For Immediate Release:
As of February 2007 Steve and Video Promotions have joined NZ's premier producers of documentary, reality and corporate television, Screentime, running its Corporate Television business.

Click here to go to the new Screentime Corporate Television website (which looks uncannily like this one...) to find out what this exciting new development means for your business.

OK, here's what we've been up to in the last few months.

Lockheed Martin/ PAE:

In November Video Promotions was selected from production companies around NZ to provide local content for an international promotional video for Lockheed Martin company PAE. We had two weeks to crew, schedule and liaise with locations around the country to organise the logisitics of recording PAE NZ team members delivering the company's credo, as well as imagery representing the varied sites PAE operates at.

The resulting High Definition footage was couriered to the US for incorporation into a video profiling the organisation at an international conference, and received rave reviews from both the local and international client.

Macquarie Goodman:

Leading property developer and manager Macquarie Goodman recently required an updated promotional video for their fast growing Highbrook Business Park. The new video needed to accentuate the visual impact of the actual park, to augment this footage with accurate and carefully chosen imagery representing features yet to be completed at the park, present this imagery in a dynamic and exciting way, and present a clear call to action to potential clients and investors.

After watching the video they wanted the viewer to understand and remember 2 key messages:the scale and quality of the project and the opportunity to relocate to the most exciting new business park in the country.

Shelley Quinn says "Steve was a pleasure to work with, he provided a professional service and accommodated us with our very tight deadline and made sure our video happened! We're really happy with the result and look forward to working with Steve and his team again in the near future."

The video will be updated regularly as the project progresses, and, as well as monitoring a timelapse video recording of the company's Westney Rd industrial park, we've just started work on a Macquarie Goodman promotional video for use in attracting investors.

Noel Leeming Group:

Video Promotions produced the video content for the Group (including Noel Leeming and Bond and Bond stores)'s new induction programme.
All new team members are now welcomed by the Group's CEO and Operations Manager- even if they can't be at the induction days in person.


Chevron NZ:

When Nigel Axford wanted to make an impact on the nationwide Caltex franchisees about the brand's new cafe offering he engaged Video Promotions to create and incorporate his video content.

"Video Promotions captured the concept for our Promotional video and produced a fantastic product which we could present to our retailers, this is also now being used within the organisation to show the new ideas we are using in New Zealand.

The team from Video Promotions were professional, easy to work with and made the process of producing the promotional video a breeze- the quality of the finished DVD was highly professional."


Ad-Truck:

Video Promotions was also engaged to design, produce and create a promotional video for the launch of a new advertising concept- Ad-Trucks.
Launched in NZ by local entrepeneurs Dave Good and Nick Wood (founder of Ihug), Ad-trucks is a brand new and unique advertising medium and they needed to quickly demonstrate it's capabilities in the short window between the trucks being assembled and the web site going live.
Here's the result.

Update: 9/6/6
"Repco DIY Rescue" has been awarded a Bronze Trophy in the prestigious 27th Annual Telly Awards in the USA.

The Telly Awards honor outstanding local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions. All Telly judges are past winners of the Silver Telly, the highest honor, and are top industry professionals empowered to uphold the historical standards of the Telly competition.

Since 1978, its mission has been to strengthen the visual arts community by inspiring, promoting, and supporting creativity. The 27th Annual Telly Awards received over 12,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents- with only the top 20% being awarded Silver and Bronze trophies.

Update: 10/6/5
Video Promotions has once again been awarded Gold in the Internal Communications category of the 2005 Awards in Media Excellence announced in Las Vegas last night. Convened by the Media Communications Association International the annual awards celebrate excellence in media communications.

Since 1978, Golden Reel honors have been highly coveted and recognized internationally for their prestige. The name stands for creativity and advancement in technical applications. All entries in all categories are reviewed by a Blue Ribbon Panel which confers outstanding projects with Gold, Silver or Bronze Golden Reels in all categories.
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We recently completed our first reality-TV show. At the end of last year Repco asked us come up with a memorable way of launching their upcoming computer mainframe migration. They wanted the 1000-odd team members at Repco Auto Parts stores around NZ to feel comfortable and confident about what would be one of the biggest operational changes in the company's history- one that would affect every single team member.

'Repco DIY Rescue' was the result. The award-winning team of Steve and long-time Video Promotions collaborator Jeremy Corbett created a hilarious send-up of the makeover/upgrade reality TV concept, where a computer rescue team is invited to take Repco's tired old computer system "from commonplace to ACE” (the name of the new system). All the traditional element are there- the gay design consultant, the deadline for completion, the dramas and personality clashes, the post-rescue review of the budget and best purchases, and, of course, the unveiling of the new system to the delighted team-members.

Although the programme was a humorous spoof- featuring comedic actors playing the Rescue team, an important consideration was that the Repco team members featured could not be made fun of. And all the characters had to deliver information which was important and, in some cases quite technical, without slowing the pace of the comedy too much.

Repco ACE Project Manager Ross Gunn, only got the green light to produce the video 3 weeks before deadline but the VP and Repco teams were so enthused about the project that the production still went smoothly and was a great fun to work on. Here's what Ross had to say about the experience.

Video Promotions was recently awarded Highly Commended in the Internal Corporate Communications category of the 2005 Australasian Video Awards for "Under The Microscope- Flying Colours".

The concept of a spoof, "60 Minutes-style" investigation is one which has already garnered two Silver and one Gold award for us in previous international competitions.

Don't worry if you've never heard of "Under The Microscope", only a select group of NZ companies have, including Repco Auto Parts and Corys Frasers Electrical. It's Video Promotion's own creation, and one which has been awarded 4 video communications awards in the US and NZ over the last 5 years.

In "Under The Microscope- Flying Colours" the UTM team scooped another major story that no other programme would touch by following up reports of the use of a "performance enhancing" stimulant at Office Products Depot.

Using every device of the modern TV journalist, Investigative reporter Jeremy Corbett interviewed a 'secret' witness, recorded examples of enhanced in-store service with a 'hidden' camera, and, in an example of breathtaking television (he was counted taking as many as 30 in one minute alone) confronted the CEO of the company in a candid, unannounced interview.

The benefit of the "UTM" format to any business, and the reason it's consistently successful as an internal - and even external - communication piece is because it uses a recognisable genre (it's a send-up of the "20/20", "60 Minutes" style of programme) and humour (the programme's host and reporters are all experienced comedians and presenters) to present information which the audience might not always feel excited or even positive about.

The interviewees, and all the other characters in the programme, are all actual employees of the subject company playing themselves.

Of course Office Product Depot's new "Flying Colours" programme - referred to by its "unofficial" nickname "P" - may be performance enhancing, but it's also perfectly legitimate and of great benefit to the dealer teams. Jeremy's increasingly confused interviews - talking at cross purposes to his interview subjects - were what keep the audience entertained, and, in the process, delivered this message more clearly and effectively than the traditionally sober corporate video.

Yay us.

The 2nd half of 2005 saw an exciting new direction for Video Promotions- freelance directing and producing.

Edge Creative were the first client to contract Steve to direct and produce video content for their clients including multi-cam event recording. As well as directing videos for Edge clients Vero, Frucor, Cadbury and Vodafone, Steve also scripted and produced a 50th Anniversary profile for Maunsell AECOM which involved production in Brisbane and Auckland.

He was also engaged by Satellite Pictures to produce a launch video for the L'Oreal New Zealand Women's Awards, and the arrangement seems to be working out nicely for everyone. Production companies have an reliable, experienced, award-winning producer-director on call, and Steve gets to work with a wider variety of clients and crew.

World-renown Calla lily producer Pukekaroro Exotics engaged us for the 4th year running to help them present their annual selection to overseas buyers. Each year Paul Evans travels the world showing that year's 40 or so most popular and unique selections and collecting orders for tuber exports.

The best examples of each bloom are videoed and presented, along with their vital statistics and catalogue number on DVD at trade shows and one-on-one buying visits from Holland to Kenya. There's often a very small window of opportunity between the blooms being at their best in February and the first sales trips of the year so it's important to be able to turn the production around quickly and still deliver a professional and eye-catching result.

It certainly helps when you have a product as good looking as this!

For the second year SKY TV engaged us to create half a dozen 60" interstitials for the L'Oreal Professional Color Trophy Awards last month.The clips took viewers onto the Red Carpet and Behind the Scenes at the country's premier hair-styling and colouring competition.

Video Promotions and C4 presenter Jaquie Brown spent the afternoon talking to finalists as they nervously recreated their entries, and later that evening to the Beautiful People at the spectacular awards and party at Sky City. We then edited it all down to short, fun and often racy celebrations of the event, which played on SKY's E! Entertainment channel over the following month.

From accomodating a number of requests from SKY TV Sales to produce simple, still-image-based TVC's for clients, we've designed a cost-effective package which can be adapted to pretty much any advertiser who wants to get on air.

It includes everything a potential advertiser needs, from scripting assistance to Voice-Over recording, music and editing of still images and graphics, to create an effective and eye-catching result every time. And all for no more than $2000 +gst- often less.

Clients SKY have entrusted to us in the past few months have included Insignia International with their Chris Cairns memorabilia, AllSport in Taupo promoting their Pearl Izumi product during the Tour de France, and, most recently, the NZAFL promoting AUSKICK for kids during the AFL final.

The last two jobs were carried out without ever even meeting the client in person. All pre-production and scripting was carried out via phone and email, including emailing MP3's of music suggestions and voice-over styles, and Windows Media Video files of the finished TVC's for client approval.

And how did the clients find working with us in this way? Well to quote NZAFL's Greg Bourke, "Steve - BLOODY FANTASTIC !!!! From nothing you made that - WOW!! Thanks mate - great - no changes needed to that!"

That's what we like to hear.

For more details on TVC-in-a-Box, contact Steve on 09 963 2128.

UPDATE - 1043 Saturday 2/4/05:
'The Journey' wins Best Screenplay" in the Richmond Rd School Short Film Competition.

UPDATE - 0100 Monday 21/6:
'The Journey'WON THE 48HR FILM CHALLENGE.
Out of 82 teams Team Classic not only won the Audience Choice Award for its group, but also took out top prize. Channel C4 has also played a documentary feature on the weekend and screenings of the 12 finalists, and visit nzshortfilm.com to view the film on-line!

UPDATE - 1200 Saturday 19/6:
'The Journey' is a top-12 Finalist! Congratulations to all the Classic crew.

Strangely enough this turned out to be ourselves. Steve was part of the Classic team in this year's 48Hour Film Challenge held in June.

48HOURS is New Zealand's premiere short film competition. The competition wants to reward filmmakers who can come up with the goods under intense pressure. In that 48 hour period you have to make a short film, from start to finish - OR DIE TRYING.
But there's a catch, and it's a big one! You don't know what genre of film you will be making until a few minutes before the start time. Each team randomly draw a genre for themselves - which means you could end up making a horror film or a romance.

In Team Classic's case we drew the genres- Religious/Educational/Heart-warming Family Fare. We combined all three!

Video Promotions provided not only the editing facilities, but also arranged crew and production equipment, with Steve providing additional creative assistance, and acting as 1st AD and editor.

There's never been a deadline so tight and inflexible (although he put the same amount of passion in to this project as he does for all Video Promotions' clients :-)). But with a fantastic volunteer team of comedy writers and actors, and most of our regular, top-notch production crew we delivered a film we're not only proud of, but which was completed within deadline. It also got a great response from the audience at the group screening (all the laughs in the right places!) so fingers crossed...

"Thomas Edison invented the movie camera to show people killing and kissing."
Quentin Tarantino

Anyone who spends time on the water around New Zealand will know about the incredible work that the NZ Coastguard does. However not enough of those people realise that it's only donations and supporters' membership fees which keep the organisation running.

And saving lives.

So we recently worked with the national organisation to produce a series of video messages improving awareness of the various aspects of public service provided by Coastguard. The aim being to create a call to action to support the organisation that they can't ignore.

The primary audience for these videos are boating public, and the videos will be presented from the Coastguard promotional caravan at public events attended by the boating fraternity- such as boat shows and beach events.The material acquired also needed to be of a quality suitable for Electronic Press Kit use, and, ideally, could be used as TVC's if required. Due to the viewing environment for these messages (as well as an audience with other messages and distractions appealing for their limited attention)we decided on a series of short, punchy messages which could stand alone, rather than one longer promotional video.

Ideally this series would cover the entire range of Coastguard services, however by producing short stand-alone messages there is the option of building up a library at their own pace. The benefit to Coastguard is that they can start with the most important messages, with the most visual and emotional impact, and then add to the series as resources allow- without having to re-edit one long profile as new material is added to their library.

By their nature, short messages also provide more flexibility of delivery (they can be used as TVC's or as EPK's) and more variety of presentation options (incorporated into PowerPoint presentations or streamed as web clips).Testimonials from existing group members- both volunteers and those who've benefited from their service- are the Coastguard's best advertisement, as they provide an emotional engagement and narrative which has more impact than voice-over.

For all these reasons we decided that a combination of memorable imagery with strong, dramatic narrative to engage the audience, followed by a simple direction for what to do to support this service- packaged into 30-60sec messages, would be of most value to Coastguard.

Video Promotions has a policy of using our resources to help one charity each month so covered 20% of the production costs to help fund this project for a much undervalued organisation.

When Electrolux Home Products launched their first New Zealand range of ovens, cooktops, dishwashers and fridges to their distributors (including new supplier Harvey Norman) they engaged Video Promotions to produce the all-important brand launch and product training videos.

Within 2 weeks we created a 3-min global brand launch video for EHP's introductory presentation at Harvey Norman's Australian conference. 3 weeks later we delivered 5 videos covering the different product categories- for initial delivery from laptop at Harvey Norman staff product training sessions, and later on menu-driven training DVD's for other suppliers and customers.

The project included commissioning original music for which we went to regular collaborator and award-winning song-writer Larry Killip, as well as engaging food stylists and caterers MASH Catering to make sure the cooked food looked as good as possible on camera (no easy task when some of the advance demo models were non-operational!).

Electrolux Marketing Manager Rosalie Davison was delighted to have such an important project completed on time and to the high standard required. And we were delighted to be involved with the launch of such a prestigious brand.