VIRNA Jan-March 2020

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JANUARY – MARCH 2020 VACATION INDUSTRY REVIEW
3. Don’t Compromise Quality by Taking Shortcuts
Whatever direction or shape your storytelling takes, it is critical to create
a quality deliverable. Don’t try to craft your brand story or unique selling
point with a smartphone or a one-man camera crew — unless you’ve
hired feature-film director Steven Soderbergh, who incidentally made
a Netflix movie on an iPhone. Properly capturing important elements
of your story — attractive units, plush amenities, and appealing food
presentations — requires a level of expertise and skill. Not to mention
technical factors, such as lighting, wardrobe, props, actors, and more, to
produce a piece that will engage a viewer.
An agency or production company with experience in regional
tourism or resort industry spots will help you develop the concept,
write or execute the scripts, provide casting for talent, and hire all
crew needed — from directors of photography to lighting experts, record
sound or professional voice-over, and even food stylists.
4. Optimize Efforts With Multiple Videos
Whether you develop your videos in-house or use an agency, plan on
making deliverables as bite-sized video nuggets. A best practice we
always employ with video assets to market destinations is to package
them in a variety of ways to make the most of the investment in the
production.
Package every video with a 2-minute overview, then 1-minute,
30-second, 15-second, and 6-second versions. You can have several
15- and 6-second versions, capturing various points from the original,
lengthier video. That gives you lots of assets you can put to work across
all your marketing channels, from your website to social media to your
sales materials.
5. Carefully Craft the Shortest Spots
Don’t try to say too much. In a 6-second video, you only have time to
make one singular point. This might be an owner testimonial about one
facet of the vacation experience: “The best golf greens in Florida,” for
example. Then quickly transition to your resort logo if you have time. If
not, show the logo in the upper left or right corner of the screen while the
guest is talking.
6. Let Someone Else Sing Your Praises
Guest testimonials go a long way to telling the story you want viewers to
hear. Find a friendly way to screen candidates and conduct pre-interviews
with the goal of identifying your brand cheerleaders. Then try to get quick
sound bites:
WIFE: “The best part about this resort is that I can get a facial and a
massage while he golfs.”
HUSBAND: “And the bartender makes an amazing piña colada.”
The testimonials should be attention-getters. These comments bring
to life specific activities that will resonate with viewers; ones they can
relate to.
7. Build a Well-Thought-out Campaign
My best advice is to put the work into the planning before you shoot a
frame of video. Whether it’s a single 6-second video or multiple videos to
support a marketing campaign, take the time to work through the details:
the message, the production team, the rollout strategy.
Define how you’re using your marketing channels and the roles you
want your sales and marketing teams to play. Detailed planning plus rig-
orous execution will lead to positive results. With a good production plan
you’ll capture your audience’s attention, and with a great video, you’ll
book them for their next vacation.
And by the way, have fun doing it!
Simon Umlauf is the social media content and augmented
reality producer at Mountain View Group, which has part-
nered with MMGY on many regional tourism campaigns,
including St. Augustine/St. John’s County, Kennedy Space
Center, and Panama City Beach in Florida; Santa Barbara,
California; and Barceló Hotels & Resorts in Mexico, as well
as producing commercials outside of the MMGY relation-
ship for Casino Life in Mexico.
For more information about Mountain View Group, visit .
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