i level media

Broadcast Yourself

2012-02-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

YouTube can work for your company, and here's how: The marketplace has shifted, and another realm exists where goods and services are sold around the clock. On the Internet you can search, find, share, download, export, buy, and sell. YouTube is a video hosting and sharing network were you can create your own channel and broadcast it. You can think of Youtube as a store within a shopping center, and the Internet is the mall that houses it all. Google Adplanner claims YouTube has over 490 million registered users and one third of them average 25 minutes a day. This means a lot of people "shop" on YouTube. What really makes it work for companies is the exposure beyond YouTube. Not only are your videos able to reach millions, but people can link your videos and embed them on other social media platforms. When a video goes viral, it's because it has been shared across several sites.

If you'd like to start a YouTube channel for your company, we have a video and interactive production team ready to produce the content that will make it successful. We want to share your company's ideas, services, and products in a creative way. Here is an example of how Starbucks Coffee is using YouTube. Enjoy!

Enerpac - Photoshoot

2012-02-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

Interactive Media Strategies

2012-02-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

Enhancing Productivity With Web Video

by Isaiah Wells and Mark Irving

Video is everywhere so why are clients often reluctant or resistant to having video created for online outlets? These are often the same clients who understand the effectiveness and necessity of promoting products and services via traditional media outlets and have realized the benefits of such exposure. As circulation and expense numbers for traditional outlets continue to decline, internet and portable device media are demonstrating effectiveness at reaching the segmented audiences that will respond more positively and in greater numbers then the broader audiences that consume traditional media. The flip side of this promotion equation is the contention that, when on-line viewing numbers fall short of expectations, the value of the media production is suspect instead of what is usually the real culprit: absent or ineffective promotion? These are familiar questions to those of us engaged in creating on-line, multimedia content. Steve Vonder Haar, Research Director, Interactive Media Strategies, focuses on the first question in his four part report on business communication and efficiency as related to online multimedia. Part One of this report is excerpted below. Part Two will be posted on this blog next week.

I. Leveraging Video to Streamline Your Business

"Video is changing right before our eyes. No longer can it be thought of simply as the couch potato’s venue of choice for movies and television programming. Indeed, as technology advances make it possible to digitize and share video online, executives are finding an array of ways to put multimedia to work in their day-to-day business activities.

In this emerging world of corporate multimedia, think of Web video as a new type of data that can be integrated into a range of applications capable of enhancing an organization’s productivity. Presentations by executives can be distributed in real-time to hundreds – or even thousands – of employees and customers across the globe. Training sessions can be captured, stored and made accessible on an on-demand basis, giving workers the means to engage in on-the-job learning when and where they want. And even companies that cannot afford expensive primetime television commercials can employ the Web to deliver powerful, engaging video marketing messages directly to their target prospects.

Many companies still are experimenting with different ways to use Web video in order to squeeze more efficiency out of their on-going operations. New, creative applications of the technology are emerging every day, helping organizations achieve high returns on investment from their spending on the technology. Perhaps the only constant is that the longer executives are exposed to online multimedia and its capabilities, the more likely they are to view the technology as a platform for improving their organization’s productivity. In a survey of 1,212 corporate executives fielded by Interactive Media Strategies in the second quarter of 2008, executives were asked to “agree or disagree” with a statement describing expanded use of Web communications technology as a development that helps a company become more efficient and productive.

Clearly, long-term familiarity with Web video fosters positive perceptions of its productivity potential. Fifty-five percent of executives at organizations that have deployed online multimedia for more than five years say they “strongly agree” with the notion that Web communications enhances productivity and creates efficiencies that boost the return on investment recognized from the deployment of Web video. At companies deploying the technology for less than a year, only 26% say they “strongly agree” that Web communications can promote greater efficiency.

These results highlight a trend that is growing increasingly clear as adoption of online multimedia expands in the corporate sector. Web video is not a novelty technology that will fade in the years after its first implementation. Indeed, the opposite is true. As executives become more aware of the capabilities of Web video, they find new ways to leverage the technology to help them succeed in communicating in a richer – yet more cost-effective – way than was possible before."
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Steve Vonder Haar, "How Online Multimedia Improves Communications and Fosters Business Efficiency," April, 2009

A Bug for the Uncommon Man

2012-01-13T15:53:00.000-08:00

by Mark Irving

Volkswagen has matter-of-factly announced to the world that they intend to be the number one automaker by 2018, “economically and environmentally.” The company further states that US sales volume needs to be 800,000 to meet this goal. They seem to be on track with 256,000 unit sales in 2010 already being surpassed by 2011 unit sales of 404,900 through October. All models in the VW inventory need to perform well in the US market to achieve this ambitious mandate, including the iconic Beetle.

The nostalgia boom of the late 20th century brought about a re-launch of classic automobile models. Re-styling existing or discontinued models, those with a strong cultural-historic link, have proven to be profitable if not by increased sales for the model, than by generating interest in the manufacturer’s brand. This was the case with the New Beetle, launched in 1998, that has appealed primarily to female buyers of diverse ages. This “retro brand” was a re-launch of a historic model with contemporary features and styling enhancements.

VW is reaching out again with another contempo-retro metamorphosis (the New-New Beetle?) with strategically choreographed press releases, auto show appearances and web/broadcast commercials and videos. These media events, and the product itself, indicate an appeal to the young, male automobile consumer, an important target that was missed with the 98 model. The show models are shiny black, resplendent with oversized alloy wheels and low profile tires that suggest sportiness and aggression while the squashed, lowered and widened classic shape reminds the potential buyer that this is a Bug on steroids. Gone is the steering column flower vase, replaced by a gauge cluster that provides redundant measurements of mechanical functions being precisely monitored and controlled by the vehicle’s computer. If your really squint, you can almost see the silhouette of the Porsche 356 that, like the original Beetle, was sculpted from the molten, material remains of a reconstructed Germany, but at opposite ends of the car-culture spectrum. Both were preeminent and, ultimately, iconic models for the post-war generation.

The 2012 Beetle customer identity is best illustrated in the “High-5” launch commercial that premiered last September. Gender and age identity markers are established early on with a profile shot of the car with driver: a 20-something, tastefully attired and groomed, male. As the spot progresses, the driver self-consciously navigates through a cavalcade of urban settings populated by citizens in a variety of masculine situations (road crew, policeman on horseback, dog, bike racers). His urban-bro identity is validated by the spontaneous high-fiving between driver and citizens. Any suspicion that the curiously shaped vehicle might not be entirely masculine or unidentifiable is discounted by this gesture of acceptance and approval. As approvals stack up, the driver’s demeanor evolves from self-consciousness to self-assuredness. Identity affirmed, the New-New Beetle owner is empowered by the recognition of not just his masculinity but also his status. Beetle-guy is collecting high-5 acknowledgements of a savvy purchase.

The car is an icon but with style, utility and expense attached relating directly to gender role in the consumption process. The display of functional, scientific, and performance features has replaced the decorative, aesthetic and gratifying aspects displayed in the launch of the 98 bug. This is not to say that the car manufacturer is promoting a stereotype of a gender-based demographic. These are all positive attributes that happen to conform to tenacious associations between gender and role. The final frame of the commercial is a scene of the stylish, yet functional, rear of the car. Superimposed over the scene is “The all-new Beetle. That’s the Power of German Engineering.”

Scenarios of masculine identity fostering are supported by the big city scenics of a contemporary urban environment. The narrative is a carefully crafted expedition through the curiously spotless but somehow daunting urban jungle as re-imagined by the producers. It was hip and masculine to be urban in 60’s America just as urban renewal was getting underway. This was an adventure for upwardly mobile males just as their female counterparts were emigrating to the suburbs, usually with a reluctant spouse in tow. The urban landscape was perceived as a dangerous place, a “haven from domesticity” and something to be reclaimed.

Advertising continues to portray the urban lifestyle as an exercise in stylish living but also one of adventure and foreboding. The urban world was (and is) a place defined as a spectacle of design and fashion, that is all about a cosmopolitan lifestyle. The sports car that was once used to commute, not from suburbia but from an urban apartment to the office, has been replaced by a more utilitarian, retro-contemporary vehicle that reflects a hipness that is more individual, masculine and less cliché. An automobile characterized by utility, economy and style. The VW Beetle is such a vehicle, one that I might line up for if I didn’t have to squint quite so hard to see the Porsche 356.

NOTES
1)     Todd Lasa, “Volkswagen Plans for World Domination,” Motor Trend, (April, 2011)
2)     Stephen Brown, “Teaching Old Brands New Tricks,” Journal of Marketing, Vol. 67, No. 3, (July, 2003): 19.
3)     Dick Hebdige, “Object as Image: The Italian Scooter Cycle,” in The Consumer Society Reader (scanned): 125.
4)     Elizabeth Fraterrigo, “Pads and Penthouses,” in Playboy and the Making of the Good Life in Modern America (Oxford Press, 2009): 95.
5)     John Fiske, “Shopping for Pleasure: Malls, Power and Resistance,” (1989): 317.

Production in 2012

2012-01-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

by Isaiah Wells

A new year is upon us with new desires and ambitions on both personal and professional levels. So, how should we handle these emotions that emerge at the beginning of each New Year? Since we are motivated to move in a direction that we believe will enrich our lives and the lives of others, we will focus on how to turn these dreams into actions. There are two elements that will determine this course of action: setting a goal or destination and putting operative assets in place to arrive there. This will be the road map that will guide us through this year and we will continually look at the map to ensure that we are on course. So, what is our goal? Our goal is you! We want to make compelling media for you and your business and provide the ongoing service necessary to maintain it. An intersection is an opportunity to change your path to arrive at your destination. If achieving your goals requires implementing effective media, then our paths need to cross.

New Year!

2012-01-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

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