Marketing

2014 B2B Oscars: Choose the Best Marketing Videos of the Year

February 24, 2014

Video — it’s the hottest tool in your marketing arsenal. And with more and more companies flocking to video as a way to deliver more engaging messaging, it’s clear that the best marketers are rising to the challenge, finding even more creative and effective ways to connect with viewers and stand out from the pack.
Following the success of last year’s B2B Oscars, we’re once again celebrating the cream of the B2B video marketing crop, nominating 15 of the year’s best videos across five categories, including:

  • Best Viral Video
  • Best Explainer Video
  • Best Culture Video
  • Best Customer Success Video (new category)
  • Best Call to Action (new category)

The best part? Why wait to see what’s inside a stupid envelope when you can be the judge?

It’s up to you to determine who goes home with a B2B Oscar in each category, so cast your votes below. Voting ends on Sunday night, so come back on Monday, March 3rd when we’ll be announcing the official results!
What companies are at the forefront of utilizing videos for better brand awareness, lead generation, and overall reach? You decide. Cast your votes, let us know which incredible B2B videos should have made the list, and be sure to get others involved by sharing your call!

Best Viral Video

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were an easy-to-follow formula for creating a wildly successful viral video? While a true surefire recipe may not exist, you can learn a lot from those companies who have managed to capture lightning in a bottle. As this year’s nominees show, the more your content can connect with viewers on a basic emotional level — with humor, by being unexpected, or by unabashedly tugging at their heartstrings — the greater your chance of hitting it out of the park with a video that just begs to be shared.
Which of this year’s three nominees created the best viral B2B video? Cast your vote below!
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Share Your VoteShare your vote for Best Viral Video on Twitter

Tweet your vote for Intel
Tweet your vote for Brand24
Tweet your vote for GE

Best Explainer Video

In a world where we all seem to have less time and more distractions, it’s become increasingly important for B2B software companies with complex solutions to quickly (and clearly) communicate their purpose and value to potential buyers. To do that, many businesses have turned to explainer videos — brief clips (typically 60-to-90 seconds) that use graphics, illustrations, charts, or other visual imagery to tell viewers what exactly the company does and why they should care.
According to Forrester Research, these brief videos can be worth the same as 1.8 million words (or, the equivalent of 3,600 typical web pages). Which B2B business made the most of their 60-90 seconds of fame this year? Check out the nominees below.
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Share Your Vote

Share Your Vote for Best Explainer Video on Twitter

Tweet your vote for Lattice Engines
Tweet your vote for Signpost
Tweet your vote for Moz

Best Culture Video

There’s no question that company culture is critical to attracting and retaining the type of game-changing talent that can help your business scale. Outside of actually bringing top candidates into your office to give them a sense of your values and environment, however, culture can be a difficult thing to convey. Unless, of course, you manage to create a powerful video that delivers an engaging, day-in-the-life perspective to prospective employees.
Each of the three videos below do an excellent job of showing people what makes their companies unique and why others would be lucky to work there. Which one is the best? That’s up to you to decide.
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Share Your Vote

 

Share Your Vote for Best Culture Video on Twitter

Tweet your vote for Wistia
Tweet your vote for Box
Tweet your vote for Balihoo

Best Customer Success Story Video

Just as potential employees want to know why they should come work for your business, potential customers want to know why they should give you their money. While traditional customer testimonials — case studies, website quotes, etc. — can be effective means for answering that question, video success stories often make those testimonials seem more real and powerful.
Check out the three nominees below for “Best Customer Success Story” and let us know which company you think did the best job of capturing their product’s real world value while also making their customer look good!
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Share Your Vote

Share Your Vote for Best Customer Success Story Video on Twitter

Tweet your vote for Evernote
Tweet your vote for AtTask
Tweet your vote for Salesforce

Best Call to Action

While content marketing might revolve around addressing your customers’ needs (rather than your own selfish desires), the goal is still to gently nudge potential buyers in a specific direction. Whether it’s to read another piece of content, engage with your brand further, share feedback, or — if the time is right — talk to a sales rep, a must-have for any great piece of content is an equally great call-to-action.
The three videos below — from Hubspot, Moz, and ExactTarget — are primarily designed to entertain, but they also include a clear message that encourages action after the video is over. Which CTA is most compelling? Let us know by casting your vote!
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Share Your Vote

Share Your Vote for Call to Action on Twitter

Tweet your vote for HubSpot
Tweet your vote for Moz
Tweet your vote for ExactTarget


 

Voting Deadline: Sunday, March 2nd

Winners Announced: Monday, March 3rd

Check in regularly to see who’s ahead in the voting and stay tuned for our official awards presentation on Monday, March 3rd!
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Senior Content Manager

<strong>Jonathan Crowe</strong> is Senior Content Manager at <a href="https://www.barkly.com/">Barkly</a>. He was previously the Managing Editor of OpenView Labs.