No doubt you've seen Instagram's new logo.
Now, not everyone may like it.
But what I do like is the video they made to help explain to their users why they did it.
An Instagram video of course...
What I love
- It shows love and respect to their audience
- It's fun. It's emotional. It's arty. It shows the breadth of what Instagram has become
- It namechecks the user generated content with their @ tags
- Short punchy text in the language of Instagram with # emojis etc
- It works with no sound
- It is (as you'd expect) totally in keeping with the visual style of the platform
It manages to say through images the following: 'we started out as a place to add filters to your images, but look what you've done with that, look what you have made Instagram become, this is more than just filters, this is you sharing, belonging, enjoying... you have evolved what Instagram is and we have now changed our logo to reflect that...'
If you typed that out, would anyone read it?
That's press release talk.
The video however says that and so much more, it connects, resonates, it moves us.
Staggered release
As a side note: I also like that this was of course originally posted to Instagram itself, but three days later was emailed out to users as part of a note about their rebrand and refreshed app.
It's a good reminder that it's worth staggering the way your promote your content.
Let's say I write this blog post on Monday.
I might tweet it out Monday. Put in on Linked In Tuesday. Email it out Thursday.
(I know, good job Craig David changed the lyrics I sent him).
If you've got a video. It might be YouTube and Twitter - Monday. Facebook - Tuesday. Twitter and LinkedIn - Wednesday. Email Thursday. And so on...
That way you stand more chance of getting eyes on your post and your video. Those who saw your post but didn't have time to engage, will finally get around to it.
Not the only video
Now, it's not the only video they made on their rebrand.
They also created this to accompany a blog post about making the change.
And whilst this is a really slick video, it just doesn't work like that one I first showed you does it?
It lacks any degree of 'why'. It has no feel of the platform. It's really just a bit of fluff.
In fact, the following gif is far more useful...
Insta Hit?
When a company rebrands it is never going to please everyone. People resist change.
But using video is a great way to explain your why and to inspire people, be it your customers or your staff, to care, to get them on board.
This is something I've worked with a few major brands on now and it's so important. You need people to jump on board, not be forced on board; otherwise they'll start to look around for somewhere else to be.
Respect your audience.
Share your thinking.
Make them part of the story and they'll be along for the ride.