CIO on Brand Content: 'Show Us Use Cases'
In a recent TechCrunch Enterprise Podcast episode, CIO panelist Dana Li articulated what enterprise leaders want from brand content. Li stated, “We’re over the buzzwords. Show us use cases, direct impact, and the thinking behind your process. If your video speaks our language, we’ll share it internally.”
- CIOs and IT leaders stay current by reading publications such as CIO Dive and CloudTech, and by relying on insights from technology research firms like Gartner. - A creative director's portfolio should showcase leadership and strategy, not just final designs; this includes detailing your role in managing the team, the project's objectives, and the results, with credits to the team members involved. - The "StoryBrand" framework, developed by Donald Miller, is a popular narrative structure that positions the customer as the hero and the brand as the guide, a technique used to clarify messaging in customer testimonials and case studies. - In AI-assisted video workflows, a common practice is to move from text-to-image generation (using tools like Midjourney) and then to image-to-video (using tools like Runway or Kling) to maintain greater creative control over character and scene consistency. - Documentary-style brand storytelling is an effective way to communicate brand values indirectly; for example, Volvo's "Human Made Stories" campaign featured short films about human innovation, aligning the brand with that theme. - Repurposing long-form video into shorter clips for social media can significantly increase the lifespan and reach of the content; repurposed snippets can boost engagement by up to 60% compared to the original long-form post. - Award-winning B2B video campaigns often focus on narrative and emotional connection. For instance, ServiceNow won a 2025 Webby Award for its "Alt Shift Life" brand film, produced by Tribeca Studios, which uses a documentary-style approach to tell a compelling story. - The career path to a creative director in the tech industry typically requires progressing through roles like graphic designer, senior designer, and art director over a period of 5-10 years to build a foundation in creative execution and project leadership.
