In his 2019 SIPAward-winning entry for Best Use of Video in Marketing, Behr’s Verlag CEO Arno Langbehn wrote that it was a coincidence that as he played the accordion at the port of Hamburg—yes, really—and then started talking up their Annual Conference QM!, a cargo ship moved across the background named “RELIABLE.”
Knowing how thorough and clever Langbehn is, I wonder that he didn’t set up that ship-shape scenario as well. But I will take him at his words and give him credit for playing off that bit of kismet: “This was a perfect match for the content of our seminar. After all, our customers have to install a reliable quality management system in their company. This coincidence was then integrated into the texts of the social media groups.”
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One of the annual pleasures of seeing SIPAwards entries come in is looking out for the creative marketing videos done by Langbehn each year. He wrote in a P.S. for this entry that “the accordion was borrowed from an employee’s mother. I had never played the accordion before. But it is the right instrument for the harbor and for sailors’ songs.” Watch the video here.
Here are some reasons that the Behr’s Verlag annual event drew 55% more registrations with the video marketing:
Take advantage of your location. In 2018 the Annual Conference QM! took place in Hamburg for the first time. “In order to give the participants an extra benefit in addition to the specialist lectures, an external appointment was made at the food import office with customs inspection in the port of Hamburg (Germany’s largest port),” Langbehn wrote. So a marketing video was created at the port of Hamburg to match this topic.
If you have something good, get it out there. In order to increase the attention of potential participants, the marketing video was both added to advertising emails and also posted on their homepage to raise the awareness. In addition it was used in social media groups such as Xing (German LinkedIn equivalent).
Create a winning culture. Langbehn was quick to give credit to his team. “This success is due to all employees involved in conception, production and marketing of the videos and marketing. Here in particular to Deniz Dag from Behr’s Akademie for his ideas and his commitment to this project. We would not have achieved this extraordinary success without him.”
Have a good idea? Go all in! The marketing video starts with music and not just any music but “La Paloma,” a sailor’s song known from the film Große Freiheit Nr. 7 produced in Hamburg. It has been covered several times, among others, by Elvis Presley as “No More” in Blue Hawaii. At the end another well-known sailor song from the film plays: “Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins.” Covered among others, by Marlene Dietrich as “I May Never Go Home Any More” in Witness for the Prosecution.
Now that I have your attention… The music is followed by the benefits for which reasons the customers should attend this conference. At the end there is background music with the main contents faded in.
Videos work. The click rate of the video in the email was 68% above the click rate with text only. In the social media group this marketing video had twice as many views as the group has members. A personalized video was also sent to former participants at the end of the ad campaign.
Content remains king. Langbehn’s accoutrements never overwhelm the message. He’s a fairly serious guy and despite holding the accordion, his marketing message for the importance of this event comes through. “The quality manager is responsible for the safety of products produced in the company,” he wrote. Mistakes in quality management can lead to “considerable damage of the company and the personal liability of the quality manager. In order to protect the quality manager against these dangers he always receives the necessary information and methods at the Annual Conference QM!”
