by John Hennessy | Sep 16, 2011 | Internet Video, Live Event, Online Marketing, Promotional Video, Theatre, Video Marketing, Website Video
Here’s a promotional video we created for ‘Guerilla Days In Ireland’: a play that’s currently on tour around Ireland and getting some really positive feedback. It’s based on the book by Tom Barry, an account of his time with the IRA. It has been adapted for stage by Neil Pearson, who also directs.
We also worked on some visuals and video content for the play itself which was a little different from what we usually do, but turned out really well I’m happy to report! You’ll no doubt see posters advertising this around, or hear the radio ad that’s in circulation, but you should certainly go to see it. It’s a very powerful piece of theatre.
http://www.guerilladays.com/
by John Hennessy | Jul 27, 2011 | Filmmaking, He Moved Through The Fair, Internet Video, Online Marketing, Short Film, Social Media Marketing
Well we’ve had a fantastic first day of our new ‘Fund It’ campaign to finance our new short film ‘He Moved Through The Fair’. We’ve already hit the 10% mark thanks to early supporters! This has given the project a great start, and a huge morale boost to the team.
Thanks again to our supporters, and to all our would be pledgers, get on down to the ‘Fund It’ page soon so as not to miss out on all the movie making bounty up for grabs!
http://www.throughthefair.com
http://www.fundit.ie/project/he-moved-through-the-fair
by John Hennessy | Jul 27, 2011 | Filmmaking, He Moved Through The Fair, Internet Video, New Media Marketing, Online Marketing, Short Film, Social Media Marketing
Kerbute Productions are proud to announce their new short film collaboration with Trench Entertainment: ‘He Moved Through The Fair’ is now officially in pre-production. The Film will be shot in Laois in September.
We are financing this next endeavor through crowd funding using the new ‘Fund It’ online platform. That means we’ll need your help to make this happen. Any support you can give, through pledges or spreading the word of this project, will help get it made. Check out the campaign page to see all the exciting rewards in store for supporters, or check out the project’s blog to see the trailer and updates.
The script was written by Martin Rochford and myself, and will be produced by Jack Kavanagh & Trench Entertainment. Lucy Jones from EDEN Digital Film Studio is on board as DOP, and Will Higgins from Trench is the Production Designer.
We are very excited to be working with Trench again after the success of our first collaboration, ‘The Colonel’ was premiered at this years Galway Film Fleadh. I really enjoyed working with the Trench team throughout the whole shoot, and I’ve every confidence that our next project together will be equally as successful.
by John Hennessy | Feb 5, 2011 | Corporate Video, Internet Video, New Media Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing
Authors Note: This article was originally written in 2011, and a lot has changed about the internet since then. While the main premise of the article holds true, the individual details and sources may be outdated. Some effort has been made to amend parts that stand out but it is not intended to be comprehensive.
There are countless articles and pages of advice about New Media scattered throughout the interweb. It’s everywhere and it continues to grow, transform and transcend itself. And it’s vital to your business.
New Media is what happens when you take the traditional elements of media; print, TV & film/video, images, music, words – spoken and written; and then you mix in some magic interactivity through modern computer and communications technology. A poster is old media. But stick a URL/web link or QR code on it and suddenly it’s new media.
Now add the marketing. How does your business leverage all that is new? Why should it bother? Because there are in the region of 500 million people on facebook [edit: 1.1 Billion active users as of 6.23.2013 – link] alone for a start. How many print ads would it take to reach that kind of audience? How many TV spots? And it’s free. Largely. [Not any more – see Facebook advertising] You have to sell your soul like I did, but that’s not such a loss when you can fill it with the pandemonium that is the Internet.
As with all kinds of marketing such as orthodontic marketing, you need to build a network, but rather than a distribution network utilising other businesses and ad space providers (they’re still important!), you need ordinary Joe and Mary (and the less ordinary ones too I guess). You’ll start with all those friends and near acquaintances you’ve met throughout the years, and build from there. Incidentally it’s all these friends and acquaintances who chatter on about everything they like and don’t like that will get your product or service noticed and promoted. And if it’s worth talking about, they’ll do it for free.
That word again; Free. Free advertising? Well, as I say, it’s largely free. Yes the facebook/twitter/myspace accounts are free to sign up. But you get out what you put in. You need to invest time gathering your community, gathering promotional marketing materials, and building a platform. You need to give people a reason to take time out to join your social network, which has to be easily found, engaging and accessible.
Then you have to give your ever expanding social network a reason to talk to their friends and colleagues about you; an innovative product or service; an eye catching or witty viral; a special offer. Once you’ve caught their interest, you need to give them an attractive and unique landing page to flock to. You need to stand out in that 6 million strong crowd, and competition is tougher than ever.
The main thing that separates old media from New Media is choice. No longer do people have to sit through that run of the mill: ‘here’s our product and here’s why you need it speil’. That just won’t cut it anymore. They won’t sit back and digest the same boring auld drivel; not when there are literally thousands if not millions of more exciting things to see on the Internet, and precious little time to spend on it. Your offering needs personality.
There is a debate as to whether the influence of the Internet is shortening people’s attention span, but one thing’s for sure; If you don’t grab their attention, someone else certainly will. TV commercials are old media, but Internet video is new media. And when that video is lucky enough to break out and entertain a large audience, then it goes viral, and the whole world pays attention.
Wikipedia recons “New Media Marketing is most effectively marketed by Internet-driven technology such as blogs, RSS, Web video productions, and podcasts.” Yup. And we can help with all of that. Especially the video productions. Lets get that vast online community talking about your business.
by John Hennessy | Jan 27, 2011 | Corporate Video, Internet Video, New Media Marketing, Online Marketing
If you haven’t already heard of the new craze that’s been buzzing around the office, you’d better get your head out of the Amstrad and onto a smart phone. QR codes are where it’s at. Short for ‘quick response’ code, QR codes are a type of barcode that take on the form of a patterned square and can be read by dedicated QR code readers and more recently (and importantly) by fancy pants smart phones galore.
Even though they have been widely used in Japan for over a decade, QR codes are only now becoming common over here thanks to the availability of smart phones and the innovation of businesses such as ScanLife. This type of barcode was invented in 1994 by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave (thanks Wikipedia) but have yet to reach their plateau due to their versatility. The information encoded within them can be text, data, or interestingly; a URL. To use them, you simply point your camera phone at them, scan with a free AP or downloaded software, and voilá, you’re transported to the website or video link.
This is an interesting tool for businesses and marketers as it bridges the gap between paper and digital space, taking the fuss out of getting a customer to your website, and instantly providing more information about a product or service. The QR codes can be reproduced on any kind of 2D or print media ranging from the humble business card to a road side billboard. Aside from tool, you can also click here for more info on what else can make your business stand out.
While the mechanism is pretty cheap and simple, and people are starting to recognise and utilise them more and more; the crucial element is getting the landing page right. Use the link wisely! Don’t just use it as a ‘digital business card’, there are many more innovations available. Use it on advertisements to promote special offers or events, have it link to a map to your premises or collect customer data through competition entries. Feature Film posters and DVD retailers are using QR codes to drive traffic to movie trailers.
Check this example: Download the ‘Scanlife’ Ap or other QR code reader to your iPhone or SmartPhone and scan this image right off the screen. Hey Presto!
Having a unique landing page for a specific code also allows businesses to measure the effectiveness of a given ad or campaign by tracking the QR code response. Locally, The Metro Herald have reported great reception to the codes since they launched them with their advertisers: “advertisers are seeing 5-15 percent of the overall readership responding to ads. For competitions, the conversion rate was as high as 97 percent. That is 97 percent of those who responded to the ad by scanning the code, went on to enter their contact details and sign up for a competition.”
Use the crafty QR code to help your business stand out from the crowd. With video and broadband becoming commonplace on phones, why not use your business cards to send the client to a snazzy video commercial or memorable product promo, taking advantage of their attention while you have it. Link to a viral commercial from a magazine or print ad and get them to subscribe to your YouTube channel for future entertainment, and from there get them onto your facebook page. You do have a facebook page right? Maximize your business potential by partnering with the Top 20 merchant services.
Contact us now to see how we can help make QR codes and web video work for your business.
