Advertising Embraces Online Video

With the viewership of online video and social media sites on the continued rise it is no surprise to see that brands have flocked to the web over traditional formats and for the first time in the UK brands have spent more money advertising on the web than on television.
In the first six months of 2011 web advertising rose by 13.5 percent to 2.26 billion pounds giving it a 27 percent share of the market.

Read the full article here www.spectrecom.co.uk/newsblog/entry/469/video-marketing-news-web-advertising-overtakes-tv-as-most-popular-medium

Barbados wins International marketing award with web video series

I don't know why I find this slightly funny but Barbados won the award for the it Eggonomics campaign that fused cooking, celebrity and charity in to a television programme called Eggonomics TV, that provided the strategy for increasing consumption of eggs and poultry.

Barbados best last years winners the United Kingdom and saw of rivals from South Africa, Australia, the United States and Sweden.

Slighlty odd somehow but yet another example of how video is being used effectively for successful marketing.

Festival for Stars

Yesterday I went to Cayton Bay Holiday Park to film the final of the Festival for Stars event for my friend Tom at T:Media.

A hard day from from a filming point of view but wow...what a day packed with talent. Whilst there were some vocal acts, this is mainly a dance competition catering for dancers from a very young age up to twenty years old.

I was very impressed with the level of talent and professionalism even at the younger end.

If you're interested in modern dancing then get yourself involved with this organisation
http://www.festival4stars.com/wordpress/

Where did the time go....

Can't believe it's the middle of May and there is a big gap in my blog......

So what have I been doing? Well, quite a lot actually, hence my blog has been neglected. In January I finished off a promotional video for the Greenlight Driving Instructor Centre to compliment the one I had previously produced for the Greenlight Driving School. Greenlight is one of the leading driver training centres in Lancashire and you can check out the video at http://www.greenlightaditraining.com/

Here I am at last.......

Yes I know I'm a little late arriving on the blog scene - but then, did I not hear someone say something about saving the best till last........ah well, if I don't say it I guess no one else will! And I promise to try and not use exclamation marks after every thing I say!  See, I'm doing it already...

So, I'd better get on and tell you what I've been doing here for the past few months.

SALSA DANCING
Seeing that dancing is flavour of the month lets start with Phil Kaila from Salsa Northwest here in Preston - the current world Salsa Amateur Dance Champion.
Having already produced a beginners instructional DVD last year, earlier this year with his dance partner Leah we went on to produce the intermediate and advanced versions as well as some old time jazz swing tuition DVD's. Here's a little taster http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iVtOVrchvI  If you want to know more about Phil and his Salsa classes check it  out at www.salsanorthwest.co.uk 

MUSIC VIDEO FOR PRESTON SINGER SONGWRITER

As an ex musican I always like working on music projects and so when my friends son Tim Allen - a singer songwriter from Preston had his EP produced by The Animal Farm in London I was happy to produce a music video for him. 'I Need Love' is quite a sad story of confused and misplaced love and so I tried to create the right kind of atmosphere by getting him to walk the back streets with me hanging out of the back of the car with camera in order to get some nice camera movement. I introduced some nostalgia by shooting on the East Lancashire Steam Railway.

Nostalgic for me anyway!

Check it out on YouTube http://www.vision4video.co.uk/newmov1.html 

Here's more information about music videos in Preston

FUNDRAISING FOR DERIAN HOUSE
In June this year, Derian House - The Children's Hospice here in Euxton held their annual gala day. It was a great event, held over two days and it featured just about everything thats fun from all the usual rides and entertainment for children plus lots of dancers, local bands from brass to rock and rare birds on display. They made lots of dosh for the hospice and I helped a little by filming the event for free and producing a video for their promotional use.

TRAINING FILM FOR THE NHS

Also in summer, the mighty metropolis of Manchester called and I was asked to produce a training video for the Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. In video terms this was a little bit tricky because the content and message of the video was not really a very visual subject. They wanted to promote the neccessisty of electronically recording every aspect of patient treatment that is carried out. So I had to really put my creative head into gear and did come up with a rather clever way of producing an engaging video about what is a rather negative subject. Here's an edited down version..... http://www.vision4video.co.uk/newmov3.html
and here's more information about video production in Manchester

 

EAST LANCASHIRE BUSINESS EVENT
'Wake Up Pendle' was an event promoting local businesses in Nelson, East Lancashire. This was sponsored and organised by Thomas Cole Internet Solutions from Brindle near Chorley in Lancashire. Local business were able to show their wares and also enjoyed guest speakers Ross Johnson on SEO and a thought provoking message from life coach David Veevers. Here's some more information about video production in Lancashire

THE FIRST PERSON IN THE WORLD...
'Scarlet's Story' had to be produced over the August Bank Holiday weekend for the Loud Group PR company on behalf of Cochlear Europe Ltd. Scarlet is a two year old girl from Preston who is profoudly deaf and is the first person in the world to receive the world's thinnest inplant called the Coclear Nucleus 5. Using Angela Anderton to ask the questions, we recorded an interview with mum & dad plus some extra sound effects from Scarlett thrown in for good measure!


FIRST AID
September found me at the Grasshopper's Rugby Club ground here in Preston. First Aid for typical rugby injuries was the name of the game and was effectively

demonstrated by Andy Cunnigham, principal lecturer in sports therapy at UCLAN in Preston. Willing students with plenty of  injuries (probably alcohol related) and lots of fake blood were all on hand to create the desired effect. More information about video production in Preston



A VISIT TO THE DENTIST...

And while on the subject of blood and pain....once again in Greater Manchester, September found me somewhere I hate being - at the dentist! Fortunately on this occasion I was writing and directing a promotional DVD in conjuction with Bolton Photographer David Smith. On this occasion there was not a drop of blood to be found but lots of acting, great smiles and some quite nice lighting - even though I do say it myself. You can check it out here http://www.vision4video.co.uk/newmov2.html