Online video is getting quicker and quicker
I’ve been playing around quite nicely with my new flipvideo camera recently, mostly for personal use though I’m sure it won’t be long before it’s put to good business use too.
Last week I attended a close friend’s wedding in Ireland. I took the flipvideo camera along and within 12 hours of stumbling to bed after the festivities of an Irish wedding (I hit the sack at 3am and the bride, groom and Irish family were all still up singing in the bar), I had an edited version of the video online on facebook thanks to the excellent built-in software on the camera, instant usb connectivity and free wifi in the hotel.
I thought that was quick! Then this morning I received the latest updates from animoto and learn that they’ve now created an iPhone app so you can create animoto videos on your iPhone (or touch iPod) whilst still on the move. I haven’t tested it yet (might steal my partner’s touch iPod later to have a play around), but in theory this is a very cool idea and just speeds up even more the ability to go from a photo (or in the case of flipvideo a video clip) to a fairly polished looking video online in a matter of minutes – and at hardly any expense at all.
Very useful visual guide for how Broadcast PR people need to rethink PR
I know I am always banging on about how PR people need to rethink this and rethink that, but today David Cushman has posted a really useful presentation on slideshare that really helps PR people to visualise the differences and challenges them to find ways to engage with what he calls ‘P2PR’ (I like this expression, might adopt it myself!). Seeing as the embed tag is available on his presentation, here it is:
Animoto
Thanks to Paul Bradshaw (twitter.com/paulbradshaw) who I follow on Twitter, I learned this morning about a new slideshow service called Animoto. This is amazing. It’s a wonderful substitute for anyone that wants a video on their website but can’t afford the thousands of pounds that a video will cost.
Basically all you do is upload a selection of still images to the site, select a music track (they have a library of licence-free tracks for you to choose from) and the site does the work for you. I had a little play around using my rabbit photos (why not?) and here is what it created. This took about 20 mins to upload the photos and about 10 mins for the video to be created. I hadn’t edited the photos or anything, so this is a real rough-and-ready attempt. Imagine what you can do with a little more effort.
I was then very easily able to put it on facebook (just the click of a button takes you straight through) and get the html code for embedding it in this blog post.
I will certainly be buying the commercial licence for using this site to create a little promo real for Pickle Jar Communications, and perhaps even offering this as a service to our clients. It is just wonderful!
A great example of the power of new media
I’m working late tonight. Because I’m working late, I’m missing out on a trip to the Coventry Pizza Express with my fiance and a group of our friends. Sounds like a fairly run-of-the-mill Tuesday night, doesn’t it? However, there is a story behind this trip to Pizza Express – one which – combined with tonight’s activities (and bearing in mind that they are still probably sat in the restaurant as I write this blog post) really demonstrates the power and speed of new media communications.
The background, in a nutshell, is that between us we’ve all experienced some examples of pretty poor customer service from this restaurant lately, despite the food being great and it being one of only a few places in Coventry city centre that we like going to and that suits all of our tastes. So, my friend Ben wrote this blog post a few days ago as a bit of a whinge about their customer service.
The blog post did the rounds thanks to the power of google and twitter and ultimately resulted in Ben receiving a call from the manager of the restaurant yesterday assuring him of their committment to customer service. So, true to form, the gang have headed over there tonight while I sit here working away.
As I’m working, one of said-gang and an avid Twitterati has posted a message linking through to a video recorded on his phone as they arrived at the restaurant this evening. In less than an hour the video had already been viewed 22 times. In case you can’t quite follow, the gist of this is that the operations manager said that we could request to sit upstairs anytime we wanted, but when they’ve tested this out tonight, they’ve yet again been denied using the space upstairs (a space which they rarely seem to use even when the restaurant is full, hence the earlier complaints about customer service). [At this point in the original blog post I included the video, embedded from elsewhere, but as I have since received a comment pointing out that the video should never have been put online in the first place, and they are quite right, I have since removed this]
And I’ve also just received another Tweet from my fiance this time telling me that they’ve been refused another drink (just to be clear – they won’t be drunk or anything at this time – they’re just a bunch a nice young professionals with money to spend wanting to have a quiet drink).
What a great example of the power of mobile, video, and social networking, hey? They haven’t even left the restaurant and already probably upwards of 30 or 40 people (by time I have also tweeted about this blog post) will be aware of this.
Twitter update: 10 mins after posting this blog
Jake (our talented videographer) says that customer service from the girl that served them tonight has been good – I just thought I ought to add this update to keep it fair to the staff that do deliver good service!
Multimedia PR flying high
Scott Berinato’s post, Delta-Northwest Create the Press Release of the Future, on the Harvard Conversation Starter blog highlights an exemplary use of a micro-site for PR purposes. In my mind this is a great example of a multimedia release. Clear thought has been given to the stakeholders and communicating direct with key groups (staff, customers, communities), but this is also coupled with an excellent news centre with extensive quotes, web videos available for use, broadcast-quality video clips available to access, audio clips for download, and a great selection of images too. This is a great example of best practice for such issues, and one that really isn’t difficult to replicate by other organisations with a bit of foresight and a modest budget – it really need not cost a lot of money, and I expect many organisations would see significant return for investing in a site like this for certain issues.
Just a nice, innocent viral marketing video
I rather like this viral marketing video doing the rounds from HP, so just thought I would share it even further. Really is the key to viral marketing videos – keep it simple, clever, entertaining, fun and something that makes you smile and want to share with others. This does the trick … and my post is evidence of that.
Digital Media for Business
As part of the work we’ve been doing for Ideas for Life TV, we were recently involved in a conference on digital media for business hosted at Alton Towers (18 March). Working with Ember Regis, we interviewed the key speakers from the event. Two of them were specifically speaking about how digital media can be used to communicate science and can be used by business. Both videos are available below. The first features Magic Lantern Chief Executive, Anthony Lilley, while the second is an interview with Adam Rutherford, online editor for Nature.
Video production for PARD programme at WMG
Pickle Jar Communications was contracted earlier this year by WMG at the University of Warwick to oversee the production of a video promoting the successes of the various projects within the Premium Automotive Research and Development (PARD) programme. We worked with @Warblefly Productions, Eight Eyed Sea Bass and Mustard Design to co-ordinate the final package – a 20 minute video and DVD packaging with 2000 copies supplied. Our colleagues at Eight Eyed Sea Bass have kindly popped the video online, and we are able to embed it here:
Pickle Jar Communications worked with the team at PARD to develop the video brief, then worked closely with the production team to develop the concept. We were responsible for organising all filming, scheduling a very tight 3-day shoot, then overseeing the edit process for delivery of the final DVDs in time for a conference that the PARD team had organised where the DVDs were to be distributed. The entire project was turned around in just 6 weeks from proposal to final delivery.
Fast Forward to the End
Tomorrow we’re holding the final of the Fast Forward series for Ideas for Life TV. Not only have I been production manager for this project, but I have also had to be event manager too pulling together all the various strands to make it work. I have to say, I’m feeling quite sad that it all wraps up tomorrow (with the exception of one further piece that we need to film with another company). On the plus side, I will be able to stop working silly hours for a short while, my house actually might get cleaned this weekend, and I will really get to see just how far our teams have come along. It’s been an interesting experiment in science communication and I’ll reflect more on that soon, but for now I need to get back into those last minute preparations for the final. The prizes for the kids have started to arrive at my door now and I think there’s another delivery man knocking at the door right now …
Fast Forward launches on Ideas for Life TV
The Fast Forward series that we are working on launched this week on Ideas for Life TV.
I’ve embedded episode 1 directly from Ideas for Life TV below. It might take a little while to play (don’t forget to hit the play button!) but bear with it to meet the kids and find out about their challenge!
The rest of the series is progressing nicely and we now have some exciting judges lined up for the grand final to the challenge on 22nd February. Episodes will be released roughly speaking every week from now until March.
