Since the year 2000, the Management and Communication Department of AP University College has organised the Belgian Corporate Video Festival, an event that annually awards the best corporate films. Although in the early years of the Festival the medium 'corporate video' was predicted to die a certain death, the number of entries steadily increased. Nevertheless, the medium received little attention in Flanders. That is why in 2010 the researchers launched a three-year study into the use of corporate video as a communication tool in the digital age. They investigated the characteristics of corporate video (in terms of form and content), the distribution and the position of corporate films in the corporate communication mix of organisations (for which stakeholders, with which corporate goals and via which channels). The results were communicated through the Corporate Video Congress (organised in 2013) and through a chapter in the book 'Researching the Changing Profession of Public Relations'.
In order to maintain a constant focus on a rapidly evolving field of work, the researchers launched the Corporate Video Monitor in 2015. The monitor contains a basic module and a variable module.
- The basic module has remained unchanged for years with the following research questions: What are the typical formal elements of corporate video? Which goals are paramount? Through which channels are corporate videos distributed? Who produces this type of productions? What budget do companies spend on corporate video? Through a survey of BCVF participants, the researchers formulate answers to these questions.
- The variable module examines a different theme each year. The following themes were examined successively:
- The characteristics of a powerful corporate video (2016);
- Consistencies and differences between the entries from 2010 - 2017 (2017);
- Typical formal elements and corporate stories of employer branding video (2018);
- Trends and evolutions in corporate video production (2019).
In 2020, the researchers will search for the typical formal elements and corporate stories of event videos by means of a content analysis. The results of the corporate video monitor are presented regularly and are published annually in the Corporate Video Magazine.