Project Description
Age UK Shropshire Telford and Wrekin produced a case study video with one of their most engaged corporate sponsors to win the support of other businesses
Corporate sponsor videos can be an absolute game changer for charities.
That’s because partnerships with businesses can be the key to unlocking regular donations. They often have an audience of staff and customers you can tap into, resources which can boost the services you provide, and sometimes they can even be a voice for change in the local community.
Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin knew all this already – because the Telford Hotel, Spa & Gold Resort had been fundraising for them, and hosting charity events at the Hotel, for years.
They wanted more sponsorships like that – so we worked with them to produce a corporate sponsor video highlighting how the business supports the charity, and why they do it.
What was the pre-production process?
Since we were already working with Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin on their 75th anniversary fundraising campaign, we already knew a lot of the key messaging for the charity.
One of the concepts to iron out for this video though was the audience. Did we want it to be a video which employees of the company watched, hoping they’d persuade their bosses to watch it? Or was it a pitch to company CEO’s directly about the benefits of partnering with Age UK?
In the end, we decided that option one worked better. It’s a warmer referral to work with the charity if it’s coming from a member of staff – plus the Telford Hotel started supporting the charity this way, so we knew it worked!
Then we looked at who would be best to tell the story, and we settled on three interviewees:
- Linda, who persuaded her manager to support Age UK
- Charmaine, who works at the Hotel and helps out at the coffee mornings they host for the charity
- Diane, who works at Age UK and oversees the partnership
This means that you have multiple people all telling their side of the story – much more interesting and persuasive than just one person being interviewed.
What was the filming process?
To gather the footage needed for the corporate sponsor video, we spent an afternoon up at the Hotel with Linda, Charmaine and Diane – along with Ange and Beth from Age UK’s Income Generation team.
I spent an hour scouting possible interview filming locations around the Hotel while Linda and Charmaine finished up working, as well as gathering from stunning b-roll of the building and grounds.
Once everyone was free, it was interview time. Based on the pre-production meeting I’d got a list of questions and responses I was hoping to get, but that’s just a backup.
Most of the time I make the interviews as conversational as possible, as it helps anyone feeling a bit nervous to relax and come across much more naturally on camera.
This was the case here, as no-one I was filming had previous camera experience – but I think you’ll agree after watching the video, you wouldn’t be able to tell!
What was the editing process?
After putting all of the awesome interviews into my editing software, and pulled out the key quotes which told the story of the corporate sponsorship. The next step feels like a jigsaw puzzle – putting the pieces together until they fit into an engaging and flowing narrative.
I also worked with Age UK to gather photos of the sock appeals and coffee mornings they were talking about in the video. I improved the colours of these phone images, and added transitions to make their appearance in the video super smooth.
This video was produced for online use, so I subtitled the video and provided a thumbnail so it was really sleek on their website, and also accessible for anyone with hearing impairments.
I also produced a version of the corporate sponsor video with the subtitles burned in in their branding, as the video would be played at their campaign launch event – but it wouldn’t have the sound on as it’d be on a loop in the background.
I’m really happy with how this turned out – but the best feedback I got was when Charmaine (who I’d interviewed from the Hotel) came up to me at the campaign launch event and said both she and everyone at the Hotel loved it! When the people involved think it’s great, that’s the best feedback you could hope to receive.
If you’re looking for fundraising videos for your charities to partner with more corporates, boost individual giving, or even improve your legacy fundraising, then get in touch for a free video marketing review.
