MOS is the new rule for B2B videos
By Randy Mitchell
In the early days of filmmaking, an acronym was born that has come to represent the new standard for making B2B videos.
Hollywood legend claims that a prominent German director wanted to shoot certain scenes without any audio. He kept barking out, “Mit out sound!” to his puzzled crew. The frustrated camera assistant struggled to translate the command, until he finally gave in and wrote the abbreviation “MOS” on the slate. The cameras rolled without sound, and the term has become part of the production vocabulary ever since.
MOS has also come to define the most common video viewing experience. Today, up to 92% of social media videos are played with no sound, according to Hootsuite.
Consider the ramifications of that finding. It means only 8% of viewers are getting the message if your B2B video relies on a voiceover to tell the story.
If you’re speechless right now, you’re not alone. But this movement was inevitable, particularly when you consider today’s business environments. Many people watch B2B videos at their desk or in open offices, where common courtesy demands silent viewing. Even when they’re working remotely, over 75% of people watch videos without any audio.
Despite the trend toward MOS, B2B videos are more popular than ever. According to Search Engine Journal, 81% of B2B decision makers would rather watch a story in video form than read one in content.
Which brings us to the daunting question: How can B2B marketers tell a highly complex story with no voiceover?
Some marketers have opted for closed captioning, which does help fill in the details. However, it can be difficult to read tiny text on a mobile phone.
The best answer isn’t tiny text; it’s a fresh approach. Just like “mobile first” revolutionized web design, “silent storytelling” is changing B2B videos. And it’s happening with a compelling combination of motion graphics, dynamic messages, and strong visuals.
MOS videos that generated a buzz
In recent years, Boomm has produced countless MOS videos for clients from multiple industries. The stories they tell are always quite unique, but they do have this in common: None of the videos requires a voiceover to convey their messages, but all convey the story visually to be sure the message is understood.
We have included a few examples so you can see for yourself.
“Shine”
Company: Intelligent Lighting Creations (ILC)
Storyline: ILC creates amazing experiences in lighting, so this video is part capabilities, part portfolio and all excitement
“Plate”
Company: Conagra Foodservice
Storyline: This social video is a preview of the coming year’s topics and trends for a growing social community
“Beasts”
Company: Boomm B2B Marketing
Storyline: This new business outreach video transformed the most feared B2B projects into beasts
These three videos are visually compelling, original and entertaining. They also tell you everything without a spoken word.
What happens if your video topic is even more complex? What’s the answer when you simply can’t get everything on screen?
Create a video for both worlds. For all those viewers who turn the sound off, put enough of a visual and text graphic story on screen to cover your main points. But keep it fun and compelling or it may seem like a glorified PowerPoint. For viewers who crank the sound up, include a voiceover that gives them the full experience and all the details.
One final thought: If you watched our videos with the sound up, you noticed they weren’t truly silent. One was hard rocking, another had a flowing piano score, and one even had African djembe drums. All three videos used distinct music to set the mood, because the soundtrack becomes even more powerful when there’s no voiceover.
Now for the most important point: These MOS videos combined for tens of thousands of views. The B2B audience watched and shared the videos, and the stories made a clear impact without a single word being spoken.
One final thought: If you want to use MOS videos to optimize your ROI, contact Boomm. When it comes to creating client success stories, we simply can’t stay silent.