The REAL power of video
I recently had the good fortune to meet Alison Lyons, Director of Commercial Development at Sesame Access. Alison was speaking at a Reigate & Banstead Borough Council event at the Town Hall about their experience of winning The Queens Award for Enterprise in Innovation 2016.
She set the scene by telling us the story of how her father, Charlie Lyons, was in a pub with his friend, and his friend complained how his wife had problems accessing buildings because she was a wheelchair user. Charlie, a hydraulic engineer who loves the challenge of inventing, set about finding a solution to the problem.
Alison then told us that when Charlie’s son Steven finished University, they set about building a prototype lift and a plan to bring it to market. The first Sesame lift was installed in Merchant Taylor’s Hall, Threadneedle Street, London in 1996 and since then Sesame has installed over 100 lifts in UK and Europe.
It was Alison’s next words that gained everyone’s attention!
“Our lifts are ‘invisible’!”
That produced a bit of a chuckle and I looked around the room to see the expression on the audience’s faces. Once the smiles had gone they were replaced by expressions of disbelief and curiosity. I could imagine everyone was thinking ‘How on earth can a lift be invisible? How does that work?’
All sorts of different images were being conjured up in our minds.
Alison then showed a video similar to the one below. The looks on faces now went from ‘Wow, that’s seriously clever’ to ‘Ah! Now I get it’:
If ever there was a great example of video explaining a complex story, this must be it.
Video brings a product alive
A picture might tell a thousand words, but video can go way beyond that. A product photo on your website might look great, but it doesn’t move. Video brings the product alive. It shows how things work and interact with people and the environment.
This can be the difference between someone getting it and buying it and someone missing the point, and you missing the sale.
And finally – Congratulations!
Alison also told us how one of their videos went viral following a mention on a news programme in the US. This was picked up in Australia and resulted in commissions of the Sesame lift on the other side of the world.
Charles and Alison were invited to Buckingham Palace to meet The Queen and to celebrate winning the Queens Award for Enterprise in Innovation 2016. The Queen was most interested in how Sesame lifts give wheelchair users, particularly injured ex-service men and women, freedom to access any building, including Grade I Listed Buildings.
We’d like to add our congratulations to Alison, Charles, Stephen and the team at Sesame Access.
Don’t forget, if you have a product that needs to come alive, video could be the answer.
