The ‘notch trick’ is a cheap, secret weapon used to lift the response rate of a direct mail pack. We employed the ‘notch’ on a regular basis at Time Inc. The secret to the notch’s power is the same force that’s driving mobile apps profits, texting commerce and is the future of the iPad.

The notch was a small cut-out at the top of the direct mail order card that began the tear-off process.  See above.  It tempted the customer – almost dared them – to tear off the card.  Basically, it started the tear-off for you. It made it easy. In a way, it made the purchase decision for you.

Just like it was easy for people watching the NFL playoff game to text $10 for Haiti earthquake victims ($22MM in a few hours!) Asking them to call and put $10 on their credit card would have cut the response rate by 80% I’m guessing. Notch power is also the secret sauce to mobile apps’ profitability. Download the app, use the free features and, hey, if you want to buy something just one touch and you’ll soon receive a box in the mail. Don’t worry, we’ll hit your credit card.  Easy. Sale.

No doubt the iPad is gearing up with a hip, unique take on the notch. In fact, every form of e-commerce should take the Notch test. Why not start the ordering process for your customer? Make it as easy as possible to order. That means don’t drive traffic to your corporate site and make them look around for the order button. Take them right to a microsite where the ordering process has been halfway begun for them.

Then sit back, count your profits and put another notch in your ROI belt.

Click here to view the embedded video.

DRTV is a ruthless teacher.  You win no votes for style or cleverness.  If your spot doesn’t convert a viewer into a buyer, you failed.  No matter how great your graphics or how funny your concept, if the CPO doesn’t deliver you cut bait as swiftly as possible. To paraphrase Kyle Reese from The Terminator: “DRTV can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with.  It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse or fear.”

Today’s lean times makes this a particularly valuable lesson as there is precious little room for failure.

My career began in a recession.  As I sat in my first office on the 30th floor of the Time Life Building in midtown Manhattan overlooking Radio City Music Hall, I could watch the silent buzz of the city 300 feet below.  On the minds of all those little dots down below were the Ayatollah Khomeini and his “students” as they held American hostages, interest rates which were at a Sopranoesque 20% and even Prince Charles was in the news as he had just checked into a Florida hospital with a serious sunburn (which, today, has likely developed into skin cancer).  The year was 1980 and Judy the Operator from Time Magazine was about to shake up the world of DRTV.

Judy was my first DRTV experience as a young copywriter for Time Inc’s corporate circulation division.  The ad agency – Wunderman Ricotta and Klein – created Judy. I was a minor player from the client side helping to pull the creative together.  Judy went on to become a major force in DRTV. She gave Time magazine a neat, sanitary vehicle in which to hawk unseemly things like premiums and discounted offers.  This spawned the term “Judy Wrap” (not an urban beat but a way to ‘wrap’ your offer around your messaging).  The Brooks Brothers draped gentlemen in ad sales loathed Judy. The calculator-carrying circulation people adored her.  Judy was like Billy Mays with a poofy doo from the Connecticut Junior League who single-handedly morphed DRTV from the slicer/dicer world to the province of respected brands. Lesson #1: offer is king.

The Judy experience launched me into DRTV and for 30 years I have planned, created, directed, cut and shipped over 800 DRTV masters to scores of clients and hundreds of TV stations.

Some DRTV Dos and Don’ts

In DRTV your spot either works or it doesn’t so you learn something each time … like if you want to use celebrity talent, be creative when structuring your compensation offer.  We booked Joe Montana for a Sports Illustrated commercial with a handshake and promise of a modest fee payment. The payment was very reasonable, but Joe’s 3rd wife was not.  She was an actress who wanted to be in the commercial. We unwittingly turned her down. Through some SI arm-twisting we later learned it was she who forced Joe to drop out of the spot at midnight, 8 hours before the cameras were set to roll. We suddenly had a crew, a media schedule to fill and thousands of subscriptions to sell and no quarterback.

We figured the only QB who could replace Joe was Jim McMahon leading to this insane 6am phone call to his agent, Steve Zucker:  ”Yea, hi, Jack Maley here from Sports Illustrated.  Would Jim consider being in a commercial for SI?”  Steve replies “Yes, Jim loves SI.”  I press forward, “How about … today? Starting around lunch?”   We were shooting in LA and were prepared to fly Jim in on the next flight from Chicago.  Turns out, Jim was at a celebrity golf tournament … in LA … and was staying at a hotel across the highway from our hotel. The sports – and subscription – gods were with us.  We cut a clever yet McMahon-advantaged fee plus royalty deal and five hours later Jim showed up, sunglasses and all, and did a remarkable job. SI rate base met.

Other random lessons that come to mind … 60s clear better than 120s but 120s bring in a better customer … never schedule your shoot when a major snowstorm is due to blanket the city … don’t ask Dick Butkus to do anything that involves bending his knees … at minimum tease your offer upfront  … don’t let a branding agency buy your DR media … cartoons will fail 9 times out of 10 … no time frame performs like the first quarter … Bob Vila, Fran Tarkenton and David Oreck can sell anything … a real person looking straight into camera is the way to go if you have only one shot at making your spot work … don’t assume your viewer is listening, tell your tale with titles too … Lyle Alzado was a sunny soul and there’s no way those massive pipes were natural … don’t vary from the tried and true when creating spots that sell music – it will fail … humor works as long as it’s, well, funny … “offer builds” work if there’s substance to the build … and always test, test and test some more.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Then came branded DRTV

After working on Time Inc’s famous titles, my first big brand beyond publishing was Fidelity Investments.  In 1987 I was the Creative Director at Kobs & Brady in Chicago (just bought by Bates who was then swallowed by Saatchi) when a pre-world domination Howard Draft snagged a DRTV assignment from Fidelity Investments.  To my knowledge they had never tried DRTV and, like all brands, were worried the medium best known for the Chia Pet would sully their image.  So we created a spot where the benefits of Fidelity’s Magellan Fund were presented aggressively enough to make the phones ring but stayed true to the trusted Fidelity brand.  We chose humor to soften the impact of this then-exotic instrument called a “mutual fund.” The approach worked as thousands called toll free to get in on the Peter Lynch-led investment vehicle. (Alas, in every bubble there comes a bursting.  This success begat a follow-up campaign that was stillborn because, on the day we landed in Boston to present the storyboards to Fidelity, the stock market dropped 508 points on what is known as “Black Monday.” There are some things that even brilliant creative can’t overcome.)

HBO, Montgomery Ward, and Bristol-Myers meet Flowbee and the Thigh Master

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is not an SNL skit.

Once some pioneer brands like HBO, Montgomery Ward, and Tupperware kicked the DRTV door open there was no turning back. Especially when big pharma burst in.  Pharma DTC marketing was rocketing with DRTV a massive part of their lead generation strategy.  They changed everything. DRTV were no longer scarlet letters.  Budgets exploded.  In a sign of making it to the adult’s table, DRTV spots were now regularly shot on 35MM film.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Through the 90s every category got into the act:  telecom like those non-stop MCI friends and family and 1 800 Collect spots, pharma, Internet IPs, credit cards, insurance … everyone was creating and buying direct response television. The industry boomed and with it came many pretenders, namely branding agencies.

Click here to view the embedded video.

At Time Life we employed the top DRTV media buying experts like Wunderman, Eicoff and Shain Colavito Pensabene. Occasionally an “image agency” like The Richards Group, or Oglivy or Geer Dubois would want to create a spot and, to make a little profit, buy the media.  No doubt there’s real talent at these shops, especially creative.  So the spots were well conceived and executed.   The media buying, on the other hand, was a disaster every time.  In the unforgiving world of remnant time, you can’t beat a hard-core DRTV media buying agency at their game no matter how much “media leverage” you have in the marketplace.  Unless you have daily experience negotiating rates, unless you have the right analytics tools and unless you know where the latest hot stations and markets are, you will fail at buying DRTV.  That lesson alone cost clients millions.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Eventually and inevitably, brand managers for packaged goods companies were soon jumping in with both paws. We created a campaign to help Mars Inc and their Pedigree brand find and serve the new puppy owner.  Across every category, including bug sprays (extermination below), brand managers were either exploring for themselves or being directed by management to “check into direct marketing.” True old school direct marketing is a real challenge for the package goods guys to employ.  They aren’t paid or promoted to recognize the long-term benefits a solid DM program will yield.  It’s also a big cultural shift to go from waving Nielsen ratings in the conference room to calculating the lifetime value of a customer hunched over a spreadsheet.

Click here to view the embedded video.

But online advertising is rapidly changing the game.  Online advertising IS direct marketing in hipper clothing.   The next few years will see DRTV migrate online and to your mobile. But despite the fancy digital tools and tactics the core principles of success will remain the same.

Wrap it up, Jack.  Give me an easy-to-remember acronym

Well, combining my direct experience over the past 120 quarters with what I’ve seen and heard throughout the industry, to have the best chance at DRTV success, think SODA.

SODA … Story

“Everything begins with a story.” Quincy Jones told me one evening over dinner at his house.  Robert Blake had just finished his soup and went home leaving us with a jaw-dropping story to carry us through dinner.  It’s the same with music, with film and with advertising:  start with a great story. Even if you have just 30 or 60 seconds, be sure there’s a riveting story at the heart of the spot.  The story can be the frustration felt by Verizon DSL customers who then had an epiphany and switched to Road Runner … or one about parents being able to send their kids to college because Fidelity Investments helped them save for it … or about retirees who successfully pulled off a reverse mortgage and now live cash-rich and worry-free. Always tell a good story.

Click here to view the embedded video.

SODA … Offer

Your offer must elicit “Wow!”

Your job is to have the viewer, while sunk into the sofa in a sugar haze, say to him/herself, “Seriously, how can they give away that much?”  If your offer doesn’t do this, you begin the DRTV process with one big hand tied behind your back.  Push the client to create the most compelling offer they can.  Test offers.  Test crazy offers.  You just may be shocked at how high an incredible offer can lift your response rate to pay for said crazy offer.

SODA … Demo

At the risk of sounding like Professor Obvious, TV spots are shown on TV. Many people forget this. Or don’t take full advantage of it.

Video is the most dramatic medium for demonstrating your product. So show it in action. Do circus tricks with it.  Animate it.  If it’s a service you offer like a wireless or cable connection, an insurance policy or a medication, use people and/or vignettes to do your demo work.  There’s always a way to show your stuff.  But show it.

SODA … Action

The old call to action.  This doesn’t simply mean to say, “Call or go online now!” as many times as possible.   Or make the URL flash in big yellow type.  Yes, you need to tell them what to do but you have to give them a good reason to do it and do it now. Like with an expiring offer, or maybe the time is now because of external circumstances (tax day is near, holiday season, legislation in congress may soon take this away).

Oh, one more acronym:  KISS.  Keep it simple, stupid.  Don’t feel compelled to amortize the cost of every second of airtime by packing in as many features and benefits as possible. As Salieri told Mozart, “There are simply too many notes. I can speak for the Emperor. You make too many demands on the royal ear.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Recessions will come and go, times get fat and lean, but always, at the core of it all, is a great idea, well executed.  (With a real DRTV media buying agency placing your spots!)

We have a very talented motion graphics editor who can, very quickly, bring simple graphics and titles to life. In this case she created a looped video that played without sound on a client’s monitors at their trade show booth. Granted, it’s not the big production. But we can turnaround the small stuff too.

We filmed a dozen Duane Reade managers raving about our client’s software solutions.  The software was premiered before 400 Duane Reade managers at the Lowe’s Theatre on 34th Street so we played right along …

Get your production estimate right now.  Live.  Instantly.  The m3d Budgenator is a flexible tool that helps you get a sense of what it costs to produce your short form spot like a :60 or :120, a long form infomercial or a loosely-structured social media video.

Of course, there are always little differences from job to job so this estimate can be refined … but it’s close.

The m3d Budgenator. Give it a run. You’ll be back.

Each category – short form, long form, etc – comes with a basic package that’s included in the “Base Price.” After you run the Budgenator it will ask if you would like to “get” or “print out” a full quote.  This step will recap what’s included in your estimate.

FOR REFERENCE PURPOSES, HERE’S THE LATEST SURVEY ON TV COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION COSTS …

AICP Continues To Take Issue With The Study’s Viability; AAAA’s Perry Sees Value As An Industry Benchmark

NEW YORK, January 25, 2010, Robert Goldrich — Depending on your perspective, number crunching takes on different meanings when it comes to the annual American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) Television Production Cost Survey. The Association of Independent Commercial Producers continues to question the validity of the AAAA study, with AICP president/CEO Matt Miller crunching down hard on the numbers and finding then increasingly insignificant in light of ongoing changes in the business.
Conversely David Perry, chairman of the AAAA broadcast production committee and executive VP/head of broadcast production at Saatchi & Saatchi New York, regards the Production Cost Survey as a viable industry benchmark, particularly when looking at its results beyond a one-year-to-the-next comparison. He finds great value in a relatively new aspect of the study which for the second consecutive year compares annual findings dating back to 2000.
But first, the immediate findings of the latest survey, which covers commercial production in ‘08. Extrapolating from a data base of 689 national :30s as reported by 19 participating ad agencies, the AAAA study found that the average cost of a :30 before agency commission was $342,000 in ‘08. That’s a five percent decline from $361,000 in ‘07.
Also in the newest AAAA study when combining the body of :30s in ‘08 with spots of other length, the 19 agencies represented a database of 1,120 national commercials. In terms of the average per spot cost of those 1,120 commercials, the AAAA reports a figure of $302,000 in ‘08. That’s a five percent decrease from the average of $318,000 in ‘07.
Arguably more significant than the decrease in average costs for :30s and for the overall body of work is the continuing drop in the number of spots in the AAAA database. In ‘07 there were 1,266 commercials as compared to the 1,120 in ‘08–that’s an 11.5 percent decrease. And the 689 national :30s in ‘08 represents a drop of 13.8 percent from the 799 of ‘07.
The decline is even more dramatic when you go back to earlier in the decade. For example, the AAAA database of overall national commercials was 1,741 in ‘01. The ‘08 tally of 1,120 national spots marks a 35 percent decrease from ‘01. Going back to comparing between ‘08 and ‘07, production company markup held steady at 23 percent according to the AAAA study. The director’s fee per :30 went down nine percent from $23,000 in ‘07 to $21,000 in ‘08. The average total production company net costs for a :30 per AAAA respondents went down 10 percent from $256,000 in ‘07 to $231,000 in ‘08.
The survey reported that in 2008, 99 percent of the :30s reported were identified as firm-bid, while one percent were cost-plus–five percent less than ‘07. Also, 46 percent of the :30s were single bid, while 54 percent were multiple bid. This represents an eight percent increase in single bids over ‘07. The average cost to edit and complete an original :30 in ‘08 was $51,000, which is four percent less than in ‘07. Video finishing decreased 19 percent in ‘08 and sound recording mixing increased seven percent.
Creative/labor fees remained the same and the cost of an editor’s markup decreased 14 percent to $3,200. Music costs decreased in ‘08, averaging $32,000 per job. Talent costs were 18 percent less than in ‘07. costing $14,000 per spot. Commercials using on-camera principals averaged four on-camera principals, and commercials using extras averaged 14 extras.
In terms of lensing locales, international shoots declined from 86 national :30s in ‘07 to 75 in ‘08. New York shoots of :30s increased from 59 in ‘07 to 95 in ‘08 while L.A. shoots declined from 338 in ‘07 to 246 in ‘08. Out-of-town :30 shoots for New York production companies declined from 36 in ‘07 to 24 in ‘08. Out-of-town :30 shoots for Los Angeles production houses rose from 76 in ‘07 to 116 in ‘08. Other domestic shoots for national :30s declined from 47 in ‘07 to 37 in ‘08.

Big Picture Perspective
Standing out for Perry relative to the latest AAAA study findings is their relation to survey results dating back to ‘00. He noted, for example, that the average cost of a :30 in ‘00 was $332,000. While there have been fluctuations over subsequent years (to a high of $385,000 in ‘04), the bottom line is that the average has held relatively steady from the $332,000 in ‘00 to the $342,000 in ‘08.
During this same stretch, costs in other industries—from healthcare to education to real estate—have increased significantly, in some cases exponentially. “It’s a good statement for our industry that for the better part of a decade we have managed to keep costs in pretty much the same range,” said Perry. “Either we’re getting smarter about how we’re spending money or we’re doing less expensive work—or both.”
What hasn’t remained in the same range is the number of spots in the database. “The number of :30s in 2000 was 1,200 or so. We have a little more than half that in the database for 2008. The biggest news is the decline in the number of TV ads done by advertisers in the survey—and we have close to the same clients every year,” observed Perry who attributes the decline primarily to clients shifting more of their TV investments into alternative media.

AICP feedback
While the AICP has long contended that the AAAA study is flawed, Miller said the survey is even more lacking now in light of the dwindling number of commercials over the years. “Even they acknowledge that this is a smaller database and that individual spots can skew the numbers.”
He noted for example that the ‘08 database contained only two commercials in the beer/wine category. “How can you glean anything from such a small sampling?” Miller added that the AAAA study reports an increase in studio shoots for national :30s whereas the soon to be released AICP shows a decrease. “Some of their [AAAA] findings are inexplicable,” said Miller.
A bit of good news, added Miller, is that cost-plus appears to be on life support, according to the AAAA survey. At the same time, Miller wondered whether the extent of cost-plus is at least a little greater than the AAAA study would suggest. “Verizon alone does a lot of cost-plus. Clearly they are not reflected in this database,” said Miller.
The essential bottom-line dynamic for Miller, though, is the ever changing industry landscape. “Here I am in the first quarter of 2010 reading about the business in 2008. The business in 2008 is a different world from where we are today. Trying to make sense of what happened in 2008 based on this report and making it relevant to 2010 and 2011 is quite a reach.  Things have evolved and are evolving so quickly. I’m not sure that the AAAA study accurately reflects 2008, much less provides any lesson of relevance for 2010.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

For our client RedPrairie, we created an online community focused on food safety.

Visit our new social media site

Many of RedPrairie’s clients are interested and invested in this hot topic. At the center of this Food Safety microsite is a documentary that we wrote, shot and edited about a 4-year-old boy named Jake who got snared in the salmonella/peanut butter outbreak from 2 years ago. It was a big story told through the eyes of a little guy. The ramifications are great for RedPrairie’s clients.

This style of marketing – create a microsite community and fill it with relevant, compelling content – is popular in that it takes the best of social media tactics and blends them with content distribution to engage and, if we’ve done or job, convert visitors to customers.

EPISODE 2

Click here to view the embedded video.

EPISODE 3

Click here to view the embedded video.

I was working at the Time Inc Corporate Circulation division as a copywriter. It was 1980.  I was in the lobby of the Time Life Building waiting for a lunch date and wearing a suit that, today, will get you 2-4 years in the fashion big house. Dick Munro, the new president of Time Inc exited the elevator bank with my lunch date, Bob Fisler. Bob introduced me to Dick.  As a rookie Time Incer, this was monumental. Dick Munro! My career was sure to take off. Bob said, “Dick, this is Jack Maley, just joined us in Corp Circ.” (the division responsible for magazine subscription marketing). Dick looked at me and my lapels and said, “Corp Circ?” Thought for a moment, realized what we did, smiled and yelled, “Yours Free!” And left.

That’s what we do. We serve up “Yours Free!”

Offer is king, as we in the biz regularly remind clients. Clever creative gets attention. Precision media taps the right buyer on the shoulder. But the closer in this equation is the offer. Which is a fact today’s enthusiastic digital marketers must keep close to the keyboard.

The explosion of internet marketing will continue to deliver tremendous profits for nimble, savvy companies. The real potential lies in merging today’s tech power with the proven methodology of direct marketing.

Digital marketing is really direct marketing in hipper clothes. Zippy analytics tools and micro-targeting will yield exponential results when the basics of direct are at the foundation of your digital program.

Basics like product exclusivity (even a slight tweak will help), urgency and deadlines, ease of response, clarity of offer, testing offers and creative, copywriting that knows which words compel the reader to respond, free gifts (more relevant the better), “only available here and now” bonuses, and testing offers and creative and, after the test results are read, test some more.

Of course, the “basics” of this marketing discipline can fill volumes.  Which is why you need to be supported by a team experienced in this fine art.

Direct marketing experience + digital delivery and precision = happy P&L.

Couldn’t be more direct.

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevancy even less.”
— General Eric Shinseki, 2003

The inexorable change that’s upending marketing is accelerating.  The magazine and newspaper industries were decimated by this force.  I don’t mean the internet tsunami. That’s just the weapon.  What’s wielding the weapon is the revolution of consumer choice.

“The digital world has so disrupted the business models of newspapers, radio, television, music and even Hollywood that the yin and yang of mass media and mass marketing are flying apart. We are in the midst of total collapse of the media infrastructure we have taken for granted for 400 years.”
— Bob Garfield, AdAge

The newspapers and magazines were not killed by a byte on their net. They were felled by old fashioned consumer choice.  They bled out because their readers chose a better way to get their news, place their classifieds, and hear about the newest products and services.  Certainly, the old media understands the concept of consumer choice. But they didn’t get just HOW MUCH choice and control the consumer demanded.  And not at the rate of change that it was happening.

I worked at Time Inc and can imagine the end-of-my-career laughter if I looked around the conference room at budget time and suggested, “5 year plan?  How’s this for a 5 year plan: every major magazine will lose half their rate base and 40% of them would actually cease to exist in 5 years.”

The big old media companies couldn’t move far enough.  And they couldn’t move fast enough. Apparently, they were not too big to flail.

According to the AMA, B2C marketers are planning to devote nearly one-fifth of their marketing budgets to social media in the next five years. In addition, growing B2B spending on social media is rising and lines up with the general goals of B2B marketers: customer relationship management and brand-building, which respondents claim will be the highest growth areas in the next year. Social marketing, with its strength in boosting brand engagement and loyalty, is an effective medium for both purposes.

That’s why Darren Ernest (above, right) is the most important man in town. He’s was one of the original SEO guys at a major NYC ad agency (Ogilvy’s neo) and is at the center of today’s biggest SEO and social media campaigns.  And he’s m3digital’s go-to social media guy. Darren is the center attraction at our meetings.  Clients talk about DRTV, print, maybe DM and then with wide-eyed interest turn to Darren and ask, “What’s the latest? Have you figured out how to make social media accountable?” He’s got the Wii controller while we fiddle with the Nintendo joy stick.

As for calculating an ROI on your social spend, the tools and metrics are getting better.  Here’s a good breakdown of the latest ways to measure your investment in social: http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/02/social-media-metrics/

ROI is the word, or the letters, for years to come. And as direct marketers – who have always understood that the consumer calls the shots, that ads that can’t prove their value are failures and that nimble flexibility is the key to profitability – we are thrilled to be square in the middle of this unprecedented change.

Vive la revolution de choix.

Mike Shane, Lexie Kahanovitz, Kris Brearton, Rebecca Bolde, Jack Maley, Darren Ernest, Beth Klavir

Marketing strategy.  Scriptwriting.  Directing and Production.  Post production.  SEO and Social Media Marketing.  Web design that engages your audience.   m3digital is your all-in-one solution to creating compelling content for every screen you communicate on.

Business-to-business programs.  Direct to consumer campaigns.  ROI-based marketing materials that recognize your need to justify your advertising spend. Bring this talented, energetic group of professionals onto your team for proven results.

CREATIVE______________________________


Jack Maley, Creative Director, Copywriter
12 years at Time Inc and Time Life as copywriter and Director of Advertising, 5 years at Saatchi and Saatchi as Creative Director, started M3 in 1995.  Likes the Philadelphia Eagles, New York City life – but none of the sports teams –  and spending hours talking to his wife Jennifer about non-duality. (See her for all things fundraising:  jennifermccrea.com)  For more on Jack’s experience, click here.

Rebecca Bolde, Motion Graphics, SFX
Rebecca is the quintessential digital diva:  a  3D-Motion Graphics-After Effects-Final Cut Pro designer who can, when necessary, go old school and actually draw.  This School of Visual Arts grad has a sharp eye for detail and a gifted instinct for design that moves the viewer and communicates the message.  With roots in very rural Hudson Valley, she flinches at the term ‘diva’ but tolerates it as long as we don’t make any farm jokes. (How do you take a pig to the hospital?  In a hambulance.)

Gregor Patterson, Flash programming, Mobile apps development
Flash programming and mobile apps development are Gregor’s specialities.  He’s an everyman-techie who can explain what’s going on with a piece of code and you actually understand what he’s saying.  Always on the cutting-edge of the next thing, Gregor’s a really-early adopter.  Oh, and he has ducks.

Lexie Kahanovitz, Copywriter
‘Ideas from beyond’ is what Lexie brings to the process.  Funny and quirky but always attention-grabbing and always on message.  In addition to working on yucks for Adult Swim guerilla creative artist Lexie has shot, produced and posted her surreal ideas on youtube (In the IKEA Bedroom … IKEA Office Anxiety).

Beth Klavir, Graphic Design
Beth’s love of design and ideation is evident throughout every part of her professional and personal life.  From her clean, compelling web designs to her eye-catching accoutrements, Beth combines strategy and simplicity for a powerful message.   Corporate logos and marks.  Dazzling powerpoint presentations and packaging graphics. Microsites.  She’s a calm, inquisitive professional who’s a delight to work with … and wears some of the coolest clothes you’ve ever seen, mostly black.

MEDIA________________________________


Darren Ernest, SEO/Social Media
With the style, grace and intelligence that he brings to everything he pursues, Darren delivers social media marketing and web 2.0 marketing planning, SEO/SEM/2.0 campaign optimization, training, product development, and process integration.   He was Assistant Director of Search Engine Marketing at Neo@Ogilvy New York, the digital media arm of WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather, one of the largest global communication services companies.  Despite his youthful carriage, Darren has been helping clients maximize their website ROI for over 10 years which makes him an industry “old timer.”

PRODUCTION______________________


Kris Brearton, Director of Photography
Kris’ talent behind the lens is evident in every shot he produces from shooting Kevin Bacon and Ed Norton for a elegant Sundance series to a hard-selling infomercial for Tigrent Inc. Adept with film, digital and the Red camera, Kris consistently delivers a beautiful picture and, at 6′4″, he can often just reach up to adjust the lights without waiting for a grip.  A real timesaver.

Mike Shane, Producer
Renaissance man Mike – part high-end photographer, part production guy, part Staten Island good old boy – brings a “Yes I Can” attitude to everything he undertakes.  Creative, reliable, resourceful, he’s everything you want in a Producer.

Jon Baskin, Editor
One of the original digital editors on the Avid and Final Cut systems, Jon has perfected the edit process on major productions ranging from network shows, documentaries and promotions like Inside The NFL (winner of 2 Emmy Awards),  The Wire, The Sopranos, Big Love, Entourage, In Treatment, Six Feet Under, Rome, Deadwood, Sex And The City. He’s also cut commercials and web campaigns for Revlon, GM, Delta Airlines and Time Warner (winner of a Monitor Award).

John Wiggins, Sound, Music
Superstar mix artist (he’s not writing this!) who led HBO Studios’ audio department for 20+ years.  John has won Emmys (another just this year for HBO’s “24/7″) and many industry awards for his talent at the sound board. He loves scoring music and playing guitar in his band The Robinsons, escaping the city to his Long Island home and making anyone in his presence laugh until milk comes out their nose.

Our client offers a transportation solution for supply chain execs.  Big solutions with many bells and whistles and teams of people to integrate it smoothly into a business.  So they wanted a very cool, hip and thin solution that embodies what they offer in an iPhone app.  Now, when you’d like to estimate how much fuel that trip to Florida is going to run you, we have an app for that:  The Fuelculator!