What actually makes a brand video perform?

In the fast-moving corporate communications landscape, creative decisions are routinely driven by subjective opinions or fleeting social media trends. However, truly understanding what drives measurable audience engagement requires moving past guesswork and looking directly at performance data.

Our CEO, Steve Garvey, recently joined host NRG's Robert Edmonds on the Connected Minds podcast to discuss how independent data evidence is transforming how brands approach brand comms production.

The conversation explored a fundamental shift in the industry: why market-leading brands are increasingly treating creative decisions like business decisions.

During the discussion, the data revealed three specific, evidence-based performance rules that challenge standard marketing assumptions:

1. Production Values Matter.
‍There is a common belief that casual, smartphone-shot content is completely replacing polished visuals on professional feeds. The data says otherwise. Professionally produced video consistently generates more than double the engagement of standard brand content on LinkedIn. Investing in analytical rigour and high production value directly impacts how effectively your audience connects with the message.

2. Forget the "Short Video" Myth.
‍Brand teams are routinely told that social video must be short to perform. After testing this theory repeatedly, our data has found no evidence to support it whatsoever . Video duration does not dictate performance. Instead, the critical metric is capturing attention within the first three seconds . What happens after that depends entirely on whether your narrative framework is strong enough to hold someone. If the story is good, your audience will stay.

3. Lose the Brand Logo Intro.
‍Opening a corporate film with your company logo, an animated strapline, or a brand introduction is a reliable way to lose viewers. Across thousands of analysed videos, we have yet to find a single case where opening with a brand logo successfully held an audience. Lead with the story or the problem immediately, and save the branding for later.

‍Watch the full podcast episode here.