A Holiday Card From Shadow Productions

by Alex Ball

A fellow producer and I had a conversation yesterday, and, while we complained a bit about our jobs…that’s par for the course…we also had to admit how lucky we are to be able to earn a living doing what we do.

Just this week, for example, Shadow Productions sent it’s annual e-card out into the world. A holiday spoof, or an annual gag reel, is a great way for an advertising agency or a production house to blow off some steam at the end of the year, and it’s been going ever since the dawn of the industry. I really enjoyed our piece this year…and, because I didn’t have a single thing to do with it’s production, I feel completely free to gush about it…and to say how much fun it is working with the team at Shadow.

For many years, our head writer, Matt Dugan has sent to his close friends and family a homemade Christmas card.

“It’s partly masochism and partly because it’s fun,” says Matt, “but every year I challenge myself to come up with and hand-draw several different card ideas for different family members. Some of those are silly and aren’t for everybody (don’t tell him, but my dad’s card this year has Tom Brady in a snit over Giselle possibly being prettier than he is). But some have a broader flavor, and so last year and this year, we took ideas from my family cards and turned them into printed cards and animations for our clients and company friends.”

This year, we took one of Matt’s cards and turned it into the holiday flash animation that sits on our homepage: “When Snow Men Lie….”

Take a peek by clicking here! (It should open in a new window, so you can come back and finish this post if you want.)

click the pic

Fun, huh?

At Shadow Productions, we create materials for marketing. Although we often use humor as a tool, our main job, of course, is to communicate a point of view, or, more to the point, to sell a product.

But one of the really cool side benefits of our job is that when holiday times roll around, we get to step away from the marketing part of our brains for a while and just let our imagination off the leash…we get to try things we would never try on a client’s dime…and, 8 times out of 10, we end up with a new skill or trick we can use down the road to help our clients meet their goals…but the main thing is, it keeps us entertained.

This year, our guys had a lot of fun, and I think it shows. Doug Lang, our animator, and Rob Ostrander, our audio producer, obviously had a really good time bringing Matt’s original writing and drawing to life.

In addition, Rob got a chance to flaunt his considerable musical talent.

“This year we had a new toy,” Rob told me. “It’s a Maestro Rhythm King MkII drum machine, a vintage piece from 1970. I just love the sound of this thing. My buddy G (John Goglia), joined me to play the keyboard while I played my stand-up bass. We just had a ton of fun cheesing up some Christmas classics.”

Anyway, hope you enjoy the Christmas Card…and hope you don’t mind me too much bragging on my co-workers, but Matt said it best when I interviewed him for this post:

“You know, for us it’s just about having fun, telling our clients, “thanks” and wishing everybody happy holidays. Who says you can’t have fun at work? Life’s too short.”

Yup--- that sums it up…Happy Holidays.

Boosting Word of Mouth Advertising A True Story

By Alex Ball

This morning, I found myself engaged with a financial planner who is in the process of building his business. Of course, times are tough all over, so while the population at large is kicking itself for NOT doing some strong financial planning a few years back, at the moment, figuring out what do with the little money they have left is not difficult…they spend it. They spend on food, on clothing, on shelter…and they hope they have enough. The future is not years away, it’s next week.

That makes building a business in this environment tough.

So I asked my friend, “Where are you focusing your efforts to attract new clients?” My friend answered: “I’m building the business by referral.”

Referral, or Word of Mouth. Truly, it is the best way to build a business. A prospect who learns your name from someone they trust, and who arrives at your doorstep already having heard great things about you, is a hot prospect. No argument there.

BUT- the problem with word of mouth, is that it only works one person at a time, and it only carries as loudly as one person can talk. So, if you need to extend and enhance the power of Word of Mouth, what can you do?

In thinking about this problem, I was reminded of a story from my past. When I was in junior high school, I awoke every morning to two sounds: The first was that of eggs frying on the stove; the second sound was VPR on the radio…and for a great deal of that time, Wake Robin, the continuing care facility, sponsored morning programming. “Brought to you by Wake Robin” - those words were indelibly etched into my childhood memories.

Some twelve years later, I moved to the other end of the state, where Wake Robin is located. One morning, at a four way stop, I found myself looking at a Wake Robin van. “Oh!” I thought, smiling, “Wake Robin!” As I looked at their logo, a warm, comfortable feeling came over me.

What was that? I thought? I have no connection to Wake Robin. None. I don’t know anybody who lives there, I don’t know anybody who works there. So, why, for heaven’s sake, did I get a warm, friendly feeling just by hearing the name?

Then, it hit me…12, yes, TWELVE years previously, they’d manage to impress themselves into my brain. Twelve long years later, those synapses still fired: right on cue.

(By the way, Wake Robin is not a client of Shadow, so I have no ulterior motive in sharing this story.)

Now, flash forward again to 2009. I find myself preparing for a family conference- we have some relatives who may no longer be able to live in their home. What was the FIRST place I thought of? You guessed it: Wake Robin.

Now, if my relatives were to decide that Wake Robin was the choice for them, the institution would likely score one for “Word of Mouth”- my relatives would say that they were sent there because of my personal referral. In reality, however, the ground had been laid back around 1985 with a radio sponsorship. Some 24 years later, that seed sprouted into a word of mouth referral.

The moral of the story: Word of Mouth IS the most effective form of advertising…but good, well written, well placed advertising is an incredibly effective tool which gives “word of mouth” a very long staying power. Put another way: Word of Mouth is what keeps the ball rolling, but a good message is what STARTS the ball rolling.

Sell What You're Feeling.

by Alex Ball

Dave Burke just posted something on facebook, and I thought it was worth putting up a link here, too.

"Talent is being able to sell what you're feeling"

Taking as her text a quote from Elvis Presley, Lisa Barone of OutSpoken Media argues that it is emotion, far more than metrics, that are the real key to Successful Marketing. Make me feel something, she says, and you're very close to making the sale.

While Barone is arguing from the perspective of Social Media, her message rings true across all marketing channels...

This is a good post...have a read!

ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING!

http://outspokenmedia.com/online-marketing/once-more-with-feeling/

TV Up Your Web...

By Alex Ball

Shadow Productions began using the positioning statement “TV Up Your Web” a few years ago. It means that every website has the potential to function as TV station for your business, your group, your cause, or just as a channel devoted to showing your personality to anyone in the world who cares to watch.

As broadband becomes available to an ever growing part of the population, the internet has changed its nature. It used to be a print medium (one website used the slogan: “A picture is worth a thousand words--- but a thousand words download faster” ) but it has become a platform on which anything is possible- and, in which everybody can operate their own TV station.

Here are just two examples of that.

The first is from the world of politics. (By the way, Shadow Productions is not endorsing any particular view point here— we’re talking about the WAY the message is delivered rather than the message itself.)

Vermont’s Senator Bernard Sanders has long been known as someone who is not shy about expressing his particular point of view. Since August of this year, he has partnered with a company from California called “Brave New Studios” to produce a series of videos called: SANDERS UNFILTERED.

Love him or hate him, Sanders and Brave New Studios are taking their case directly to their “customers” (in this case, political progressives) and not relying exclusively on WCAX, the Burlington Free Press, CNN or Fox News to get their message across.

The second example is a lot less politically charged…and, for us, a lot closer to home. Shadow’s writer Matt Dugan, and our Multi-Media expert, Doug Lang, recently worked on a series of videos for Green Homes America.

Here is a video that explains to a customer how a Home Energy Audit works and what happens. As energy prices continue their roller coaster ride, and as the Federal Government continues to offer incentives to taxpayers looking to decrease energy use…many home owners are searching for this kind of information.

But consider the differences in how a customer can access the facts she wants. Under the old model…the consumer is faced with a fairly dense block of copy. But in this case, the seeker of information is able to click play on the video- grab a cup of coffee - and sit back and let Mike Rodgers both explain it to them, and show them pictures of the process at work.

Not only has Green Homes America had a chance to convey much more information than they could in print, or even in a thirty second TV spot; but the video also offers chance for the customer to get a feel for this company, and begin to make a decision about whether these are the people they want to do business with.



This stuff is really exciting to work on, and to follow…it’s definitely a changing world. If you’ve got any ideas, or seen anything neat in the world of new media…please let us know…we’d love to hear from you.

Multimedia Company Steps Out Of The Shadows At Awards Show

At a recent awards show, Burlington-based multimedia marketing company Shadow Productions received six Vermont Association of Broadcasters Commercial of the Year awards.

The awards were given at the Vermont Association of Broadcasters (VAB) conference, held at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Montpelier in May. Among the awards Shadow took home were BEST PRODUCED RADIO COMMERCIAL, AGENCY-PRODUCED; FUNNIEST RADIO COMERCIAL, AGENCY PRODUCED; and FUNNIEST TV COMMERCIAL, AGENCY PRODUCED. Each member of the Shadow Team took home at least one award for writing or production, including producer Rob Ostrander, whose material was entered in the show for the first time this year.

Managing Partner Matt Dugan said: “Even after almost two decades in business, we get great satisfaction out of producing creative and fun ads for our clients. 364 days of the year, we’re busy strategizing, producing, monitoring and assessing and radio, TV and web campaigns. But the other day of the year—the VAB awards show—we sit back and enjoy it.”

There were over 160 contest entries from radio stations, television stations and advertising agencies from around Vermont. Shadow Productions producer Alex Ball said, “We’re really proud to win these awards, but it is an even greater honor to be at the show with other professionals from the broadcast industry. When you hear all the award-winning commercials and meet the people who produced them, it’s exciting to think about how much talent we have right here in this state.”

The complete list of award winners, along with pictures from the event can be found on the VAB website. http://www.vab.org/awards.htm