Happy Holidays! We hope everyone's Q4 has been as jam-packed with awesome stuff as ours has. POP Video has been busy! We've been working on all kinds of projects, ranging from a holiday card animation for an architecture firm, to a 30 product video set for a national retailer. We've been building a new relationship with a local University, helping them promote their 40th birthday and raise money for future growth, and we've helped one of our long standing dedicated partners stand out at their biggest trade show of the year. We've moved offices, expanded our team and acquired new, game changing equipment. We've trekked Texas, ventured up to the Northeast and interfaced with people halfway around the world. Our Q4 this year has definitely been busy, but it's also been exciting. We've been ecstatic to see the continued growth of video, which is rapidly being embraced as the "go-to" medium of today's internal and marketing communications.
Below you'll find a re-cap of our last quarter. You'll be able to see the variety of projects we've taken on and read a little bit about the driving factors behind their inception, their individual creative process and their ultimate (or eventual) completion. You'll see that the applications of video are limitless - helping companies in all industries satisfy a plethora of needs.
44 Farms is a Texas based cattle farm, selling quality genetics as well as pretty damn good beef. People come from around the world to purchase bulls at their semi annual auctions, and their beef/steak program is permeating local restaurants across Texas. This year, the Five Nations Beef Alliance (FNBA), in partner with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), brought beef delegates from around the world to tour the 44 Farms facilities in Cameron, TX. The tour included remarks by 44 Farms owner Bob McClaren, as well as celebrity chef, John Tesar of Knife and Spoon, in Dallas, TX. Chef Tesar then prepared lunch for the nearly 75 visitors before they were chauffeured around the expansive farm lands to gaze at the bulls and learn about 44 Farms history. This was an exciting event and it was important to them that it was captured and portrayed that way. POP Video worked closely with the 44 Farms marketing team to ensure that this video would fall in line with their existing, heavily branded videos. At the end of the day, the event went off without a hitch and the final video was very well received. Stay tuned for a lot more from 44 Farms including semi annual bull sale videos as well as monthly educational web content.
A while back, we were contacted by Mattress Firm to help them revamp their website with a set of product videos. The idea was to have a ~30 second product video for every mattress they sell. Given that viewers are 85% more likely to purchase a product after watching a product video (see HERE), we agreed that this was the most immediately impactful use of video for their new site.
Gathering all the necessary brand assets, individual brand approved copy and footage of the individual mattresses would normally be a time consuming process. But through collaboration, we were able to gather and organize the assets for them, lend assistance to the script writing and icon design, shoot the footage, and have functional product videos up on their site only a couple of short months after beginning development. Check out an example HERE, under the photos, headed "Overview".
What do you do when you're building an offshore oil rig, and you need to sell it, FAST? Contact POP Video! Pemsa Drilling (AKA GroupoMexico), is an expert at manufacturing some of the world's best offshore oil platforms; complete with all the latest technologies and modern amenities one might expect to find on today's rigs. The problem lies with getting the word out. Well done photos can get you close, but only video can make a prospective buyer feel like they're ON the rig - demonstrating technologies and features in real time.
An executive at one of our dedicated agency partners has become part of a cause that he's passionate about - spine and migraine treatment. He reached out to us at the end of Q3 to find out what kind of assets we could develop that would help spread the word about all of the miraculous things being done at Aviva Spine and Advanced Migraine centers. Patients travel from across the country to these centers to meet with the industry leading doctors and find hope for ailments that have long seemed untreatable.
As we always say, we have a 100% human connection to video...because it is visceral...it's real. The stories that these patients tell about their lives before and after treatment are astounding, and the only way to truly convey their emotion and sincerity is through video. We spent a couple of days interviewing spine and migraine doctors, as well as their patients and what we'll end up with when everything is complete is a library of patient and doctor testimonial videos as well as overview videos for each center. These videos will live on their respective websites and serve as educational tools for anyone who suffers from conditions which could be treated by these centers.
Kuraray has long been one of our premiere partners. Recently, they acquired a large part of DuPont. (A while back, we produced a welcome video for the on-boarding of over 600 employees - photos can be seen HERE) Now, Kuraray has just finished converting an office space in Wilmington Delware (DuPont headquarters location) to accommodate a slew of new employees. Kuraray is a Japanese based company and as is customary in Japan, each new venture/office/plant/facility must be blessed with a ceremony. It was important to both the American and Japanese Kuraray executives that this event be captured; so naturally we made the trip. Deleware was cold but, as usual, the Kuraray people were warm. Hospitality abounded and the event turned out great.
Side note: While we were there, we grabbed some key Kuraray (formerly DuPont) employees, brought them into a pre set interview room, and gathered their thoughts on the merger and the future of the company. These will be used at a later date for internal communications. It pays to think ahead and consolidate!
Often times, companies come to us and say, "We want a video, but we don't have anything to shoot." This was definitely the case with GBH. GBH is a Certified Public Accounting Firm. They'll do a first rate job with your books but one could understand why they might not feel Hollywood ready. Companies like this - companies offering services like HR, accounting, legal, etc. - are often times ready to get into the world of video, but hesitant due to their lack of "material" - they don't have any products to demonstrate, any expansive facilities to tour or any technologies to showcase. However, at POP Video, we specialize in helping companies like these develop a video identity.
In the case of GBH, what we'll end up with is an overview video explaining their differentiating factors, backed by customer testimonials, as well as their partner's candid thoughts on what makes their company run so smoothly. The customer testimonials will then break out into individual videos focusing more on that customer's individual story. This will give GBH a library of video assets to pepper throughout their site, giving their potential customers a sincere, detailed look into multiple facets of their business.
Nalco Champion is always the shining example of creative re-purposing and this time, they outdid themselves. For the past two years, one of the many things we've partnered with them on, is to help them stand out at their trade shows. This year, at their largest and most important conference, the Deepwater Operations Conference in Galveston, TX, they wanted to go above and beyond the typical trade show booth. They enlisted our help to brainstorm ideas on how newly created 3D renders, as well as their existing video assets could work in harmony with print materials. We decided that we would create a from scratch 3D animated video explaining their support process throughout the entire life cycle. From this animation, we would extract high resolution still images to wrap the inside portion of their booth and fill banners. Additionally, we would shoot some updated personalized customer thank you messages from their employees and incorporate those into a separate health, safety and environment video. The results were stunning. Their booth was innovative in that it conveyed multiple messages across a variety of mediums, yet everything was cohesive, branded and worked together to achieve a singular feel.
Side note: For another example of how ultra HD video assets like ours can translate to print materials, take a look HERE at the second issue of the Nalco Champion magazine. The top image is ours and is a still from footage we shot in Greely, CO for future use in promotional and recruiting videos.(This is a digital copy of the magazine...we know...but when printed this image spans two pages on the inside cover.)
Okay fine...we'll show you what it looks like in real life...
Planning and re-purposing are king!
Safety videos are an important video asset for a lot of large corporations. But when is the last time you watched a safety video that actually held your attention? It probably doesn't happen often. And the ironic thing is that, it's SO IMPORTANT for people visiting your company to pay attention to the safety information! Crane Worldwide Logistics decided to break the mold and create a safety video that their visitors would actually want to watch. We sat down with the CEO and gathered his thoughts on safety, spent some time with the vibrantly diverse staff at the Crane Worldwide headquarters and trekked the massive facilities with an Australian actress, capturing pertinent safety information in real time. The project is now in the final stages and soon, anyone who visits any Crane office around the world will be greeted on an iPad by our spokesperson and a beautiful, branded, entertaining safety video.
At this point, this project is top secret...but it's something to get very excited about! Threadsmiths is an Australian clothing technology company pioneering a new era of everyday performance apparel. POP Video is partnering with them to create some cross promotional materials. Their shirts are really cool and they're truly a game changer. We have plans for an ultra modern, super exciting promotional piece that will help spread the word about Threadsmiths and their technology. Stay tuned!
Animated videos, explainer or otherwise, are a huge part of today's video landscape. Kirksey understands that. Each year, Kirksey sends out a holiday card to all of their clients. This year, they wanted to step it up a bit, so they called in the creative team from POP Video. Collaborating with their team was simple - they all have a great eye for design and are confident in what they do and don't like. And as they would tell you, Kirksey is passionate about great architecture and all things sustainable. The final video is simple, but communicates this message effectively. They picked a great way to close out 2014 and differentiate themselves from their competitors!
Side note: BIG things are in the works for Kirksey's 2015 video plan...
The University of Houston Downtown has been around now for 40 years. To mark this momentous occasion, they decided to make a stand out video piece. The finished product will include their empowering story and remarks from the President of the University as well as a distinguished student, underlying their "The Writing is on the Wall" concept, intertwined with compelling images in graphical sequences. This video will serve not only as a breathtaking piece for their anniversary gala, but also as a platform for future re-purposing. Web site videos and commercials may be in the works at a future date, and can all build off of this foundation. We're proud to have been chosen as UHD's partner for this historical journey in their 40th year.
This is what we're passionate about - helping companies and organizations achieve their internal and marketing communications goals through the use of video. As time marches on, more and more companies will embrace the importance of video. We think that 2015 will be video's biggest year yet. We're going to see companies that haven't yet bought in, making radical changes to accommodate this budding medium. The companies who have been building their video library and learning the ins and outs will continue to innovate and light the path forward for those behind them. No matter your place on the video map, we can help. If you think you or your company could benefit from any of the services discussed here, GIVE US A CALL today and let us help you Market with Motion.
Happy Holidays! Looking forward to another great year in 2015.
Cheers,
Houston's Premier Video Marketing Company
Post photo courtesy of POP Video
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