I remember sitting alone in my studio, watching back a video we’d just finished for a client.
A full crew had been involved. Real production value. Everyone had worked hard. And as I watched it, I felt something I didn’t expect — disappointment.
It was fine. Technically, it was good. But it was flat. Generic. It could have been any company’s video. And I knew it.
We had spent so much energy on the production — the crew, the shots, the polish — and not nearly enough on the one thing that actually mattered: what we were trying to make someone feel, and the story behind it.
I don’t actually remember exactly what we ended up doing — but I think we scrapped it and started over. Either way, the lesson stayed with me. And it’s why I think about brand video strategy the way I do now.
Because that’s how a Generic Brand Video gets made. Clean. Polished. Forgettable.
Here’s why it keeps happening — and what actually fixes it.
The real culprit isn’t the production company
The generic brand video problem usually doesn’t start in post-production. It starts much earlier — in the brief, or in the absence of one.
When a brand goes into a video project without a clear point of view about who they are and what they want people to feel, they default to the category. They think in formats rather than stories. They ask for “something professional” or “something that shows what we do.”
And they get exactly that — a video that could belong to almost anyone in their space.
The production company delivers what they were asked for. The client approves it. Technically correct. Strategically inert.
What generic brand video looks like
You’ll recognize it.
The drone shot of a city skyline establishing nothing in particular. The voiceover that sounds like it was written by a committee — because it was. The montage of smiling employees that could be any company’s culture video. The feature list dressed up as a story. The licensed music track that “feels right” because 400 other brands used it first.
None of these things are inherently wrong. They become wrong when they’re assembled without a clear brand truth at the center.
A test worth running right now
Remove your logo and your company name from your current brand video. Could it work for one of your competitors?
If the honest answer is yes — or even maybe — you don’t have a brand video. You have a category video.
It might be well-produced. It might check every box. But it’s not doing the one thing brand video is supposed to do: make your specific brand unmistakable.
Why this keeps happening
It’s not a creative failure. It’s a strategic one.
The brands that produce generic video usually arrive there one of three ways:
They started with a format instead of a story. “We need a 90-second brand video” is a brief about length, not meaning.
They optimized for safety. Every stakeholder signed off, no one pushed back, and the result was the version that offended no one — which is also the version that moves no one.
They didn’t give their production partner enough to work with. A vague brief produces a generic response. The production company isn’t withholding great ideas — they just don’t have the raw material.
What a real brand video strategy actually looks like
The brands whose videos stop people mid-scroll share one thing: they started with something true about themselves that no other brand could claim.
Not a features list. Not a positioning statement. An actual brand truth — something about how they see the world, why they exist, or what they believe about their customers.
That truth becomes the thread. Everything else — the visuals, the pacing, the words, the music — serves it.
When you start there, the video can’t belong to anyone else. It already belongs to you.
As the Wistia Learning Center highlights, the best videos are built on relevance and storytelling, not just polish.
The production partner question
Not every production partner is set up to help you find that truth. Some are built to execute the concept you bring them, as efficiently as possible. There’s a place for that.
But if you want video that actually differentiates — that works as a long-term brand asset, not just content for this quarter — you need a partner who pushes on the brief before they pick up a camera. Who asks uncomfortable questions. Who’s willing to say “I don’t think this is the right direction” before you’ve shot a single frame.
That’s the difference between a vendor and a partner. And it’s the difference between video that’s fine and video that works.
Waves Media is a video production partner for mission-driven organizations — brands with compelling solutions who understand that video is one of the most powerful ways to communicate what they do and why it matters. We don’t start with a shot list. We start with your story.
If your brand has a story worth telling, we’d love to help you tell it. Let’s talk.