
8. The risk and reward of storytelling in advertising (18:30)
9. Analysis of the famous Eminem Chrysler commercial (22:00)
10. Defining story: the importance of conflict in narratives (24:00)
11. South Park creators' approach to storytelling: "This happens, but then this happens" (26:00)
12. Final thoughts on why conflict makes stories compelling (27:30)

Key Quotes:

• "Stories have been around since the beginning of the earth, and they always take you to a different place." - Chris LeClerc
• "Would you rather have people wanting to watch a thing that only shows your logo once, but they watch it five times because they love it, or people watching 5% of your ad only once because they hate it?" - Guy Bauer
• "Are you able to stop the world for just a moment and make them remember?" - Chris LeClerc
• "Good is boring." - Guy Bauer

References:

• Territory6
• Don Hewitt and 60 Minutes
• Googleheimer project
• Apple's "Apple at Work" series
• Eminem Chrysler "Imported from Detroit" commercial
• South Park creators on storytelling
• Spaceballs quote

Here are the 5 tips for making an obligatory corporate video feel less cringeworthy:

Get out of the office for interviews

• Shoot outside or in interesting locations, not just stale office settings
• Frame shots creatively, not typical corporate talking heads=

Never use stock footage

• Plan ahead and storyboard to avoid relying on generic stock clips
• Get creative with illustrations, animations, or recreating scenes yourselves

Keep it super short

• 2.5 minutes max, no exceptions
• If you need more time, make it a series instead of one long video

Find the music first before shooting

• Let the soundtrack inspire shots, edits, pacing
• Build in natural transitions around musical cues

Pay for color grading

• Adds a premium, polished look that elevates it beyond typical "video"
• Differentiates it from amateur productions

In this episode, Guy breaks down what he believes is the single most critical step in producing an effective B2B video ad campaign. He reveals it's not the initial concept, scriptwriting, storyboards, production, or editing - but rather successfully getting buy-in on the script draft itself.

Guy likens this script review phase to the "max q" moment during a rocket launch - the point of maximum dynamic pressure where if not handled perfectly, the entire mission could fail. Similarly, the first script draft is where a video ad concept transitions from abstract idea to concrete reality, making it extremely fragile and vulnerable.

Guy provides tips for expertly navigating this make-or-break script approval process, including:

• Never just send the raw script draft - "prime" it first by recapping the strategy/goals
• Consider reading/acting out the script instead of just circulating text
• Intentionally including some "playground areas" that stakeholders can tweak
• Making the case for why this step requires careful handling

He stresses that once you get through this maximum pressure point of script approval, the remaining production steps become much smoother since everyone is firmly aligned on the creative direction.

Link: "Freddy reads script" opening scene from Mad Men

Learn more about Guy and Umault at umault.com

Don't get bored or try to be too creative if your current formula is driving results.

Key Points:

• Umault received a comment pointing out their frequent use of movie trailer parody videos, suggesting they had become formulaic
• Initially, Guy wondered if they were overusing that concept, but realized the flaw in that thinking
• The goal of marketing is to deliver your message effectively to the audience—if you've cracked that code, why change it?
• Guy draws a parallel to working at a radio station playing the same 50 songs on repeat - seems repetitive internally but not to the audience
• Even if some audience overlap, most people don't critique using the same shtick twice if it's impactful
• The bigger risk is deviating from what works and missing with an untested new gimmick
• Jerry Seinfeld: "The rule in Hollywood is when you have a hit, don't touch it because no one knows why it's a hit"
• Breakthroughs in marketing are so rare - changing things up on a whim is irresponsible
• You have to milk a proven winner until interest naturally declines before moving on

Quotes:

"Who cares if insiders perceive a pattern when your audience doesn't?"

"When it works, keep doing it. Do not move on from it."

Episode Links:

Teamwork.com "The Client" movie trailer parody video

Umault's past Halloween video promos