NZWinegrower contributor Mark Orton certainly believes so. While his stories from Central Otago have been a feature of this magazine for the past few years, Orton’s background is in social and observational documentary filmmaking.
It is his understanding of this medium, that has made him question the lack of professional looking video being used by wineries to engage with their customers.
“It has surprised me when I go to their websites, that they don’t have a lot of moving images. They may have some very nice still photos, but I think there is a real opportunity that is being lost here, to tell individual stories.”
Even when he finds websites with video included, he often gets a little depressed at the lack of professionalism of them. Which he puts down to individuals using everyday equipment to shoot a short video and then uploading it, despite their lack of skill.
“Unfortunately now that you can shoot video on your phone at a high standard, it doesn’t mean that the operator knows what they are doing. I have been watching videos and it alarms me that an organization capable of making fantastic wine would expose themselves to potential customers with really below par video.”
While the picture may be okay, Orton says it is often the poor sound quality that is the biggest detracting feature, especially given so many wine videos are filmed in an outdoor environment such as a vineyard.
“It is one of the things people don’t tend to think about when they are videoing something, just how incredibly important audio is. The first thing that crops up, is you have wind buffeting the microphone. Then they are trying to record off a camera that is quite some distance from the person who is speaking. So it is hard to hear what the person is saying and even worse with the wind noise.”
The impact of a good video cannot be underestimated Orton says. Especially if it is used to tell a story – which as marketers have been saying for years, is one of the most important aspects of marketing your wine.
And a video doesn’t need to be overly long. It could be anything from a 30 second greeting, to a three or more minute story. And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune either he says. Not when you consider the impact it has.
“If people are embracing social media, especially for the marketing of their business, then they are losing a massive opportunity if they haven’t got some form of video content playing on that feed. It means that the client base if they manage to find their way to the website, can actually interact with the people at the winery or in the vineyard.”
There have been other benefits, with a video Orton took for Urban Vino in Dunedin, helping the owner gain traction with his Pledge Me Campaign.
“Brendan said it was the video that helped him get over the line, he was really thankful for it.”
A case of a moving picture – telling far more than a still image.
