Analyzing a Plumbing Company Video: The Pros and Cons
The Check Out A Better Las Vegas Plumbing Video is found on You Tube, and is an example of a plumbing business video. The video is found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVKh_LaGVbQ The has some important segments that would enhance any plumbing web video, and some sections that I feel could warrant improvement.
The video begins with a shot of the company truck and the owner Monte coming out of the truck and greeting the public. He says to “Los Vegas residents,” that “We want your business.” The opening is personal and the shot of the truck is very attractive. The lettering on the truck is three toned with the company name shown in blue with black highlighting, the message “Better Service,” shown in red, and the subtext, “Commercial Residential, Construction…” shown in black. The phone number is emblazoned in blue with black highlighting.
The effectiveness of the opening view of the video is that it provides all the essential information about the company in the attractive emblazoned lettering of the plumbing truck. People also have more inherent trust in a company once they see that the company owns their own equipped trucks. The director then appears. While genuine I find his message slightly stilted. Other approaches to a company intro that I like have included members of a landscaping team conferencing in the morning, before hitting the hedges. The idea of seeing the workers in action has a taste of reality, which I believe reaches people quicker. This intro looks staged, and therefore might not have the impact a non-staged intro has. Not everyone will agree with me.
In the next scene Monte is searching for a slab leak with an electronic detector. The segment features shots of the equipment, and I believe that has appeal for viewers. Monte detects the leak, however, we do not hear the beep, beep, beep sound that the detector uses to pick up the leak. Sounds of the actual moment of detection would have made that segment more realistic.
In the next segment Monte is feeding a video camera into a sewer line to search for a blockage. Again, this is definitely footage that people like to look at. Seeing that a company has and is experienced with using sophisticated equipment tells the viewer that the company is up to date, and definitely helps to build trust. My one concern with this segment is that when Monte finds the leak and turns the monitor towards the camera, we really have trouble seeing any type of leak on the screen. Then a caption tells us “look at what we found,” We then see a hydro jet cleaner cleansing out a drain tube. We see the hydro jet cleaning out a sparkling new sewer line, but we don’t see any type of blockage that is being broken up, which makes the shot seem artificial. On the other hand, the fact that the company owns and uses a hydro jet, will foster trust in the viewer.
The final plumbing segment begins with a caption telling us this is a “water heater installation.” While we see a shot of the new water heater after installation, affixed to the wall with rope, we do not see a before and after shot juxtaposed, nor any footage of the actual installation. Maybe before and after shots are becoming trite, maybe not.
The video ends with Monte and his family standing in front of the truck and saying “Hey Las Vegas,” give us a call. Then the daughters giggle.
An obvious conclusion about this video is that the company making it decided to stage scenes rather than use raw footage of actual plumbing repair and installation. Monte was well groomed, wearing a new uniform had good eye contact and stage presence. As he strides out of the truck, he looks like a Hollywood actor, who knows how to turn a simple action into a work of art.
The question is whether turning a business video into a Hollywood production will increase its effectiveness or to a certain extent take away from it. Or put another way, even if you want to stage a business video and create a high quality visual appearance, how much genuine down to earth, believable footage should you add back in. We can see that Monte knows how to use a leak detector and a video inspection camera, but does he know how to use a plumbing wrench? The video has some down to earth visual material of the plumber at work, the question is whether a bit more would have been useful or not.
The video includes certain types of visual material, which are going to enhance any plumbing video. Shots of the owner or shots of the co-owners and workers is known to help build trust. Shots of the family, might help build trust as it shows us the plumber is a solid family man. Shots of equipment the company owns and uses in the act of fixing common plumbing problems, definitely build trust. Shots of a company truck helps build trust, as it means they have radio dispatched plumbing truck(s) to provide service. And that’s something we expect in all modern plumbing companies.
I believe that this video’s selection of equipment that the plumber is using is a bit top heavy. The video shows him using the two most sophisticated pieces of plumbing equipment there are, and also implies that he can install a water heater, one of the standard plumbing installations. But we still don’t know if he can use a wrench or fit a pipe. On the other hand the viewer is lead to conclude that a plumber who can use the most complex equipment can do anything. And this approach successfully allows the video to be compact. Personally, I believe at least one shot of the plumber using a wrench while fixing a common plumbing problem would have added believability.
