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Corporate Documentary Videos: Telling the Story of Your Business

Are you looking for a way to share your business story and connect with current and future clients and staff? Why not try a documentary-style corporate video?

Creating a documentary video will help your brand stand out and increase its potential audience.

In this article, we will define what a corporate documentary is and give examples of how they are helpful to businesses. 

Table of Contents

What Is a Corporate Documentary?

There is a story behind every business. A corporate documentary effectively expresses your company’s story and connects with your clients and employees. 

Corporate documentaries can focus on the corporation itself or on its:

  • Staff
  • Clients
  • Products; or
  • Relationship with the community

In most corporate documentaries, key subjects are interviewed, and the approach is often serious and emotion-driven.

How Are Corporate Documentary Videos Helpful to a Business?

A documentary is a great way to get your brand noticed and expand your audience. 

Corporate documentaries can be keystone pieces of content in your overall marketing strategy when they are done well. It won’t feel like a commercial advertisement, so your audience won’t feel like they’re being sold anything. 

In addition to selling products and services, documentary films can help you tell your company’s story and define your brand. 

Do you want professionals to help you with your documentary-style corporate video? Look no further than Houston Video. 

To get your business the best results, we will analyze your company’s data as video creators and marketers, then create a product that will appeal to your target audience.

To learn more, feel free to contact us today. 

corporate documentary video

4 Principles of a Documentary-Style Corporate Video

Taking a storytelling approach to corporate films can help you establish a deeper connection with your audience. 

Short documentary films can tell stories about: 

  • Customers’ success
  • Corporate history
  • Progressive work policies
  • Sales case studies
  • Brand awareness; and
  • Social impact of your products

Here are four basic principles of a corporate documentary. 

#1: It’s Not an Ad, It’s a Real Story

Corporate documentaries are generally not focused on promoting a company’s brand but rather on telling authentic stories associated with various stakeholders. 

A documentary-style corporate video is a more sophisticated approach to: 

  • Marketing
  • Branding; and 
  • Communication 

#2: It Should Include the 5 Cs of Corporate Storytelling

There is a strong focus on storytelling in corporate documentaries, and they should include five crucial elements of a story:

  1. Context — Stories have backgrounds and show where they begin.
  2. Characters — There are protagonists and secondary characters in every story.
  3. Conflict and Resolution — Characters in stories encounter various situations and deal with them differently.
  4. Conclusion — The protagonist of each story resolves their problem at the end of the story.
  5. Call to Action — Each story invokes the viewer to do something.

Regardless of the audience for which the corporate documentary is intended, these “Five Cs” apply. 

By identifying these elements, filmmakers can further develop a story concept into a production plan.

#3: It Should Be Sensitive to the Needs of Employees

To tell real stories, marketers must work with real people, such as: 

  • Employees
  • Partners; and
  • Customers

Real people are not actors; real people are: 

  • Highly sensitive
  • Have privacy concerns; and
  • Require confidentiality

These factors should be taken into consideration when filming. 

Similarly, some corporate locations require appropriate authorities’ permission and compliance with shooting restrictions or non-disclosure agreements

In addition, filmmakers might have to do pre-production preparatory sessions with them to make senior leadership comfortable in front of the camera.

#4: It Should Have High Production Value

When people think of documentaries, they picture someone droning on about a topic. But, unfortunately, that will not cut it with today’s audience. Instead, a video must be eye-catching and well-made.

Is the thought of making your businesses’ documentary-style corporate video overwhelming? 

Let the professionals at Houston Video help. 

As a full-service video production company, we offer various corporate video production services.

Are you interested in learning more? Contact us today. 

corporate documentary video

10 Best Corporate Documentary Videos

Following are some examples of ten of the best corporate documentary videos.

#1: Starbucks — Rebuilding Memories

People who meet at Starbucks weekly for a scrapbooking club talk about how much these photos and memories mean to them.

#2: Ellevation Education — Company Overview

In just 65 seconds, this video covers Ellevation Education’s history, hiring practices, and some of its perks.

#3: Photoshop — The Beginning

Through interviews with Adobe Photoshop’s creators, this video traces the software’s birth and success.

#4: Eagle Builders — Business Growth

Canadian-based Eagle Builders designs, engineers, and builds precast concrete structures. In this video, the company’s leaders discuss their corporate culture and growth.

#5: The Furniture Factory — Making Quality Furniture

The Furniture Factory produces high-quality, upholstered furniture. This video shows the furniture-making process with emotional music and video shots.

#6: St. Jude’s — The Fight Against Cancer

A leading children’s hospital, St. Jude’s, treats the most challenging childhood cancers and diseases. Two young cancer patients share their St. Jude stories in this moving video.

#7: Tala — Helping Others

A global technology company shares how they help underserved populations build businesses and reach their dreams.

#8: David Lloyd Leisure — Family-Oriented Fitness

David Lloyd, the founder of David Lloyd Leisure, discusses the story behind his family-oriented fitness facilities. 

#9: Alba – Safety, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility

Alba’s leaders discuss their status as the world’s largest aluminum smelter, as well as their core values of safety, operational efficiency, sustainability, and social responsibility.

#10: Thien Long Group — Quality Products from Vietnam

Thien Long Group is one of Vietnam’s top 50 brands. This video highlights their journey in bringing Vietnamese products to the world.

Houston Video Can Bring Your Corporate Documentary Video Ideas to Life

Documentary-style corporate videos can help you connect with clients and employees no matter what type of business you run, whether it’s a: 

  • Local company
  • Corporate office
  • Home services company; or 
  • E-commerce site

The team at Houston Video has experience working with businesses of all sizes, and our goal is to create a video that fills your business needs. 

We understand that turnaround time is critical in business content, so we work efficiently to meet every deadline while finding solutions to fit your budget without sacrificing quality.

How does hiring a video production company benefit you? The bottom line is that you will save time without worrying about your corporate documentary video looking unprofessional.

Are you interested in learning more? Contact us today. 

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