Verizon’s process for working with an in-house video studio

Steve Van Dinter, senior director of communications at Verizon, is always mindful of what he asks of his organization’s in-house video production studio. Van Dinter’s role supporting communication with Verizon’s retail teams means that he’s competing with the rest of the company’s priorities for employee video production.

“It all starts with being respectful of their time,” Van Dinter told Ragan. “It’s understanding what their role is within the organization and understanding what your role is. The idea is seeing that shared interest and that shared benefit for both.”

Communicators maintain a shared tracker of every project in progress, so a new video doesn’t drop the same day that an important message from leadership goes out. In addition, studio requests from business units across Verizon need a sponsor from the Verizon Leadership Council who endorses the message within the produced piece.

“We have that initial discussion with a producer in the studio to understand if this is the right approach,” Van Dinter said. “Sometimes we might say we want to do a live webcast, and they might say a pre-taped video makes sense. You can package it up in five minutes and send it out. It’s going to be fewer resources on our side and your side.”

Here’s how Van Dinter plans a project and keeps the studio in his corner.

1. Start with the brief for the studio.

Van Dinter said that Verizon’s studio intake uses a standard online brief.

“What is the intent of the communication?” he said. “Why is video the right method? And what are we looking for in terms of KPIs?”

Four things need to be settled before a request goes to the studio:

• Name the outcome. Is the video meant to build awareness or announce a product? Is it set to introduce a new leader? Or will it prepare internal teams for news before it goes public?
• Pick the format. Is it a leader talking straight to camera? Is B-roll needed? Is it a training video or a shoot that captures other assets?
• Plan the distribution. At Verizon, employee-facing messages go on VZ Tube, Verizon’s internal video platform. They’re also promoted by email. Retail videos go on an employee social platform.

“We don’t often go in to say we want 1,000 people to click on it,” Van Dinter said. “It might be that this is an enterprise-wide message, and we want as many V Teamers (Verizon employees) as possible to get it. So we’re saying we want a video, it needs to be sharp, it’s going to have a leader and it’s got to have a nice hook.”

2. Work out the timeline with the studio crew.

Van Dinter said a major key to getting on the same page with an internal video production crew is knowing when you do and don’t have flexibility for deadlines. He added that when a video production request doesn’t have a hard deadline, he works around the studio’s schedule.

“In the moment where you don’t have flexibility, they will understand, because you’ve given them the grace before,” he said. “They’ll know that time that you’re serious. If every time you come it’s a last-minute request, they’ll start to think maybe you didn’t plan. They’ll feel like they are always kind of saving you versus being there as a team together.”

3. Report back to the studio once the video runs.

The employee social platform’s analytics show Van Dinter which levels of the organization watched a video, how much of it they watched, where they dropped off and whether they shared or commented on it. He then runs those reports through an AI tool to see how a video stacks up against others. Van Dinter said that when the studio puts in the work on a piece, he wants them to see when it pays off.

“I try not to burden them with requests,” he told Ragan. “But when we do, we absolutely let them know if it went above and beyond.”

Van Dinter also credits the crew during filming, especially when an executive is in the room to hear it.

“They really put their mark on the video, or they suggested something that’s a great addition to what we’re doing,” he said. “Showing them as a partner in it, rather than just people who are there to support the process, goes a long way.”

Sean Devlin is the senior internal communications editor at Ragan. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.