What Makes a Great Internal Comms Video
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What Makes a Great Internal Comms Video
By Shootsta · Published June 23, 2026 · Updated October 2026
Internal comms video competes with everyone's inbox. The best ones are honest, short, and clear about what changes. Here is how they are built and how the panel scores them.
What makes a great internal comms video?
A great internal comms video is honest, short, and clear about what changes for the person watching. It respects that employees can tell the difference between communication and spin in seconds. The ones that work tell people the thing, then tell them what to do about it.
The audience is the hardest there is, because they know the company. They notice when a message dodges the real question, and they switch off when it does.
The elements of a strong internal comms video
Honesty
Say the actual thing, including the hard part. A change announcement that talks around the change reads as evasive and erodes trust faster than saying nothing.
The right format for the content
Use a leader's face for moments that need trust. Use animation for strategy, policy and process, where a talking head loses people. The strongest pieces are often a hybrid. We break this down in animation vs live action for internal comms.
A clear ask
End on what the viewer should now do, think, or feel. A video that informs but never lands an action is a memo with a play button.
What holds internal comms videos back?
Three habits hold these videos back. Corporate language says nothing, and a default talking head gets used for content that is really a diagram. Length is the third problem, because the instinct is to over-explain when employees wanted the headline and the next step. For more, see how internal comms leaders should use video.
How the Impact Awards panel judges this category
The Best Internal Comms category at the Shootsta Impact Video Awards 2026 was 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 leadership update, change explainer, or internal campaign with Shootsta between January 2025 and July 2026, it was eligible. Entry was free, and nominations closed on 31 July 2026. The winners were announced from 3 September. See the 2026 Impact Video Awards winners.
Where to start
Write the one sentence that says what is changing for the viewer, lead with it, and build the video around that. See the internal communications video ideas for formats that land.
A great internal comms video still fails if it ships two weeks late. For the seven causes of that delay, read internal comms video editing delays and how to fix them.
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