Want to be known for excellent customer service? Nothing beats showing that your staff personally share the ethos of your brand. Because everyone knows that there is a big difference between someone who genuinely cares and someone who is forced to care during work hours.
Also, try to show rather than tell. People tend to trust their eyes (or, more specifically, their own interpretation of what they see) over what you tell them.
Take this TV commercial for Southern Phone for example. We could have promoted their award-winning customer service in many ways. But I chose to create a story line that goes straight to the heart of the matter: the passion and commitment of the individual staff member. This gave us a platform to communicate a great number of different aspects:
We could get philosophical and talk about the inner life of the staff member – what her thoughts and motivations are. The focus point is the invaluable “why” (for another example of how to do this, check out the recruitment video for Philips Health Care).
Following the staff member outside of the office let us underline that Southern Phone’s customer service team is based in Australia. It also provided the perfect match for the brand’s signature song “Great Southern Land” and hinted at their connection to local communities (the surf lifesaving club scenes).
Showing the staff member using Southern Phone services herself put her squarely in the shoes of the consumer. It also negated the need to talk about the fact that Southern Phone offer Internet as well as mobile services, and that broadband speeds are fast and reliable (the video call scene).
Points like these become all the stronger when they’re something that the viewer infers rather than something that the viewer is explicitly told.
Responding to an open brief, I delivered the concept, story line and scriptwriting. The video was shot on location, and, yes, the girl we cast actually does work at Southern Phone’s customer service.
- Client Southern Phone
- Industry Telecommunications
- Media TVC