VIDEOS

There are numerous ways to enhance your brand narrative with videos. Following are sample videos produced under Nancy Donner’s direction at both The New School and New York Institute of Technology where she led the communications and marketing offices.. Some videos are for recruitment purposes aimed at college-bound students; some are for reputation-building aimed at the media or potential faculty; and some are story-telling aimed at bringing high-level awareness to what each school offers.

Videos also offer snapshots of moments in time — showing glimpses into projects, events and campaigns.

SAMPLES OF NANCY’S VIRTUAL CLASSES

Excerpts from Webinar with Performing Arts Readiness on re-engaging audiences post-pandemic. A recording of the full class is available here.

student profiles

Teens and young adults respond to straight-forward “tell it like it is” assessments from their peers more than they do corporate speak. At both The New School and NYIT, the marketing teams utilized the filmmakers’ talents to capture honest commentary from these students to turn otherwise ordinary “talking head” videos into a star component of the university’s recruitment strategy. These videos were central to the integrated marketing campaigns ARE YOU NEW SCHOOL? and NYIT’s THE FUTURE IS OURS..

Student Profiles produced by Corra Films for The New School’s Dept. of Communications & External Affairs or NYIT’s Office of Communications & Marketing.

subject-specific mini documentaries

When you need to raise your institution’s profile and impart information in an inviting way, these mini-docs are one way to go. Unlike the student profiles that are shot in tight close-ups and voiced unscripted in the first-person by the students themselves, these have a cinematic wide-screen appeal and a third-person voice over. The scripted narrative takes their subjects seriously, but is inflected with specks of humor to appeal to the target audience.

Mini-docs produced by Moondog Productions with Oberland for NYIT’s Office of Communications & Marketing.

Note that the four videos above are shown in their long form (under 2-minutes each). The last one in this series below—”Defenders of Data”—demonstrates how these same types of videos could be edited down several ways for use as digital ads and in social media.

faculty experts

When the news media or conference organizers are looking for thought leaders to speak knowledgeably about current events or newsworthy issues, they need to quickly access experts who are articulate, well-versed on a topic, and sometimes, camera-ready. No fuss, no music, shot straight on and then edited into soundbites by subject area, these types of videos allow the press and business executives to pre-screen potential thought leaders.

Faculty Expert videos produced by Mike Sorrentino for NYIT’s Office of Communications & Marketing.

THE “COMMERCIAL”

While very few universities or not-for-profits can afford to purchase a traditional broadcast TV “commercial,” these types of 30-second “ads” can be used for a host of other promotional tactics. They could open a public program or put a cap on a big donor event. They could be used as online ads to draw prospective students and their parents to your website. And. they are short enough to be used in your social media marketing campaigns.

We Are Going Places produced by Moondog Productions with Oberland and The Future is Ours produced by Corra Films for NYIT’s Office of Communications & Marketing.

THE “ABOUT” VIDEO

These can vary widely in length and style. But they are often the catch-all video an organization will make when they think they only have budget to make just one. With multiple “talking heads” and clips showing a little bit of everything, they are informational in nature — not necessarily promotional — and are not meant to be used for proactive marketing. Some of these are good for Board meetings or to play at new student orientations or Commencement to give an overview of the school to existing stakeholders.. The full length documentary New York Public Library’s “People’s Palace” was aired on WNET-TV.

Why Parsons? produced by the Refinery; for The New School’s Office of Communications & External Affairs; The People’s Palace was created by Kunhardt Productions for The New York Public Library and Driven by Technology produced by Flying Leap Media for NYIT’s Office of Communications & Marketing.

ANIMATION AND MOTION INFOGRAPHICS

Sometimes, drawn illustrations, infographics and animations are what is needed to enliven or enhance your presentation. Or perhaps you’re just trying to get across your brand identity in a clever way. The samples below were created for a variety of needs — but all serve the purpose of breathing new life into what can often be staid visuals.

Tim Gunn explains Parsons for you produced by Alan Morris for The New School’s Dept. of Communications & External Affairs; Holiday Squares created by GB Martin, Martoons; NYIT in Under 2-minutes created by Sylvia Yang Animations, and Motion graphic recruitment ad created by Oberland for NYIT’s Office of Communications & Marketing.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS AND INSTITUTIONAL PRIDE

Telling your story to internal stakeholders, staff, and existing students can be as important to your marketing efforts as it is to external audiences. You can use video to communicate important greetings, talk about institutional success, or just to celebrate and build pride in your organization.

Thought Leaders in the News produced by Mike Sorrentino for NYIT’s Office of Communications & Marketing.
What’s in the Box? and E-blast Announcing New (Award-winning) Website created by NYIT’s Office of Communications & Marketing.

“HOW-TO” VIDEOS

Getting buy-in on issues like branding can take time — especially when all stakeholders need to be on the same page. How-to videos can help simplify the process. Below is a series created to explain the new visual identity to NYIT’s administration, faculty and student leaders.

How-To videos on branding and identity guidelines created by the in-house Communications & Marketing Office at NYIT.