Do you know what my favourite two words in TV entertainment are? Breaking Bad? Stranger Things? Jessica Jones? Nope, none of those… it’s “SKIP INTRO”. Yes, that simple little option on Netflix to quickly get the show on the road without any further delay impresses me every time. How amazing that someone is happy to put ego (and 5 mins of random names) aside and simply ask themselves ‘why are people here?’.
I used to consider myself ‘king of the fast-forward’ back when VHS was a thing (and even more so once the likes of Sky and Virgin HDs took over from tape). I could land you on the first second of an actual show at will, laughing with glee as the impotent credits zipped past. If I added up all the seconds I’ve saved in my life (minus, of course, all the back and forth on the rare occasion I overshot) I’d have... well, a depressingly small amount of time now I come to think of it, but you get my point (i.e. that no one wants to watch all 10 minutes of Game of Thrones’ titles when there are dragons to be harpooned and buttocks to be flashed).
So why am I comparing this to agency creds? Simple: with every one of your 50 pages (groan) keep asking yourself ‘why are people here?’. While you blather on about what year you were formed, where your office is located, what processes you’ve decided to copyright in an attempt to appear more interesting than you are... why not ask ‘why are people here?’. Chances are they were thinking about hiring you and wanted to see some of your work… so show them that. Perhaps they want to sell more of their ‘things’ and want to see how many ‘things’ you’ve helped other people sell… so show them that. Cut out all the crap YOU care about and get on with the stuff your audience wants to see.
Obviously, if case studies, results and testimonials aren’t your thing, you could instead have endless portraits of every member of staff who’s ever worked there, tell them about the incredible ‘journey’ your company’s been on, or perhaps even force an infinite infographic on them explaining how awfully disruptive you are… or you could just “SKIP INTRO” and show them what they care about (you never know - they might even stay watching until the end). Happy hunting.