Here are a few videos readers have kindly pointed out to me over the past few weeks. These videos are making a pitch or telling a story, much of it done sans the spoken word. You may have seen these before, but they are worth another look. They are not videos of speeches or presenters, but the "presentation" in these bits are strong.

Sony (tv/web ad)
Color like no other. Sony's pitch is not an appeal to the rational. They are not trying to persuade you via lists of features, facts, or argument. Instead, their appeal is more emotional. Because at the end of the day, for most of us, what is the bloody difference between a 42" flat screen from Panasonic, or Sony, or the rest of them? But what if Sony could own a word? And what if that word was "color"? Color after all is an emotional thing and can be supported best visually and by example. This ad is a very simple and effective idea. Difficult to pull off, but they do it. It's beautiful, fun, and even inspiring. It's just a commercial, but to the team who produced it, it's art. (Watch in high-rez).

Honda "Cog" (on-line ad)
Like the Sony ad, you'd swear they did this tv commercial with the help of computer graphics.  And while it took about a zillion takes, the final result is all a single shot. Also on Google.

Virgin Atlantic (tv ad)
This TV commercial has surely offended some viewers, but I suspect the offended ones would never fly Virgin anyway. This method of pitching business class seats on an airplane is utterly unforgettable and completely fits the Richard Branson and the Virgin brand. Of course, Sir Richard loved it so much at the screening that he gave the chief creative officer a big fat kiss ("Choose your sleeping partners on Virgin").

My Declaration of Independence (by Pamela Slim)
Here's a little flash video that Pamela Slim of Ganas Consulting put together for her target audience. I like it. (The music may die out halfway through; they're working on it). You could imagine her doing a standup presentation in front of these slides. Pam introduces the video here.
 

Where the hell is Matt?
One of the simplest and oddly compelling amateur videos I've ever seen. And one of the best. No message really — it just is. And yet, it is inspirational (and I'm not really sure why). No doubt teachers would do well to show this video and then explore in class all the places Matt went. Secretly, I think we all wish we could travel the globe. But it's a lot easier to watch Matt do it... The music undoubtedly helps (a lot). In fact, it may be the music that really makes the audio and low-rez video together so strangely compelling. More on Matt's homepage.

High Boots
What does this have to do with presentations or simplicity? Alright, it's a stretch. But for some reason I am strangely attracted to this '60s-era video which I found via a Boing Boing link weeks ago (Download options). I like it. It's camp.The visual (stage design) is extremely simple, mostly warm colors against a black background. Simple early '60s genre rock with few chords, silly lyrics, but a very strong backbeat and a booming bass drum. Primitive and primal, and oh so '60s. I was just a small kid back then, but it personifies that musical era for me. A lot of pop music today is completely over produced. Back then groups like The Dave Clark Five, The Ventures, The Beatles, The Supremes et al., had no choice but to keep it rather simple. If you hate the high boots video, then you're really going to hate this one by Nancy Sinatra. Groovy (baby).