Corporate Video Production

cCube is a video production house that seeks to serve fresh ideas to an ever increasingly stale format. cCube TV's executive producer, Bob Lay, approaches his talented staff of filmmakers with the cCube brand of filmmaking. Projects tend to be more dramatic, more cinematic. The production house steers away from the "same old, same old" style that is so frequently pitched to clients for work of this nature. The in house producers, directors, editors and writers have an average of over 20 years of industry experience. cCube specializes in creating fresh content for music videos, corporate videos and commercials for television.

The production house offers clients a different perspective. It is more about refreshing content then it is about the recurrent use of award winning formulas. In short, shooting for awards has never been high on their priority list or even intertwined into their methodology. Bob speaks of content worth shouting about then proceeds to build the foundations for my understanding of the cCube approach. He insists that you will only ever hear cCubers shout about the unique perspective in which they conduct their business and not the prestige often associated with medals and plaques.

Though their goals differ from other production houses, clients hardly ever question their intentions. In seems clients approach them when they are looking for something different but still effective. As along as they maintain their unique perspective, I am certain that clients would tend not to question. At the end of the day it is all about the bottom line, and whether you can deliver on your relationship. CCube does this in spades!

To create compelling content and bring refreshing ideas to advertising as well as in video production is the nucleus of this success. These days the media floods the market place so much so that it desensitizes potential consumers so creating effective content that stands out is always the challenge. To us, at Adoi Magazine, it is just great that there are people in the industry who are aware of the trends. Marking the adolescent stage of the information generation - the attention span of the consumer is also at an all time low. Now with media content so easily accessible, remaining distinct is ever more the challenge. I am of course talking about radio, TV, the Internet and New Media.

Essentially the market research and energies invested into the cCube brand, come from the middle managers - the people who blend in and out of different demographics tend to represent most of the company's targeted audience. cCube is highly sought after by their clients for just this. Bob Lay had this to say: -

"The standard headshot will never draw out an honest opinion. That's not what we want. We want honesty in our videos and not the standard sing our praises approach that headshots tend to attain. The challenge is on how to create that honesty with both dramatic and cinematic principles of story telling."

One of the great things which the company in mention speaks of are their online tools and the platforms which they have created to better stay in touch with their customers. The most immediate tool is their online platforms. Their content is constantly being relayed to their audience through the use of online sites. They use video on all their main pages and are constantly on the update. They utilize banner ads, e-mail blasts, yellowpages.com and kccci.org.my. It all adds up to the inimitable way in which they form relationships with clients.

Bob insists that these ideas are not in the name of marketing. cCube don't implement brand or marketing strategy because the 'Wow factor" is already there. The logo to the finished products, of which are usually on their webpage, all calls out to their clients.

And to instill this idea of building relationships with their clients cCube also does sponsorships, seminars, concerts and events. On event days they try to get renowned industry names to help raise awareness of the importance of video production. They want to make sure the people in the industry are responsive to the fact that video production is in fact a viable tool. Most of their clientele are met at these functions.

And when clients approach them, at these seminars, they try to instill the notion of choosing more creative and cinematic solutions to corporate video presentations. The lack of budget is then what the enterprise is normally motioned with, raising concern from the clients. In spite of this, cCube manages to work around these complications, promoting their select packages, for different needs.

The three Cs' - A distinctive approach.

The first C, communication is key. Thanks to our multicultural community, the age-old thematic idea of communication probably carries more weight in Malaysia then in anywhere else. Playing of the 10 year old Malaysia Truly Asia Campaign, cCube TV impresses by instilling this ideal into every member under the cCube umbrella.

Video production aside, they also consult their clients toward something they will be happy with. They manage to extend their reach with valuable feedback as to how to strengthen the existing brand image of their clientele. cCube may just be a TV production house but knowing how to help design and rebrand is also part and parcel of their service. There even have been cases in which applying changes to client logos and slogans were also implemented.

This philosophy resonates throughout the office. Bringing fresh artists to the front so there is always a fresh perspective but at the same time the client's perspective is ultimately what they are interested in. When their in house artists get a brief they will know how to approach it. cCube also do a lot of research into their client's companies.

The second C, Create is beyond acquiring a brief and doing a video. Often times, it is also about having understood the market. Before embarking on the production of a video, one must examine the brief and come up with a usable and well-defined message. Ultimately what you want is to bring something different to the table for every brief.

"This is the cCube TV approach." Says the 20-year industry veteran of cCube, Bob Lay.

It usually is about how to achieve the implication of your brand in a distinct and precise video. And because every video is a new idea spawned from virtually nothing, clients often don't know where to begin to explain what they want. This is where the expertise of the production team comes into play, essentially guiding the customers toward their own vision. I guess it also helps that cCube staff are genuinely find appeal in the brands of their clients. With that allure already in place it then becomes very easy to push the envelope and generate something that stands out. To desire/drive to create is the root of all this.

The third C, Client Centric is also apart of their finely tuned work philosophy. The customer's perspective is ultimately most important. It hails priority over the prospected outcome and hence it is imperative to achieve a result for them more so then it is to achieve one for cCube. The bottom line is to help the company grow. They boast of having helped a corporate company list within a year of producing one of their videos. The video was of course the spearhead of their campaign. Designing a video rather then just taking a brief is the cCube perspective. And to sum it up Bob Lay speaks of being more progressive.

"We try to bring something fresh and develop existing brand images for our clients so as to make it more progressive."

Building upon the foundations.

What I understand is that the market is shouting out for content but also not just any content. The same old, same old approach that I had so callously mentioned earlier is simply not going to be enough in this day and age. How then do you make corporate videos more compelling? In one particular case they may choose not to use voice over and make a video using other narrative tools in another case it may be about cropping shots off at the forehead. Oh, perish the thought!

Constantly pushing boundaries by experimenting with content, cCube understands that it is not as easy as just meshing elements together. As Bob constantly mentions, it is almost like a design process. Their in house director cum scriptwriter, Elroi Yee and their supervising editor and animator S. Balachandran are both seasoned storytellers. They were hired off the back because of one simple reason - They understand the medium they are working with. Their list of accolades stretches long and wide and amongst their most gloried accomplishments is the editing of highly acclaimed Gol and Gincu. And just like everything at cCube, it is all about the bottom line and in the case of the veteran filmmakers the line ends with their expertise and experience.

Now barely a year and a half old, cCube continues to remain relevant in an ever-evolving community of artists - the community known as the local advertising industry. At their inception they were an FnB focused media platform. It has only been recently that they are branching out into other media. What makes their mission statement undeniable is the attitude and capacity for change. I give credit to the changing face of the cCube brand. When asked what he had to say about expansion and growth there were only a few choice words that were uttered from the mouth of the Executive Producer, Bob Lay - reality shows, TV dramas, mobile content and the growing visage of the internet as a platform for all these things.

Bob had refrained from mentioning anymore as these are things that are in the pipelines but not necessarily ready for consumption. One thing that I had realized while in the midst of conversation with Bob was that ideas and content are not the only issue that needs to be dealt with - there is also the issue of delivering innovative platforms for their content.

Currently they are pushing their clients to make use of the Internet. One of the primary goals is to break the medium's stigma. It can be used in business as a medium for communication rather then just being considered a recreational platform. cCube TV are looking at streaming videos to be an essential part of the process.

By streaming, a video it can be accessed from any corner of the world. It is more convincing to have a potential client look at content online rather then be sent a low quality video or low-res jpeg images, which serve to be incoherent to the layman. It saves a lot of cost in terms of marketing. Imagine flying over a client from overseas, the hotel costs, traveling and picking him up and around is hardly worth the effort let alone the money. And the truth is you will only choose to entertain the clients who are already ¾ on the boat.

Internet platforms are being widely used overseas and in the United States but not exactly in the manner in which they are using. Bottom line is that the Internet is very usable and should be utilized if you are to compete with anyone, let alone international markets. To push your products on a larger scale you must use the Internet. Nothing beats flashy visuals, if you are to catch the attention of potential customers.

At the moment, they will simply remain under the umbrella that generates big corporate and professional ideas. Nothing really beats that in terms of consistent work but at the same time they want to focus on clients that have unique stories that scream out, I need to be told. It also depends on the needs of the client but this is definitely something they are looking to engage in the future.

Video e mail and mobile content is something they are also actively pursuing but once again these are not fully thought out ideas as of yet.

The simple step of branding is essentially how they draw these people in. They want to create such a strong brand image that effectively would have been marketed for so long people develop a definity for it. Like the Big Mac cCube wants people to understand that the type of videos they are capable of producing are essentially that impactful, but this will take time.

The bottom line is that they want to bridge story-telling elements and draw clients in by using cinematic approaches to developing content. They want to tell the stories of the customers.