What should a corporate video include?
A corporate video should include one clear message, real employees rather than stock footage, concrete proof of what the company does, a structure that answers who, what and why in the first thirty seconds, subtitles, and a call to action. What it should exclude matters just as much: jargon, committee messaging and length for its own sake.
The non-negotiable components
- A single core message: what should a viewer repeat to a colleague afterwards? If you cannot say it in one sentence, the video cannot either.
- Real people: your actual employees and leaders on camera. Audiences detect stock footage and actors instantly, and trust drops with them.
- Proof: real facilities, real work, real clients or numbers where you can show them.
- Early orientation: who you are and why the viewer should care, inside the first 30 seconds.
- Subtitles and versions: most viewing is muted; in Switzerland, plan language versions early, we deliver EN, DE and ES with subtitles as standard.
- A call to action: even institutional films need a next step.
Structure that holds attention
The reliable arc for a two to three minute corporate film: open with the most compelling image or statement you have, not the logo; establish the problem or purpose you exist for; show the work and the people; bring proof through clients, results or scale; close with vision and CTA. Companies like UBS, Siemens and Philips work with structured narratives for a reason, meandering films get abandoned, and analytics will show you exactly where.
What to leave out
Cut the founding-year history lesson unless heritage is the actual selling point. Cut internal jargon, viewers outside the building do not know your acronyms. Cut the impulse to include every department; a corporate video is not an org chart. And resist length: three minutes is a ceiling for most audiences, with a 60 to 90 second cut for social. A focused film plus targeted follow-up videos beats one film that tries to carry everything.
The deliverables to specify in your brief
Beyond the film itself, put the package in writing: master files in 16:9 plus 9:16 and 1:1 cuts for social, separate subtitle files in each language you operate in, a short version for ads and email signatures, music licensed for all channels including paid media, and clarity on raw footage ownership. Specifying this upfront costs nothing; discovering after delivery that your German subtitles or vertical cut were never quoted costs a second negotiation.
See it in action
SV Group — Innovation Film
Ready to plan your own? See our Corporate & Events service.
Tell us what you’re working on — you’ll get a clear quote, usually within one business day.