CorpComms Magazine

'It's about showing instead of selling, talking instead of telling,' says Stuart Maister, managing director of Broadview, in summing up corporates' use of web television. This makes writing about the subject seem rather problematic, as if it is a rather outdated medium for describing a whole new way of communicating. But the question is whether web television really offers companies a significantly more effective way of engaging with their audiences. Or whether it is little more than a 'nice to have' tool that only the very biggest corporate can afford to dabble with.

For Russell Goldsmith, digital and social media director at markettiers4dc, web TV has become an essential part of the corporate communications mix, whether externally or internally, or whether it is discussing financial results, new initiatives or responding to a crisis. 'With video being consumed at ever increasing rates via web and mobile, there is an expectation for information to be delivered via this more engaging media, whether that's through a live broadcast or a pre-recorded video,' he says. 'Either way, corporate executives will have to accept the fact that they will be expected to go in front of the camera.'

This trend is only likely to increase as social media continues to gain momentum. According to recent Nielsen research, for instance, Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia are now three of the world's most popular brands.

'Social media is a big thing,' says Luke Aviet, UK managing director at branded content distribution agency Goviral. 'On sites like MySpace you can now post videos into blogs so that they are entwined. And younger generations are using sites like You Tube and Facebook as their de facto browser.' Quite simply, people increasingly expect communication to be both interactive and visual.

'When the clock strikes for everyone to start work, that expectation doesn't change,' says Craig Moehl, managing director at Groovy Gecko, which has ten years' experience in the UK streaming market. 'People don't want to suddenly have to revert to seeing everything on PDF, just because they are in the office.'

For Stephen Watson, founder of CTN Communications, the link between social media, online video and corporate communication is equally clear. 'If you look at key audiences, whether it's employees or external investors, they have a high level of comfort, acknowledgement and competence in using the tools of digital/social media,' he says. 'That combination of factors means that organisations can use web TV to push the boundaries and deliver some very creative and inspirational communications.'

The impact of recession on web TV

Corporates that are only just escaping the grip of recession may be forgiven for seeing such trends and ignoring them. 'Recession has had an impact on web TV in the corporate sector,' says Maister. 'Corporates may not have budgeted for it as it falls under something that's 'nice to do' rather than 'must do'. Or, if they are doing it, they're looking for ways of doing it cheaply with the lowest-cost providers.'

For some corporates, though, web TV has proved surprisingly useful for dealing with recessionary pressures. Stuart Garvey, chief executive at World Television, says there was a spike in interest for web streaming from corporates wanting to communicate effectively and directly with their investors following a very difficult 2008. Watson has also noticed leadership teams and chief executives turning to web TV over the past two years, precisely because of the additional demand for 'open, clear and transparent' communication during the recession.

'Organisations want to be seen to be doing things efficiently in a cost-effective manner that resonates with employees,' he says. 'Web TV is seen as smart technology in this respect. In recession, the things that get blocked are the big-ticket events like global conferences. But web TV comes under the radar - it's something people use in their everyday lives so they're more likely to embrace it in these difficult times.'

The proof is in the pudding. Markettiers4dc recently worked on several live and interactive

broadcasts for organisations including Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL) and drinks giant Pernod Ricard Group. 'In each case, the live events were seen by viewers in countries across the globe, from as far and wide as South America to China and Russia,' says Goldsmith. 'While this cannot necessarily replace a face-to-face meeting, it was still an incredibly engaging way to communicate and one that cost a fraction of what it would have done to fly over all those participants to gather in a conference room together.'

Web TV for crisis management

Nor is the recession the only recent development that has revealed the potential value of web TV. When earlier this year the volcanic ash crisis downed planes across Europe, web TV came to the rescue of an international law firm that had planned to hold its global partner meeting in Barcelona. 'Around 600 partners from all over world were due to meet to elect new partners but the ash cloud meant that no-one could travel,' says Watson. 'So we did the whole thing from our [webcasting] studio.' The firm's 600 partners tuned in from all over the world, and were able to hear directly from the firm's managing partner, finance director and senior partner. The filming also allowed for interactivity so that partners could still vote in the new partner elections.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) took a similarly forward-looking web TV approach to last year's swine flu crisis. 'The BCC wanted to give its members - thousands of the UK's small and mediumsized businesses - strong advice on how to best prepare for the disease's impact,' says Goldsmith. In response, markettiers4dc produced and aggregated a live, fully interactive 20 minute web TV programme, which ran on the BCC's site. 'The show was promoted strongly to BCC members, but the same show also ran live, simultaneously, across 15 key independent business sites, with these sites keeping the programme available on demand for as long as possible,' he says. Not only that but news channel CNN and BBC London both filmed in the markettiers4dc studio as the live programme went out, indicating the level of interest generated by the still relatively new web TV channel.

The role for web TV in internal and/or external communications

Web TV might have come into its own for one-off and/or crisis communications, but there are also indications that it is becoming an important tool for more general internal and external communications strategies. For example, on the external communications side CTN Communications has been using web TV to take people on 'virtual journeys' that they could not otherwise make. This most recently included filming a live two-day investor capital markets webcast for Tullow Oil from Accra in Ghana. The aim was to introduce analysts to local management, the complexities of Tullow's offshore drilling and the potential of its finds. Some analysts were flown out to Ghana in person, but the vast majority tuned in live via the web from dealing rooms in London and New York.

Much appears to have been happening on the internal communications side too. Some internal webcasts have been simple: getting a chief executive to deliver a financial update to employees, for instance.

But some employers are pushing the creative boundaries. Unilever, for example, is currently undergoing a transformation project in which chief executive Paul Polman wants to double the size of the company. CTN has been using web TV channels to help Unilever engage employees in the new narrative, style and language of the business. In particular, CTN launched 'Hair TV' to communicate with staff in one of the biggest businesses in Unilever - hair care. Using an auditorium for filming, the production crew recreated a hair salon from which the company presented a 90-minute live programme that went out to all the hair care staff and used all the social media tools enabling, for instance, two-way dialogue and live voting.

Perhaps the best example of the relevance of web TV to both internal and external audiences, however, is where web TV has become a part of an overall, integrated communications strategy. For instance, BP has worked with World Television since 2002, when the oil company decided to stream presentations online to stakeholders to improve the sense of transparency and openness. Such films were initially just one-offs. With time, however, the firm thought about also using the technology internally, and for more routine communications, resulting in the Performance in Perspective quarterly update for staff that goes out live and is formatted, Garvey says, like a 'current affairs programme' with interviews helping to put financial information into context. 'Over six to seven years BP has made this a regular feature and has built a brand around it,' he says. The experience also came in handy during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

'We'd already been working with the executive team at BP on its quarterly, interview-style updates, so it was natural enough that we were involved in the incident from a couple of days after the spill,' explains Paul Ver Bruggen, production director at World Television. Within a week World Television was helping to set up and produce daily films updating the public and staff on developments with the spill. Although the films appearing on both BP's intranet and internet were very similar, there were a few differences - for example, chief executive Tony Hayward did a whole series of pieces specifically for staff.

Web TV: here to stay

Whether used for internal or external communications, or both, the companies that are already delivering highly sophisticated, interactive web TV campaigns are also likely the largest organisations that have had the funds to experiment. But as a growing number of case studies demonstrate, web TV can be surprisingly adaptable to both budget and circumstance, ranging from relatively simple leadership engagement with staff to integrated internal and external brand and/or crisis communications. And despite the difficult economic context of recent times, many companies are trying it. In fact, far from the recession killing it off, it appears that the growth of corporate web TV has only just begun.

Web TV: Factors for success

• Be disciplined: why are you doing it and what do you want your outcomes to be?
• Don't do too much of it! Web TV should stand out and not be lost in the 'noise'.
• The technical challenges of web TV are now minimal - for example, production agencies/teams are now experienced in getting around issues such as corporate firewalls. If you are concerned, talk to your production team.
• It's important to ensure that your key spokespeople feel relaxed on camera, either by giving them some media training or, for bigger events, investing in a professional presenter.
• For internal communications, leadership teams should not seem over-prepared. The format should be informal so as to engage employees in a conversation.
• Authenticity is vital. The rise of social media and social networking means that audiences have little patience for communication that doesn't appear honest and open.
• Interactivity will increase your level of engagement. Including slides, Q&As, comment boxes and/or polls will all help to enrich the web TV experience.
• If your audience is the general public, remember the sheer amount of video content online. You will need a content distribution strategy to ensure it reaches your audience or your effort might be wasted.
• This market will not stand still for long. People will increasingly expect to see video on the move via their mobile devices. Companies, including markettiers4dc, are already producing web TV for mobile.

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