From the course: Script Writing for Nonfiction Video

Writing within an existing brand architecture

From the course: Script Writing for Nonfiction Video

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Writing within an existing brand architecture

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- Let's talk about writing within an existing brand framework because I know that a lot of you are working within some kind of corporate or nonprofit structure, where you have other rules and guidelines you have to work within for your scripts. There are a couple of things you're going to need to keep in mind when you're writing within a brand framework. The first is what's called brand voice. So you want to be sure that your video doesn't suddenly come out of left field stylistically with the kind of brand voice that your organization always has. Brand strategy is another area you're going to have to think about. How does your video tie in with the overarching goals for the company or for the product or for the service line? And make sure that your script is tied into those. So, for example, recently I did a project where we had to translate it into six or seven different languages because that was part of the strategy of the organization, was being more accessible to people from different countries. So I had to be thinking about that as I was writing it to make sure it wasn't too cumbersome a project, too cumbersome language because it was going to have to have so many different translated versions. So that's something you're going to have to keep in mind when you're thinking about brand strategy. When you're thinking about a communications plan, you're probably going to be aware that it's underneath a much broader marketing plan that may have some marketing goals that you also need to meet with this production. So make sure you ask those questions up front. It's going to make it a much more successful script. Finally, you want to think about existing media because if you're working within a large branded institution there probably are images, content, graphics that you're going to need to incorporate into this script, and so knowing what they are in advance, maybe even getting a little glimpse of them, might be really helpful to your script writing project. Now there are a couple of other things you're going to have to think about when working within brand architecture. You want to think about how the audience thinks about this brand. So they may have a predisposition to the subject, but they also might have a predisposition about your brand, and so you might be having to fight that or go along with it if it's positive versus negative. And so thinking about that as you write will be very helpful. The other thing that I like to do is think about the budget, the timeframe for the project. All of those things fit into my thinking, and particularly in branded institutions with branded content, I'm sure you're going to have a timeframe and a budget that you have to stick to. The final thing you'll probably have to think about is brand rules. When you're working within brand rules, you're also going to have to think about a number of things that will affect your script writing. For example, I work with a lot of hospitals, and so we have HIPAA rules that we have to follow about showing patients, so I'm not going to script a bunch of shots that I can't use in the video later. Or, for example, there might be some keywords that you need to use that relate to a particular product or service, or words you have to avoid, or there might be a particular brand bible where you have to use certain kinds of logos or certain kind of formats, and so you want to know all of that in advance for your script writing so you don't write yourself into a bit of a black hole. So all of these things are things you need to keep in mind if you're someone who needs to write within a brand framework.

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