Institutional film, brand film or advertisement : all three draw on the same editorial method at ONEPROD, but they don't answer the same need. The right choice depends on what you want to show, to whom, and for how long.
The institutional film : presenting the organisation as a whole
An institutional film presents your organisation as a whole : vision, teams, expertise. It's the reference film you show internally or to partners — at a trade show, an investor presentation, an onboarding session, or simply on the "About" page of your site. Its purpose isn't to tell one specific story, but to give a credible, lasting overview of who you are.
It's a format that ages well : built to stay relevant for several years, without depending on a piece of news or a one-off campaign. You don't remake it every season — you update it when the company genuinely changes, whether that's new leadership, a new positioning, or a new stage of growth. It's also the format most often shown internally : recruitment, training, onboarding, seminars — contexts where the goal is an accurate, complete picture rather than a specific emotion.
The brand film : telling a story, not a catalogue
A brand film isn't a company presentation. It tells a story built around what sets you apart, with a stronger narrative intent, designed for public distribution — on social media, opening an event, at the centre of a communication campaign. A company is never just its products or services; neither is the film that carries its name.
Before a camera rolls, we do the work of a documentary house : understanding the subject, choosing an angle, deciding what deserves to be shown and what doesn't. It's the same editorial standard whether the format is a fifteen-second cut built for social media or a longer piece built around a brand milestone.
It's also the format best suited to a documentary approach : a founder's portrait, an immersion into a craft, a portrait of a place or a team. The line with brand documentary is deliberately porous — the goal remains to reveal something true, not to illustrate it artificially.
Advertising : a short format for a specific goal
Advertising is a short format, built around a specific concept and art direction for a targeted commercial goal : a product launch, a seasonal campaign, a limited-time offer. Unlike an institutional or brand film, its lifespan is usually shorter — it's built for a moment, a specific distribution window, a specific channel (TV, digital, outdoor).
It's also the format where effectiveness matters most explicitly : an ad is judged by what it makes the viewer do, not only by what it makes them feel. A TV spot, a vertical cut for social feeds, a fifteen-second billboard TV format : each channel imposes its own constraints, and that's accounted for from the writing stage, not fixed in the edit.
How to choose the right format for your project
Three questions usually settle it. What do you want the viewer to remember : who you are, what they should feel about your brand, or what they should do next? How long does this content need to stay relevant : several years, one season, the length of a campaign? Where will it run : internally, on social media, on TV, on billboards?
In practice, the three formats complement each other more often than they compete. A company might need an institutional film for its partners, a brand film to assert its identity with the public, and several advertising cuts for successive campaigns. It's not an either-or choice : it's a matter of priority, budget and timing — and a well-made brand film can often be recut into several short advertising formats to extend its reach.
We help you identify the right format for your needs : our FAQ covers other frequent questions on this topic.
A concrete example of a short, effective advertisement : the 15-second billboard TV format produced for illiCO travaux, built for one specific format and channel — the opposite of a brand film built to last.
If you're still weighing these three formats, the most useful next step is a direct conversation : we always start from the subject and the objective before recommending a format, never the other way round. Getting the format wrong isn't something you can fix in the edit — a conversation upfront beats a full rebuild once the shoot is done.
Our page on brand films goes deeper into our method for this format specifically : how we look for the angle, build the narrative, and produce with resources matched to each ambition.