What is a brand film?
The term brand film gets used a lot in marketing conversations, sometimes interchangeably with corporate video, promo film or brand content, in ways that can obscure what it actually means and why it matters. Let’s try to be precise about it, because the distinction has real implications for how you brief it, how you produce it, and what it can achieve.
Brand film vs corporate video, what's the difference?
A corporate video explains what your organisation does. A brand film communicates who your organisation is.
That distinction matters more than it might sound. A corporate video is primarily a communication task. It needs to convey information clearly and efficiently. A brand film is primarily a creative task. It needs to create an emotional impression, build trust, and answer the question why should I work with these people? before a viewer has consciously decided to ask it.
The two formats often overlap. But when a client comes to us saying they want something that “feels different” from a standard corporate video, something that captures their values, their culture, their reason for existing, that’s a brand film brief.
When is a brand film the right investment?
A brand film tends to be the right choice when you’re trying to build trust with an audience that doesn’t know you yet, or rebuild trust with an audience whose perception of you needs to shift.
Our brand film for Farrer & Co, one of the UK’s oldest and most distinguished law firms, is a good example. Farrer & Co didn’t need to explain what a law firm does. They needed to communicate who they are, their values, their culture, the quality of their thinking, to clients and potential recruits who might otherwise see them as just another prestigious name on a door. That’s a brand film brief, not a corporate video brief.
Similarly, our work with Houzz on their employer brand film wasn’t about explaining the platform. It was about communicating what it feels like to work there, the people, the energy, the culture, in a way that would attract the right candidates and make existing employees proud. Employer brand films are one of the most commercially valuable forms of brand film, particularly for organisations competing for talent in specialist sectors.
What makes a brand film work?
The best brand films share a few qualities regardless of sector or budget:
They show rather than tell. A brand film that tells you a company is “innovative” or “people-focused” is less convincing than one that demonstrates it through the people you meet and the stories you hear. Our Farnborough Airport film worked because it showed the human side of the airport, the faces behind the scenes, rather than listing its activities.
They have a genuine point of view. The most memorable brand films take a position. They don’t try to appeal to everyone. They say: this is what we believe, this is how we work, this is what we’re for, and if that resonates with you, we’d love to work together.
They respect the viewer’s intelligence. Corporate communications has a long history of saying too much, too quickly, with too little trust in the audience. Brand films that work tend to do the opposite, they leave space, they trust emotion over information, they know when to stop.
How long should a brand film be?
Typically between 90 seconds and three minutes for a hero version. Long enough to develop a genuine emotional arc, short enough to hold attention. Most brand film productions also deliver shorter social cuts from the same shoot: 60-second versions for LinkedIn, 30-second cuts for paid social, vertical edits for Instagram and TikTok.
Planning for the full hierarchy of deliverables from the outset, rather than trying to cut a social version from footage that wasn’t shot with social in mind, is one of the most cost-effective things you can do at the brief stage.
Brand films for professional services
Professional services organisations, law firms, accountancies, consultancies, financial services companies, represent one of the strongest use cases for brand film production. In sectors where the product is essentially invisible, where trust is everything and differentiation is genuinely difficult, a well-made brand film can do more commercial work than almost any other marketing investment.
We have experience producing brand films for professional services clients including Farrer & Co and Gerald Edelman, and we understand the specific requirements of this sector. The need for discretion, the importance of client confidentiality, the care required around regulated communications.
Find out more about our corporate video production services in London.
Talk to us about your brand film
If you’re thinking about a brand film for your organisation, whether you’re a corporate brand, a professional services firm, a charity or a healthcare organisation, we’d love to talk through your brief.