Is your business guilty of “Ego Filmmaking”?

It’s a common trap. A company decides to make a video. Senior management decides exactly what they want to say. They hire a crew, shoot a beautiful, polished video, release it into the world… and nobody watches it.

Why? Because they fell for the “Build It And They Will Come” fallacy. They made a video for themselves, not for their customers.

In Episode 4 of The Video Marketing Podcast, host Luke Sherran sat down with Jack Leigh, Creative Director of the world-class video production agency Eight Engines. With a background in feature films and high-end TV drama (including Peaky Blinders and Fast & Furious 6), Jack reveals exactly how to bridge the gap between corporate messaging and genuine entertainment.

Here are the key takeaways from the episode on how to stop making content that gets ignored, and start making videos people actually watch.

The “Audience-First” Formula (The Venn Diagram)

The biggest mistake businesses make is treating video as a one-way broadcast. Jack explains that successful video marketing happens in the “sweet spot” of a specific Venn diagram:

• Circle 1: What the audience wants to watch (The Entertainment).
• Circle 2: What the business wants to say (The Message).

Most corporate videos sit firmly in Circle 2. Viral entertainment sits in Circle 1.

“Somewhere in there, there is this little sliver of stuff. The idea is to make a piece of content that increases that sliver. You’re getting your message in, but in packaging that an audience actually wants to engage with.” – Jack Leigh

The Lesson: Before you write a script, ask yourself: If I wasn’t paid to care about this company, would I watch this?

Get a FREE YouTube Channel Audit

Take advantage of our free YouTube channel mini audit. It’s a personalised review from one of our certified YouTube channel growth experts, packed with actionable insights.

Get your audit now

Case Study: Making “Boring” Topics Sexy

A common objection is: “But we sell insurance/plumbing/software… our industry isn’t sexy like Nike.”

Jack shared a case study involving a plumbing manufacturing company. They needed to communicate a dry, complex update regarding plumbing regulations. Their initial idea was a 50-minute lecture explaining the laws.

Eight Engines flipped the script: Instead of a lecture, they hired “plumbing influencers” and created a legally compliant game show inspired by Taskmaster. The challenges were based on the new regulations (e.g., underfloor heating temperature limits), but the format was pure entertainment.

The result? The plumbers (the target audience) actually watched it.

Stop Chasing Views (Start Chasing Retention)

Vanity metrics are the enemy of strategy. Jack argues that “Views” are often just a reflection of how much ad budget you spent, or how large your existing following is.

The only metric that proves your creative is working is Watch Time.

“If people are watching three seconds of a video, it’s not done very well… even if you’ve got a million views. If you make a video that people watch all the way through but it gets 50 views, you’ve made a successful campaign. It’s just not been marketed in the right way.”

The Myth of the “Goldfish Attention Span”

You’ve probably heard the statistic that human attention spans have dropped to 8 seconds – less than a goldfish. Jack points out that this has been largely debunked.

Movies are getting longer. Podcasts (like Joe Rogan) are 3 hours long. Binge-watching Netflix is the norm.

People don’t have short attention spans; they have high standards.

Because audiences are bombarded with high-quality content 24/7, they have become discerning. They make a snap decision in seconds: Is this worth my time? If your video feels like a sales pitch in the first 5 seconds, they are gone.

Why “Fix It In Post” kills Budgets

Coming from a background of big-budget cinema, Jack applies a strict rule to commercial video: Preparation saves money.

“I would spend two hours in prep, if it saves five minutes on set.”

On a film set, time is money. A crew standing around for 20 minutes while you figure out a shot can cost thousands. Jack emphasizes that the magic doesn’t happen by accident; it happens in the storyboard and the pre-production meeting.

If you are a business owner, don’t rush the planning phase. The “16 Questions” workshop Eight Engines runs with clients before a camera is ever turned on is often where the project’s success is determined.

Ready to Make Better Videos?

Watch the full episode to get all the insights into making better marketing videos. You can watch this on YouTube, or listen on your favourite podcasting platform.