One corporate film can serve your website, sales team, trade shows, recruitment, investor relations and social media for a year or more, as long as you plan the versions at the start. Each place needs a different cut: a silent 10- to 20-second loop for the homepage, the full film for the About page, under a minute for sales presentations, a silent loop for an exhibition stand, one to two minutes for recruitment, and vertical or square shorts for social media.
A brand film often takes a month or two from the first meeting, through gathering material and editing, to internal approval. Once it's done, it usually goes up on YouTube, sits on one page of the website, and that's the end of it. Yet the same material, with its uses thought through from the start, can keep working for a year across sales, trade shows, recruitment and social media. Below are the places a corporate video is most often used, with the length and version that suits each.
Your website
- Homepage background video: 10 to 20 seconds, no sound, looping seamlessly, and understandable without any text. Keep the file light so it doesn't slow the page down.
- About page: the full brand film, one and a half to three minutes.
- Product or service pages: the section of the main film relevant to that page; 30 to 60 seconds is enough.
Sales and proposals
In a client meeting, video works well at the start or end of the presentation. Meeting time is limited, so keep the presentation version under a minute and focus on what you can do for the client. For clients in different industries, you can prepare different openings. See videos for sales presentations.
Trade shows and events
An exhibition hall is noisy, visitors are passing by, and the video plays on repeat. That calls for another version: understandable without sound, a key point every ten seconds or so, large text, and able to loop. See a looping video for a trade show booth; for the big screen at an event, see LED wall video sizes and specifications.
Recruitment
Job applicants aren't looking for how big the company is. They want to see the people who work there, the working environment and the chances to grow. Take the shots of people and daily work from the brand film material and cut a one- to two-minute recruitment version for your careers page, job sites and recruitment fairs. It usually does more than the main film on its own.
Annual reports, ESG and investors
Annual reports, sustainability report briefings, AGMs and investor presentations call for a measured version with clear information, and figures shown as charts. See ESG and sustainability report videos.
Social media
LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Shorts need vertical or square clips, each making one point, always with subtitles. One main film can be broken into five to ten shorts and released over several months. See one video, ten shorts.
List the uses when you commission
If you plan these versions together when you commission the film, how footage is shot, how shots are framed and where subtitles sit can all be considered at once. That is far simpler than adding versions one by one afterwards. In your brief, include a table covering:
- Each use (website, sales, trade shows, recruitment, social media and so on)
- The length and aspect ratio for each use (landscape, vertical, square)
- Whether it needs sound, whether it needs subtitles, and in which languages
- The planned launch date
For writing the brief, see the corporate video brief template; for planning several sizes, see videos in multiple aspect ratios. If the film itself is still being planned, start with what a brand film should say. Our corporate video services are set out under corporate video production.
Frequently asked questions
Our brand film is two or three years old. Can it be re-cut into new versions?
It's often possible. As long as the original footage still exists, it can be re-cut to new lengths or versions, with new shots and title cards added. If only the finished MP4 remains, there is less room for change. See can an old video be re-edited.
Can we use the brand film as the homepage background video?
We suggest cutting a separate version. A homepage background video has no sound, has to loop and needs a light file, which is a different job from the main film.
Should we make an English or other language version for overseas clients?
If you have overseas clients or exhibitions, plan it from the start. The same message often takes more space in English than in Chinese, so title cards need room to spare. See multilingual versions of a corporate video.
