Mission8’s Surprising Success

Mission 8’s promotional video was created with one goal in mind. Help them achieve $20,000 in sales. 

Instead, they generated $500,000. That’s half a million dollars from just one video!

This kind of success is definitely uncommon, but goes to show how powerful video production can be. 

Want to copy their success?

Let’s break down their down video into it’s raw elements, so you can decide what to apply to your own promotional video.

Concept Creation

The first thing that led to Mission8’s successful promotional video was to create an original concept. 

They came up with something totally unique that had never been attempted in their industry. This was the foundation for its success. 

At UpMedia, the one thing we insist on before we start your promotional video, is to spend quality time on concept creation. 

I learned this from my days of working in TV and film production. The truth is, if you don’t have a strong concept, you don’t have a successful show to air. 

The same applies to your promotional video. 

Don’t attempt to do the same thing everyone else is doing. Successful marketing requires innovation. 

But how can you make innovation less challenging, and more achievable? 

It starts with having great reference material. Reference is the great hack to creating good ideas.

If you have other great ideas in front of you, then you have a foundation to begin with. A head start.

Truthfully, all great ideas were spawned from previous great ideas. Therefore, nothing in essence is original. 

“If you see someone do something you like, take it. They got it from someone else.” – Micheal Cane

So start with reference. 

Combine and collage many great ideas into one. Then add your own original input to the mix. 

Soon, you will end up with something unique, powerful, and original!

Just like Mission8.

Theme

Want an even simpler approach to creating your concept? Start by choosing a Theme.

A theme, is a subject or idea that recurs throughout your promotional video. 

Mission8’s theme was simple. Two men dressed in black that look somewhat like gangsters doing a private deal. Except instead of the usual gangster-related items (drugs, weapons, money, etc.) it was a shower head! 

That was their concept. It’s actually pretty simple. 

Getting back to your brand, where can you find other popular themes? What would be a fun theme to use in your promotional video?

Comedy In Your Promotional Video

Another thing that Mission8’s promotional video did to succeed was use comedy. 

If your video can make people laugh, your video will succeed. 

There are many types of comedy. The type they used is called Satire.

Satire

Satire is different from other forms of humour, such as silliness (which includes people acting stupid or ridiculous), which just isn’t as classy. 

You want to make people laugh, but not always at the expense of your dignity. 

Satire can be funny, and still be classy. 

You can accomplish satire with the use of irony, or exaggeration. 

Here’s a brilliant quote on satire:

“Satire is always a critique of some form of human behaviour, vice, or folly, with the intent of persuading the audience to view it disdainfully and thereby encourage a degree of social change.” – LeBoeuf, Megan, “The Power of Ridicule: An Analysis of Satire” (2007). Senior Honors Projects. Paper 63.

Satire is a powerful form of communication. 

If you incorporate it into your promotional video, you’ll likely get massive attention, and move closer to the results you’re hoping for. And who knows, you may even go viral. 

Cinematic Production Quality 

The third thing that Mission8’s promotional video used to succeed was great cinematic quality.

It does play a huge role in the success of your vide. Especially if you combine it with a great concept! 

This is what Mission8 has done. Their concept is great, and the production value is very high. 

It’s worth mentioning that if you want to attract an audience of higher net worth, you definitely need a video with cinematic quality.

Now, you don’t need a Game Of Thrones budget, or anything like that to achieve high quality video. 

In fact, there are just four ingredients you need in order to have a promotional video that is considered high quality. Let’s look at those in detail.

HD Cameras & Lenses

High Definition cameras and lenses will give your video an amazing look. 

This means, you can’t shoot on your smartphone, as amazing as the camera might be!

Location

Where you shoot your video matters. Determining this ties in closely with your concept, but the more unique or interesting your location is, the better quality your video will achieve. 

Actors 

Consider investing in actors. Mission8 only used two, so it wasn’t a huge cast. And neither of them gave Oscar level performances. However, it was still well worth the investment for the ROI. 

Lighting

How you light a scene determines how cinematic your promotional video will look. Light can draw attention in incredible ways. Investing in a bit of extra light will boost your production quality quite a lot. 

These four elements require expertise, which is why you need a strong film team, and it does take budget up front. 

But look at the results they got! Is half a million dollars a good ROI? You bet!

Great Storytelling Structure

The final winning component of this great promotional video is it’s storytelling. 

The story is different from the concept. The concept is the overall theme. The story is what happens in the beginning, middle and end. 

Make sure story structure is clear and appealing, and you’ll have a winner!

There are four main ingredients to a great story structure.

The Hero