We’ve been in Budapest since Sunday night filming a series of web features for the luxury Hungarian skin care brand, Omorovicza.

The shoot is focusing on a series of product videos that can be used as both training videos for the staff that sell the brand across the world and also as consumer videos that can be shown on the brand’s own website and across various video-sharing social sites.

Omorovicza is based in Budapest  and is an independent business run by husband and wife team Stephen and Margaret de Heinrich de Omorovicza. Their products use natural ingredients and draw heavily on the natural curative properties of Hungarian spa waters.

In a highly competitive retail environment, their personal story is as compelling as the products they sell, so we’ve been keen to produce content that reflects them as a couple, the wonderful setting of Budapest and, of course, the extraordinary spas that they draw inspiration from.

Shooting today is at their store on Andrassy Ut and then off for an evening of capturing this beautiful city at night-time. We are currently looking at blue skies so we’ve got fingers crossed that we can produce a perfect time-lapse piece as the sun-sets across the Danube.

Video-Ventures were chosen for this project after we met up with Stephen while filming the Liberty beauty project. He liked our work with some of the Liberty beauty brands and bought into our marketing program as a means of ensuring his content is seen by as many people as possible.

We’ll finish up tomorrow morning and then head back to London on the late flight into Gatwick. However, before I go, I must find myself a bottle of Tokaji (Hungary’s famous sweet dessert wine).   I simply won’t settle for anything less than 6 Puttonyos!

We’re about to record some new content for Classic Wine Direct. We’ve been working with these guys for a while now and, although I’m supposed to be completely objective in such matters, I have to say that they’ve become one of our favourite clients!

Classic Wine Direct launched their website in the Spring of 2009 and have decided to putvideo content at the forefront of their proposition. They specialise in interesting wines that they like to call “off the beaten track” and they wanted to tell some of the stories behind the wines in a more compelling way – using video.

CWD are based down in Worthing, Sussex and we decided that the best way to get them used to the camera was to have a day in their wine shop with nothing more than a flip camera, a table and chairs and some wine. They spent a morning working through ideas, tasting wines and getting used to watching themselves on playback. It was a great morning and informed our approach for the main shoot. It also produced one of my favourite “quick and dirty” flip videos called “the rehearsal”!

For the main shoot we settled on a “double header” approach for the video’s led by the wine buyer Colin and and Joe from the supplier Novum Wines. CWD selected some of their best sellers and we simply opened them up and the guys chatted to camera in short 2 minute clips. CWD have integrated the clips on their homepage, product pages and blog as well as using Video Ventures marketing arm to distribute the content across the web via video-sharing sites.

The results are pretty good for a first run and the team have come back with some great ideas for the next batch of tastings. What we’ve all learnt from the experience is how difficult it is to “act naturally”. The best form of content is always the conversational style where it feels as if the viewer is listening in on some friends talking. The CWD guys realise to actually pull this off in front of a camera is a real challenge – if you’re not experienced of having a camera zooming in and out of your nostrils you can really just try too hard.

So, with the next batch of videos due to be shot at the end of this month, we’re looking forward to a “cinema verite” style. Stay tuned.

We’ve just completed the first batch of video for Liberty, one of London’s most iconic department stores.

Liberty are pretty clear in what they want to achieve with video – they want to improve the conversion rates of key products on their website and they want to use video to drive traffic to their site from video-sharing sites such as You Tube. They also recognised that video could be useful for improving SEO results on key brands.

And, as befitting for a “luxury emporium” they want to do it in style!

We came on board a couple of months ago and used the re-launch of the Liberty beauty department as an opportunity to interview the people behind some of their exciting new beauty brands. We also wanted to show how some of the key products should be used so we filmed a series of product demo’s.

Video Ventures also worked with the Liberty web developers to integrate the video into the Liberty.co.uk site using our bespoke flash player and we are using our advanced video marketing techniques to push the content out into the wider web (optimised for SEO).

We’ll report the results of our marketing activity and conversion analysis as soon as we able.

The first two brands to feature on the Liberty You Tube channel are EVE LOM and Malin+Goetz, with many more to come over the next few weeks.

Take a look at the Liberty Channel and watch our pick of the bunch here:

Brands looking to establish a presence on the internet should be looking to utilise the current domination of online video content according to Reality Digital, the leading provider of web community software for brands and businesses.

Responsource.com have have been taking a look at the statistics from Pew Research which has shown that the number of adults that watch online video on the internet has almost doubled in the past two years. They conclude that more and more websites are seeking to provide their users with the most engaging content that they can find.

Furthermore, many forms of video social networks such as Youtube are already illustrating the benefits of hosting video content, in terms of visitors to their sites.

A much broader benefit of video content is that it is easier to spread amongst the masses on social networks, with some videos going “viral” through media sharing tools on networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Reality Digital (web community software provider) has indicated that by using a brand focused social network for the promotion of a brand, businesses can create their own video content to promote their brand and spread their message in the same way.

“By using a social networking platform that incorporates video technology, brands can create promotional video content that is very easy for fans of a brand to share across the brand’s social network and also mass social networks like Facebook and Twitter, enhancing the reach of a brand’s marketing activity.”

The latest Nielson numbers on online video usage have once again shown a big surge in growth.  In the US alone July recorded 11.2 billion total streams, representing a growth rate of 31% year on year.

If you’re a collector of stats then that’s two videos for every person on the planet (and that’s based on US usage only)

Other highlights from the Neilson report include:

• 135.9 million unique viewers of online video in the last month (July)
• The average viewer watched 82.4 streams in July.
• The numbers also indicate that the average viewer watched online video for 211 minutes during the month.

No surprises about the most popular channel: YouTube takes that honour with 7 billion total streams (104 million unique viewers),  Yahoo recorded 265 million streams & 30 million viewers while MSN/Microsoft recorded 188 million streams, 17.8 unique viewers.

See Mashable for more stats and comment.

Surely we can just re-purpose our TV ads for online?

In an article published today entitled “The Online Video Advertising Picture Clears Up”,  eMartketer.com estimates that by 2013,  online video spending will account for 11% of online ad spending and 5.5% of the TV ad spend.

The figures refer to the US market and look at the patterns of past and future growth. To quote:

“Although at first glance the figures may not look like much, to achieve them online video advertising must grow steadily and spectacularly. After a big burst last year—over 125% growth—eMarketer expects to see growth over 40% for four years, “falling” to slightly over 30% in 2013.”

At Video Ventures, this upward trend is something we recognise and that’s why we’re in business. And yet such a cold statistical view of the expenditure landscape lacks real insight.  It just doesn’t reflect that there are big structural changes underway in how brands are engaging with their customers.

Firstly, we don’t make a differentiation between TV and online.  Why? Because the current generation of media consumers don’t make the distinction.

Secondly – and how to put this gently – I’ve had to sit in far too many brand strategy meetings with Ad agencies wedded to TVR’s, audience reach stats and extremely expensive creative solutions.  The measurability of the web has made us question our assumptions about traditional media.

And lastly? The post recession landscape will see the end of the TV advertising model as we’ve known it. ITV’s recent revenue declines aren’t part of a cyclical pattern – those pounds are never coming back. Add that to the 70 regional newspapers that have already closed in the UK this year and we’re looking at a different advertising landscape.

We all know about the challenges that the web provides for advertisers. Users find it intrusive and they have become conditioned to receive their content for free.

But more than that, we’ve bred an extremely savvy audience of consumers who are demanding to connect with brands in a more meaningful way. If traditional ad agencies still believe they can connect with their clients customers using the same techniques online as offline, then there’s some serious coffee to be smelt somewhere in Soho.