What The “Macho Man” Randy Savage Can Teach You About Making Great Corporate Videos
Randall Mario Poffo (RIP), known to legions of adoring fans as Randy “The Macho Man” Savage, was easily one of the greatest wrestlers to ever grace the squared circle. His technique in the ring was only eclipsed by his stage persona, through which he displayed an intensity, vigor, and chutzpah other wrestlers could but envy.
Even the uninitiated in wrestling lore still remember his Slim Jim commercials, wherein he would extol the merits of enjoying the beefy, juicy taste of a Slim Jim before delivering that legendary line:
Snap into a Slim Jim, oooh yeah!
But there’s more to the Macho Man than a manic, and seemingly inexhaustible, persona. In wrestling, there was then — and still is to this day — a very important component of public relations called the promo. In short, matches only really matter if the audience cares about them, and the way to get them to care about the match is to get them invested in the story behind it.
That’s what promos are for — adding stakes to upcoming events and giving those events context within a greater narrative.
Randy Savage was a master of promos and he had a profound intuition for what it takes to reach his audience.
Wrestling promos are a lot like corporate videos, they work best if they’re short, sweet, and to the point.
One of the greatest promos of all time (fans are fairly unanimous on this) was recorded shortly after Randy Savage was defeated in Wrestlemania III by Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat.
But we’ll get to that in a minute.
The Dos And Don’ts of Corporate Filmography
A corporate video is one meant to communicate either broad aspects of an organization or specific aspects of a project or product to an audience.
It’s a common tool used to attract employees and/or build brand awareness.
So, what can a man with overdeveloped biceps and a remarkably eccentric sartorial sense teach you about branding?
If you’re paying attention, just about everything.
Let’s take a look at that fabled Wrestlemania III promo now.
Let’s start with the setup.
“Mean” Gene Okerlund — the doyen of wrestling interviews — is not just part of the background here, rather he is the “straight man” to the Macho Man persona.
If he wasn’t there, the entire thing would boil down to a quasi-lunatic raving into a camera about coffee creamer. As it stands, the Macho Man has a counterpoint, a proxy for the audience, and therein lies the first lesson.
Emotions Run The Game
The goal of any corporate video should be to make an emotional connection with its audience.
Whether the video aims to sell a product, attract talent, or increase brand awareness, it should give the audience something to relate to. Mean Gene’s presence is what allows us, the viewers, to inhabit the space of the promo.
The Macho Man even directly addresses Gene at one point, saying “you know that I’m the cream of the crop.”
One has to imagine this is done in full awareness that he’s speaking directly to his fans.
Think about that before you script a video that only features a disembodied voice-over listing off the benefits of buying your brand of doohickey over your competitor’s.
You will always be attempting to reach a human audience and there’s nothing humans are more drawn to than other humans.
Get Your Message Straight and Drive it Home
The second lesson to be gleaned from this tour de force is to stick to the point.
If you try to go into detail about tenuously interconnected activities that your corporation is involved with, that won’t grasp the average viewer’s attention.
If you had to say what the message of this Macho Man promo is, in one sentence, what would that sentence be?
Anyone who didn’t answer “the cream will rise to the top” wasn’t paying attention.
Who is the cream? Randy “The Macho Man” Savage.
Where is the cream going? Straight to the top.
It’s as simple as that. It’s also a masterful use of symbolism, which I’ll elaborate on further down.
The message of your video should easily fit into a sentence.
Once you’ve figured out what your message is, make sure it sticks — even if that means repeating it throughout the video. Take a look at the following video by Airbnb.
Notice how often they come back around to the same message, which is that Airbnb is a great source of extra income for hosts.
Count how many times you hear the words “money” and “income.” Even the name of the video is Living a Richer Life.
If you think that it’s a mistake to be repetitive, think again. Repetition is the mother of learning, and the father of action, to quote the late Zig Ziglar.
But, the message of the video is nothing if you can’t support it with the right imagery. It is, after all, an audiovisual format.
Which leads to the next lesson.
Show More Than You Tell
This is where the sheer genius of Randy Savage is on full display. It’s not clear where the idea came from to produce literal single-serve tubs of creamer from his person throughout the interview but it works on several levels.
First, it’s unexpected.
Sure, they’re just props, but they make a direct connection between what he’s saying and what the audience is seeing.
Second, it’s a symbolic way to communicate an abstract phrase — how do you visualize cream rising to the top? With actual cream.
At this point, we should recognize that you can’t buy this kind of genius in stores, and you shouldn’t attempt to.
The creamer stunt worked in this very specific scenario and it’s not something that lends itself to replication. Rather, the takeaway is that introducing evocative visual elements is not only advisable but indispensable in a corporate video.
The visuals of your video serve to drive the message as much, if not more, than the script.
Again, here’s a stellar example of this from Landstar System, a third-party logistics company.
Not sure what third-party logistics means? No problem, it’s going to be crystal clear by the end of this explainer video.
Note how Landstar uses symbolism to drive home some abstract ideas about what is, essentially, a service-oriented company.
If they made a video featuring (say) their dispatchers analyzing shipping routes, do you think it would be half as effective?
End With a Bang
The last bit of advice that Macho Man has for us is how to make an exit.
In this particular promo, he sums up the entire thing with a characteristic combination of wit and brevity in the last line: “the Macho Man Randy Savage, the cream of the crop! Nobody does it better.”
Think about everything that’s summed up in that line:
- His brand
- His value proposition
- What sets him apart
And with that, he launches the last single-serve creamer tub at the camera and vanishes as quickly and energetically as he appeared.
The upshot is clear as day: don’t leave ’em hanging.
If someone took the time to watch your entire video (a success in itself) wrap it up nicely. This is important for two reasons.
The first is that it bookends the video, signaling to the viewer that it’s over.
Even something like watching a video to completion can be viewed as a micro-goal, and if neurological research is to be trusted, it can produce a motivational effect and spur action in the viewer.
And second, it presents one final opportunity to summarize the video with the take-home message and make sure it’s as clear as you can get it.
Conclusion
In the case of this article, the message is that your corporate video should make an emotional connection, have a short and concise message, invest heavily in the visual elements, and end with a powerful conclusion.
Here’s to hoping your next corporate video makes you proud and rises, like cream in a milk separator, all the way to the top.
