Video Builder is a new product from Paul Ponna and Todd Gross that the pair claim will revolutionise video marketing. It allows you to create your own sales videos featuring 3D avatars as well as various other features.
What does the product offer?
Video Builder is “The total solution to creating killer 3D and animated videos”. At least, it is if you blindly buy into the headlines for the service. Given how saturated the market for video creation products is (including several which feature Todd Gross as well, interestingly enough), you would have to expect something truly spectacular. Unfortunately, whilst Video Builder isn’t terrible, I don’t think it is quite what Paul Ponna and Todd Gross have built it up to be.
So, what exactly are you getting with Video Builder?
Well according to Paul Ponna and Todd Gross, quite a lot. There is plenty of talk about how advanced the software is. There is also a very keen focus on the 3D avatars (I will get to this very soon) and the integration of text to speech technology. I could go on, but I plan to break down Video Builder on a feature by feature basis and I do have to credit Paul Ponna and Todd Gross, Video Builder does actually do what they say. Whether it does it quite as well as claimed is a different story.
In order to get to the bottom of this, we have to look at what Video Builder actually is. It is a piece of software that allows you to create your own marketing videos. It is also cloud based which means that the software will run on almost any PC (so long as it has an internet connection). There is a simple drag and drop interface in place with Video Builder which makes using it a pretty simple process. I can’t really fault Paul Ponna and Todd Gross in this regard as everything does what you would expect it to.
The next thing that I feel I really need to address is the 3D avatars that come with Video Builder. I will start with the positive. There are a reasonable enough variety of them. Now let’s look at everything else related to them. The avatars are sold as life like. They are not. I don’t expect miracles, but Paul Ponna and Todd Gross also shouldn’t be selling something which 10 years ago might have been hailed as a revolutionary breakthrough in video marketing. The animation quality is questionable, the avatars look dull and low texture and simply don’t seem to fit in with any modern marketing techniques that I have seen.
To go along with your Avatars, Video Builder also come with a variety of different voices. 47 to be precise. These include a number of different accents and 24 foreign languages. These use text to speech to animate your 3D avatars talking with “near-perfect lip-syncing” (it really isn’t anywhere near near-perfect). Alternatively, Paul Ponna and Todd Gross have include a feature that lets you record your own voice through Video Builder instead which you can use as audio.
As well as the avatars, Video Builder comes with a number of different backgrounds and animations that you can use when creating your videos. The most interesting feature here are text animations which allow you to have text appear in a variety of ways. To credit Video Builder, these can be eye catching and help to drive home points that are being made in your main sales video.
One of the other things that does deserve some credit is the user interface. Paul Ponna and Todd Gross don’t talk about it too much but it is a really straightforward drag and drop affair. Video Builder uses a video timeline and all that you have to do is place the elements on the relevant layer (or multi-track as it is referred to in the sales material) of this. It really does make putting together videos really easy, especially since most of Video Builder is premade animations etc.
Video Builder also comes with a large number of bonuses, all of which are designed to improve the quality of your videos. This includes additional 3D avatars, royalty free music and animated high definition backgrounds. Off topic from the videos, Paul Ponna and Todd Gross have also included a number of ready made sales scripts, all of which have supposedly been “professionaly-written by a top-shelf copywriter”.
How does the product work?
According to the sales material you simply can’t afford to not have video marketing in any of your campaigns. Supposedly, simply including a video on your landing page can increase conversion by up to 80% with up to 64% of users more likely to buy a product online after watching a video. I would like to highlight that these numbers are “up to” and “more likely”.
In terms of why you should use Video Builder rather than one of the myriad of other video creation products, there simply aren’t any real reasons given. The 3D avatars seem to be a selling point with no real point, which is disappointing. I would at least Paul Ponna and Todd Gross be able to justify why their product is better than the competition.
What is the initial investment?
At the time of writing, Video Builder is available for a one time cost of $43.95 (with an additional $8 off through a promo code). This is however claimed to be a highly limited time offer with Paul Ponna and Todd Gross ultimately going to sell Video Builder for $47 per month (allegedly). It is worth pointing out that there is a 30 da money back guarantee in place should you find that the software isn’t for you, however because it is sold through JVZoo, you will have to claim this directly from the vendors.
What is the rate of return?
This is a rather hard thing to gauge in a lot of ways. Video Builder is not a direct money making product. There are however two main points in terms of fiscal compensation for using this software. The first is the aforementioned statistics which talk about how video marketing can improve conversion and sales. The second point is how much you can save by creating your own videos compared to outsourcing. I do however feel that it is highly pertinent to highlight that the costs of outsourcing a video in the sales material for Video Builder are highly over inflated.
Conclusion
Honestly, I am not impressed with Video Builder. The software itself is competent enough however the end results are simply shocking. The 3D avatars (which I would like to remind you are the main selling point) are far from life like. They are far from engaging. Simply put, they don’t look good. If you want to engage people and have videos go viral, Video Builder is definitely not what you should be using.
I have looked at a lot of different video creation software in my time reviewing and this is by far and away one of the worst examples that I have seen. One of the few things that are discussed in terms of Video Builder being better than the competition is that your videos will look different to the usual fare. This isn’t always a good thing. It certainly isn’t where Video Builder is concerned. In fact, the only reason I can see the videos created through Video Builder going viral are because they are laughably bad.
There isn’t a single thing about Video Builder that I can really see as being worthwhile which is a shame. If I hold my hands up, a big part of this is because it is oversold and overvalued in my opinion. If Paul Ponna and Todd Gross were to simply say that you can have 3D avatars as a part of your marketing, it would probably be a little more acceptable. Unfortunately, if you want to make something the unique selling point of a product, you actually have to be able to deliver.
On top of this, I think that Video Builder is rather expensive given what is on offer. Once again, I refer back to other video creation products which cost less and ultimately produce better results in my opinion. If this does ever go up to the full price, then it most definitely isn’t worth the money. For my money, Video Builder simply isn’t worth any real investment and as such, I wouldn’t spend too much time on it.
