Foot Locker Racing Day

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Each year for the past 12 years, we have shot the Southern Regional Foot Locker Cross Country Race for high school students. The top finishers go to San Diego for the Nationals. We used to shoot this Foot Locker cross country race on Betacam back in the day, but of course, now we shoot it in HD. It’s always fun to be at this event (even though it starts early in the morning), which is held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The energy at the event is contagious and I just love it. We edit a short video to go on the Foot Locker website as soon as we get it back to the studio.

Here are the videos from last year’s race:

Surgical Procedures and Blood, Oh My!

Our client, a national medical TV producer, needed a clear shot of a new throat surgical procedure in Charleston, SC.  By mounting the camera on a Jimmy Jib we were able to accomplish this without compromising the sterility of the operating field.  We also recorded the surgeon’s head camera to a Pix240 HD recorder, along with the surgeon’s audio commentary.  This was the 3rd surgery Mark shot in a 2-week period.  The others were open heart surgery in Asheville, NC. Let’s just say he’s had his fill of blood for a while!

How To Leverage How-To Videos: YouTube’s Booming Handyman Audience

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If you don’t know how to do something, the most popular go-to move is launching an Internet browser and quickly Googling your inquiry. Within moments, your answer is in hand and you immediately feel you have conquered the world. Google, which owns YouTube, reported that “how-to” searches on YouTube are growing 70 percent year-over-year for mobile users. If you are one of these people, welcome to Google geekdom.

Organizations can leverage the power of consumer habits and behaviors of searching for content on YouTube by creating how-to videos surrounding their product or service.

For example, a furniture retailer may create a how-to vlog (video blog) on how to properly clean microfiber sofas (all the moms with toddlers rejoice!); or an event planner may create a video on how to properly place silverware for a dinner party (because we all know which fork to use, right?).

Consumers are steadily turning to YouTube for videos to deliver information quickly and in an engaging format, especially when it comes to how to do something. Most of us can admit to being visual learners, and would rather be shown how to do something instead of reading. The explosion of YouTube info-centric videos is a testament to our disdain for long instruction pamphlets. Want proof? Just type in ‘Ikea furniture assembly’ on YouTube. Case closed.

If you want to create your own how-to videos, here are some things you need to do to get started:

  1. Keep it short! No superfluous, flowery language. Consumers don’t need the history of a sofa if they just want to know how to clean the cushions.
  2. Ask someone to watch your video to make sure your instructions are clear and understandable. If your test audience doesn’t understand it, you still have time to make important changes or edits to the video before thoroughly humiliating yourself online.
  3. Be sure to include text for those who prefer to read or just want to glance back at one of the instructions. You can do this by text pop ups within the video, or by offering a transcription of the video in the description area of your YouTube video page.
  4. Include keywords and optimization tactics for YouTube. Properly tagging and optimizing the description space can make your video easy to find, as well as allow it to rank higher than other results.

Remember, when creating how-to videos, you are representing your brand and product, so take heed when trying to do your own without the help of a video professional. For more information about how-to videos and Web videos, contact Gefen Productions to get your brand moving.

Videos Aren’t Just a One-Trick Pony: 4 Ways to Re-Purpose Video Content

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There’s a lot to be said about re-using things. You can recycle old rubber tires and plastic water bottles, so why not re-purpose video content? In fact, if you leverage them correctly, they will provide content for your brand or product on a lot of different levels.

Say you’ve recently produced a commercial, product video or recruitment video. There can be life beyond the video’s original purpose!  Here are some insights on how you can re-purpose video content professionally to increase ROI for your company.:

  1. Website Content: It has been shown that consumers vastly choose video over text when given the option of how information is delivered and your website is prime real estate. House your product videos on product pages, introductions to the company on the company profile page, happy customer videos on the testimonials page, and your employee recruitment videos on your careers page.
  1. Social Media: We’re not just talking about posting your video on social video streaming sites like YouTube, although that should be a given. Videos are excellent content for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Studies have shown that videos and images yield higher engagement rates on these platforms than text alone. So, if you want your message seen—and heard—video is a shoe-in.

                            

  1. Email Blasts: Email marketing is not dead; in fact, it’s still a very viable way to market your product or service, with over 97% of Americans checking their email every single day. The trick is to make people want to read your emails; but if you include a video to help spice up the message—and their inbox—you’ll see greater conversions and click-through rates. Add a saucy and provocative subject line to entice people to open the email and watch your video views soar.

In fact, a study by Experian found that of companies who included GIFs in their emails, 72 percent revealed that their messages have higher transaction-to-click rates.

  1. Vlogs: Vlogs, otherwise known as a video blog, may be the missing component your blog needs to increase traffic and engagement. Like we’ve mentioned earlier, consumers actively choose videos over text to receive information. If you’ve got a great video on cool product features, don’t tell your audience about it…show them.

Just because you used a video on social media doesn’t mean you can’t use that same video on your website or in a blog. Don’t be afraid to use your video content in multiple arenas, when appropriate.

Consumers Bring New Meaning to the Term ‘Couch Potato’: We Watch 5.5 Hours of Video Content Every Day

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With the invention of sites such as Hulu and Netflix, most of us know the feeling of losing track of an entire day as we binge watch our favorite series. No? What about watching videos of funny cats, product demonstrations, or those funny Buzzfeed compilations? It’s hard to meet anyone these days who doesn’t watch a lot of video, either online, on television, or on their smart phones. If you knew that consumers were spending several hours watching video every day, would you invest in video content marketing? According to research from eMarketer, you may want to carve out a chunk in your marketing budget for video content if you want to keep your brand in front of engaged audiences.

eMarketer recently revealed that consumers are watching 5.5 hours of video content on average and 20 percent of that time is spent watching digital content every day. That’s a lot of air time. Aside from wondering what people do at their jobs all day, it begs the question: how can you get in front of this trend and in front of your target audience?

Another study from LiveClicker found that about 57 percent of retail brands reported that they saw average order values increase when users watched just one video they had produced. Sales also doubled when people watched 10 or more videos.

Video content comes in any forms, including but not limited to pre-roll ads, corporate videos and promos, video blogs, commercials, recruitment videos, question and answer segments, interviews, and product showcases.

Videos are a powerful sales tool because they can give consumers a more comprehensive look into the product, how it works, its features and functionality, which is much more than pictures alone can do.boy playing in the computer

For example, online shoe retailer Zappos understands the power of online videos. For each and every product, Zappos has created product videos that showcase the item, provide a detailed description, and give consumers an up close and personal look at the product they are trying to sell. Consumers are able to visualize the item fitting into their lives, feel more comfortable with the quality of product, and feel confident in their purchase.

Getting consumers to watch a video is the easy part; the trick is to convert them into customers. Your strategy can either make a video nothing more than an entertaining piece or a critical part of your sales toolbox. Be sure the point of your video is clear, there is a definitive call to action, and that it keeps your audience’s attention.

For more information about video content marketing and how to increase your sales, contact Gefen Productions to get your brand moving.

Bekka’s Story – YMCA of Northwest North Carolina

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Here we are at the Wilkesboro YMCA shooting a video for their Annual Giving Campaign.  The video we shot tells Bekka’s story.  Five year old Bekka Collins is overcoming physical developmental handicaps with the help of the YMCA of Northwest North Carolina.  When she was 18 months old she was diagnosed with pneumococcal meningitis.  The disease caused her to experience numerous strokes and seizures and left her unable to walk, talk or function as a normal child.  Along with professional rehabilitation and the programs and services of the YMCA, she is making great strides to rebuild her life.  Bekka is using the swimming and soccer programs at the YMCA of Northwest North Carolina as a way to build muscle and coordination.  The care and concern of the program instructors at the YMCA also give her and her family a brighter outlook on life.  Bekka is an example of a strong surviving spirit overcoming incredible odds.

Golfer Jason Day Wows in Pinehurst

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Recently, our crew had the opportunity to shoot for a client in Pinehurst during the 2014 US Open. During our shoot, we interviewed professional golfer, Jason Day. This young Australian began playing PGA events in 2006 and has won three PGA tours, including the HP Byron Nelson Championship in 2010, the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in 2014 and the Farmers Insurance Open this past February.

Day has three runner-up finishes in major championships as well. He and his wife Ellie founded the Brighter Days Foundation as a way to help families in need. He recently procured major sponsorship from Concur, a technology company.