What Makes a Great Brand Story Video
A brand story video should make people feel what a company stands for in under two minutes. Here is what separates the ones that land from the ones that wash over you.
What makes a great brand story video?
A great brand story video makes you feel what a company stands for, fast, without listing what it sells. It has a point of view, a human centre, and the discipline to leave things out. Most brand videos fail because they try to say everything and end up saying nothing.
The test is simple. Mute it and watch. If you still feel something, the story is in the craft, not the voiceover. If muting it leaves you with stock footage and a logo, it was a brochure read aloud.
The elements of a strong brand story
A single idea
One belief the company holds, stated clearly and returned to. Not five values on a wall. One idea the audience can repeat after watching.
A human centre
Real people, not actors describing a mission. A founder, an employee, a customer whose life the work touches. The emotion travels through a face, which is why this format stays live action even when other formats move to animation.
Restraint
The strongest brand films cut the third example, the second testimonial, and the closing montage. Ninety seconds that commits beats three minutes that hedges.
What holds brand videos back?
Three things. Leading with the product instead of the belief. Confusing production value with story, so the result is expensive and empty. And writing for the executive who approves it rather than the person who watches it. A brand video signed off by committee usually feels like one.
How the Impact Awards panel judges this category
The Best Brand Story category at the Shootsta Impact Video Awards 2026 is scored against five criteria: creativity, business or social impact, innovation, best practice, and collaboration. The entries that win are not always the most polished. They are the ones that can show what the video was for and what changed because of it.
If you produced a brand film, culture piece, rebrand launch, or vision film with Shootsta between January 2025 and July 2026, it is eligible. Entry is free and takes a few minutes. Nominations close on July 31, 2026.
Put your team forward for the 2026 Impact Video Awards.
Where to start
Before you brief anything, write the one sentence you want a viewer to repeat afterwards. If you cannot, the video is not ready to make. For the format itself, see corporate and brand video production, and for a related panel category, read what makes a great customer story video.
