How teams use vox pops for engagement, insight, and sales
“What is a vox pop?” is one of the most searched phrases we see, usually from people looking for video clips of real people talking, sharing opinions, or trying out products in real time.
As the original company with ‘vox pop’ in our name, we get asked to produce vox pops for all kinds of different uses, and for good reason. Real voices are valuable. From TV shows and social platforms to research, marketing and sales, footage of real people is being used more than ever.
Broadly speaking, vox pops are used for four main purposes:
- Entertainment
- Information and research
- Promotion and sales
- News and current affairs
Let’s take a closer look at how each one works.
Vox pops for entertainment
Vox pop literally means “voice of the people” in Latin. Traditionally, vox pops were short interviews used in news programmes – quick reactions to current events, captured without the time or cost of focus groups or surveys.
Many people in the UK will remember Esther Rantzen using vox pops in the 1970s to bring public opinion into TV shows and news items. These short clips added authenticity and immediacy, and audiences loved them.
Over time, the idea of “voice of the people” expanded far beyond the street interview. Reality TV took the concept and ran with it. Starting with shows like Big Brother, real people – their opinions, emotions and reactions – became the entertainment itself.
Today there are countless reality-based programmes: property shows, dating shows, cooking competitions, social experiments – all built on the same original idea. Real people, real voices, real stories.
And that’s before we even mention YouTube, TikTok and social platforms, where millions of videos are essentially modern-day vox pops.
Vox pops for information and research
In the 1990s, Vox Pops International pioneered the use of vox pops within the research industry. And we didn’t just stop at street interviews.
Long before smartphones, we asked people to film themselves, so we could produce longer-form, self-recorded interviews for our clients. Some of these vox pops ran for as long as 10 minutes, providing a deeper qualitative insight that closely mirrored findings from much larger surveys.
We were also among the first to introduce video into:
- In-depth interviews
- Ethnographic research
- Qualitative insight projects
By capturing people in their own words and on camera, we were helping make research more human, more engaging, and easier to share across organisations.
A vox pops from early 2000s for qualitative research on children.
A video diaries from early 2000s exploring young people and tech.
Vox pops for promotion and sales
Using real people to promote products and services definitely isn’t new, but the scale and impact of this has grown massively in recent years.
Today, influencers, creators and brands regularly use vox pops on their own channels. Adverts and marketing campaigns feature “real people” because their audiences are calling for it. Meanwhile, agencies use vox pops to test their ideas, sell in creative work, and support campaigns because it lands a message more powerfully.
👉 Read our report about how agencies use real voices to win pitches.
Seeing someone genuinely react to a product, an idea or an advert builds trust, credibility and emotional connection – far more than data or a scripted video could.
VML used vox pops to win their pitch. Read the case study.
Cardfactory used vox pops to drive sales. Read the case study.
Where should companies start?
With a strategy. There is no point creating content without a goal and a plan to get there. Organisations need:
- A clear objective
- A plan for where and how the content will be used
- An understanding of the different styles and tones available
At Vox Pops International, we help research, insight, sales, marketing and internal communications teams with video, from planning to production to delivery.
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Find out more: Video and Storytelling Webinar Series
