I call that price tag painful. I am all for video, but it will never become mainstream at that price. Furthermore, Ryan Chartrand’s comments are right on.

I have a blog about recruiting and video use today…I will be covering this video in the near future. Check out the blog for other videos and critiques – http://blog.peekproductionsvideo.com/

Thanks to Dave and Ryan for their compliments. We worked hard on the project and are quite proud of how well it’s performed for Claire and team.

In the midst of Ryan’s kind words, he questioned the ROI on the $30k price tag….a fair question. Fact is, the video itself caries a value of well under $20k. However, the entirety of the solution actually includes our employment branding expertise, a specialized recruiter-friendly process, secure online hosting, performance tracking, and of course, integration in Monster. So, while we don’t “a la carte” the parts, there is significantly more value added than just a video production.

Truth be told, there are cheaper solutions out there. Heck, you can find an 18 year old kid with Final Cut Pro, a Flip camera, and a Youtube account to do your video. You can also turn to Madison Avenue for a Super Bowl-style commercial. However we find that today’s top employers want a balance between a reasonable cost and a superior quality product.

In buying this solution from Monster, clients like Cheesecake need to know that they aren’t buying a disposable, lesser quality, job board video product. They need a product the can use in ALL of their online recruitment, not just to enhance a posting on a job site. They got this from the MadDash/Monster service.

Remember, producing a video gets a tremendous amount of exposure within an organization. If it goes bad because you skimp, everyone will know about it. And, while I can’t speak for Claire and the team at Cheesecake, the peace of mind that comes with an easy process, handled by experts in the industry, is worth its weight in gold.

What depressed me though is this: http://www.cakecareers.com/

Sure the video is great, but the rest of the site is a complete turn off. They go from approachable in the video, to completely unapproachable. In fact, they force you to come into the restaurant to even apply. And, of course, there’s no sign of their recruiters wanting to connect with candidates via social networking either.

I’ve always been a fan of the portal layout that they use on their homepage, but each portal has little to no content that would convince me to work for them.

I just found it to be a classic example of how companies will spend thousands of dollars on a video, but forget to complete the experience and the conversion with the rest of the site. Oh, well. Bravo to the filmmakers though.

I am curious to know if you think the positive video or the negative article is more influential.

Remember – it takes years to build a good reputation and only seconds to destroy it.