At the core of any successful public relations campaign is effective communication.

Yet in this technological era, there are now more methods than ever to convey important messages to different audiences.

Video production is one area that is constantly changing. Let's take a look at some of the common applications in public relations.

1. Video News Release (VNR)

An obvious example of how PR and video production can work seamlessly together is the Video New Release. This is basically a press release in video format.

A 90 second video is created which is then distributed to television stations for airing in news programs. When VNR's are well made, it is extremely difficult to differentiate them from a regular news story.

An example is a publicity stunt for the launch of a new airline on the evening news.

Tip: Include your script with the VNR and any suggested intro to give the network flexibility in putting together your story.

2. CD-ROMs

For clients that have complicated products and need a lot of promotional material, CD-ROM's can be an effective medium.

CD-ROMs are particularly flexible as they can include video, audio, brochures, documents and website/email links. They are perfect for travellers who wish to reduce the amount of marketing materials they need to carry.

Mini CD-ROMs or CD-ROM business cards also come in a variety of sizes and shapes that can be made to suit your campaign. An example is they can be cut into the shape of a flower for a campaign for a seed producer. The only negative is that because of their small size they are unable to hold lots of content, unlike the regular sized CD-ROMs.

An example of CD-ROM we undertook was for a Professional Society that had a topic that it needed the press to understand and write about. A CD-ROM was used to show video interviews with leaders in the industry and also to display documents, which explained the topic in more detail. It is also contained website and email links to relevant sites and people in the industry.

Tip: Picture quality of a CD-ROM is half that of DVD. Use a high quality broadcast camera at the shoot to ensure clear and professional looking pictures.

3. Trade Shows

Go to any expo and you will nearly always find that all of the large and impressive stands will have video content constantly running.

The key to any successful trade show DVD is lots of exciting pictures with informative titles and music.

Trade show videos suit companies that have complicated products where people need to see to see how it works and in what situations.

Tip: Make sure that your trade show video conveys your messages without the use of a voiceover. Voiceovers must be avoided as they will not be heard at a trade show. Instead, use titles to tell your story.

4. Special Events

An effective way to launch award ceremonies, conferences, and corporate roadshows is by using a powerful video opener.

When planning an event, use video to set the mood. Use it to educate, inspire, motivate or excite.

If the event has a large audience, filming the event live and displaying the content on large projector screens dispersed around the room will ensure that attendees can all see the action.

At the recent Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria Sustainable Cities Awards, we created a relaxing and picturesque video that showed lots of different shots of trees with autumn leaves. The theme for the night was autumn and the video was played while people enjoyed their cocktails. Autumn decoration were also used throughout the venue, as well as lighting that was created to splash autumn leaves over the walls and ceilings. It was an appealing way to set the mood for the night and it proved to be a great success.

Tip: Work out your objective and theme for the event and get your video production to reflect your theme. For your next PR project, think about how you can harness the power of video to get the right message across to your audience.

(c) Marie-Claire Ross 2005. All rights reserved.

Marie-Claire Ross is one of the partners of Digicast Productions. Digicast Productions works with organisations who are not satisfied that their marketing and training materials are helping their business grow. She can be contacted at mc@digicast.com.au. The website is at http://www.digicast.com.au