[VIDEO] Don’t Miss The Unique Branding Opportunity of Video Call Backgrounds

Transcript:

Hi, Dave here from Arc Intermedia and welcome back to, what am I working on today.

Today’s backdrop is Aruba. Soft sand. Warm ocean.

So this morning I drove to North Jersey to meet with our client, Sharp Electronics at their US headquarters. As I walked in the lobby I was met with a large red Sharp logo prominently displayed, the walls and furniture were all in company colors, their business creed etched in metal, there are shelves of awards and Sharp products displayed. I clearly was in the right place! Our contact Stephanie gave us a quick tour of the workspaces where we saw plenty of branded items and photos of sharp employees engaged in charity events. She then led us into the conference room that had a very large sharp TV mounted on the wall featuring the Sharp logo on the screen. The room had a cool decor with the New York Giants and New York Jets football helmets and a replica of MetLife Stadium that added some localized personality. I even got these oven mitts and a drinking glass. Sharp definitely knows branding.

We met with the marketing team, as well as Peter, the Sr VP of sales and marketing, who gave us a great tour of a kitchen showroom they recently built with all their latest appliances. We watched Alexa turn on ovens, open microwave drawers, and put ESPN on a Sharp TV. Our meeting went really well as we talked through digital strategies that we may employ in 2025 to help sell these dynamic products. Great people at Sharp and we’re super excited to help drive revenue.

On the drive home I began to think about how infrequent in a post COVID world that any of us meet at a company’s headquarters. I would bet that over 90% of all meetings today are video conferences. So think about it, this little video window has become our company lobby, our company conference room, and our company office. This is the world our clients and partners most frequently see us in. So I don’t think it’s overstatement to say that this little video window has become a very important branding opportunity for all of us.

I am surprised by how most people still show a cluttered workspace or an odd angle of a room in their house. And we’ve all used the blurred background which is super convenient but provides no branding, no visual interest, and instantly confirms that you don’t want us to see what’s behind you.

Here’s something for marketing and communications companies to ponder: if you’re unwilling to champion your own brand in this very simple way, why should customers truly believe that you’ll do everything to champion theirs? Hmm. I should have gotten Matthew McConaughey to do that line.

I will give a shout out to Michelle at Tag Strategies, a branding company in Philly; she has her logo physically mounted on the wall behind her which is visible in every video call. Nice job! And then there’s our client, ImageFIRST out in King of Prussia, whose entire staff uses a compliant branded background. Go team! And lastly, Samaritan over in South Jersey – they’ve not only crafted a branded background, they’ve also tastefully added the graphic (insert graphic) for their best place to work award that they recently won. That’s next level.

Here at Arc we’ve developed a simple template in PowerPoint, yes I can hear all the creative folks cringing, but this enabled us to create a standard branded template that anyone on our team can then add their own personality. There’s the basic Arc blue background, we have abstract art made by AI – we’ve got hundreds of these, the vacation pic which is always a hit, or they show off something topical or of personal interest, like a 40 year old movie that doesn’t seem so fictional anymore. We have gotten so many compliments about our video backgrounds and it’s doing exactly as I had hoped – it visually positions us a cohesion and creative team. It sparks fun conversation about, what’s that in your background. It’s been an icebreaker. As a marketing company it shows that we pay attention to details and every branding opportunity while reinforcing our own.

So here’s some direction on branded backgrounds: If you want to show off your actual “neat and organized” work environment, position yourself like the expert consults you see on TV news and sports shows. Add your physical logo in an appealing way, or add a shelf with branded items, awards, products or something that communicates your brand value and expertise. Show us you’re and expert what brand you rep!

If your workspace does allow for this or you work in multiple locations, a graphical background solves every scenario, even when working in an Italian cafe. Establish a brand compliant template and please add visual interest. Give us something to look at – besides your smiling face, of course!

While you may think this is trivial, it won’t feel that way when a customer asks why you’re not doing it. I think it’s so important that video background graphics should be included in your company’s brand standards manual.

To that end, here’s some final guidance:

• Don’t use video or anything that moves – it’s distracting and may be hard to compete with
• Don’t include people, especially not your Wednesday night bowling team – that’s just weird
• Don’t turn this into a giant advertisement – this isn’t a Black Friday sale
• And sorry, there will be points deducted for stock office photos. Just be real.

So do better – champion your own brand in this simple way, give your audience something interesting to look at, and mix it up from time to time. I look forward to seeing what you’ve got!