Explainer, brand film, product demo, social short, testimonial, culture, ad — a field guide to picking the right format for the job.
Asking for 'a video' is like asking for 'a building' — the format does a specific job, and the wrong one makes even a beautiful edit underperform. Here are the seven we reach for most, and when each one earns its place.
1. The explainer makes a complex product obvious in under 90 seconds. 2. The brand film sells a feeling, not a feature. 3. The product demo shows the thing working. 4. The social short is built for the feed, vertical and captioned. 5. The testimonial lets a customer do the persuading. 6. The culture video recruits and aligns. 7. The performance ad is tested and iterated for conversion.
The trick is sequencing. A brand film sets the tone; explainers and demos do the convincing; social shorts and ads carry it to the feed. One shoot, planned well, can feed several of these at once — which is exactly how you make video affordable.