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Anheuser Busch, according to this article in Ad Age, is getting into the short form content business– IE, web videos, virals, videos, etc.

Those of us who’ve been in video a long time have learned that today’s client can be tomorrow’s competitor. Many major corporations created in-house production companies as an economic move once they were producing high volumes of av communications.

But that was a reaction to cost, and much of the creative element– scripts, direction– was still sourced from the outside.

The web is changing that. The sheer volume of opportunity– combined with a mass marketing of video production tools– means the experienced video or multimedia producer is now competing with Ad Agencies, design firms, in-house departments, PR firms, and the marketing director’s cousin who has a camcorder.

The A-B production company apparently will specialize in short sit-coms
and humor pieces. That’s what is selling on the web, so that’s what
they’re going after.

They–and everyone else. If it’s funny it
must be good, must move product, and  must be worth investing millions
in to be able to self-produce. Not always.

Corporations have done their own
printing, training videos, and PowerPoints for decades. But this new approach is
like taking brand identity or image advertising in-house. In the short
term, it works. But eventually inside politics wins over outside
objectivity– and out goes the advertising to someone who can provide
more of a world view. What goes around….

Which isn’t to say
this move by Busch won’t work. A little known fact is that A-B has
owned and operated a major meeting production company– Busch Creative,
since the 1980′s. They’re successful, independent, and know how to move
audiences.

But this may be the exception that proves the rule.
When new people enter the production realm, they often define
themselves via the equipment, not the content, The first questions one
producer asks another is, "What cameras do you use? Mac or PC? Avid or
FInal Cut?"

Those aren’t the right questions. The right questions involve intent, audience, and result. Saving money on production costs won’t make those questions go away.

This the time for you– the corporate or institutional marketer– to stake your claim– before the noise is SO loud that you can’t make a dent in the webscape.

The rush is so complete that the video hosting sites– like Google Video, YouTube, and of course iTunes, have rapidly gone from being just outposts of silly videos to being extensions of the major networks. Which is of course, a shame for the independents. In fact, MediaPost reports that some execs are predicting that the web will be primarily network-produced content within three years. Let’s hope not.

But rather than repurposing, why don’t you b-to-b corporates create sponsored or branded programming? No one says it has to be slick, or silly. You’re not necessarily trying to gain millions of page views. Just the right people at the right time.

IDEAS:

• A Video Newsletter
• A "brought to you by" sponsored PBS-style socially conscious mini-documentary aligned with your mission
• A white paper video "how-to" that relates to your business- how to spec this, or how to analyze that. How certain types of products (which you happen to sell) can improve such and such a process and increase productivity.

The buzz IS on. Join in! Let us write a free proposal and outline some ideas for you.