So… you’re a beer drinker and not a champagne fan. That can make for a disappointing New Year’s Eve. I mean, who wants to ring in the new year with the same old beer you drink every week?

All is not lost! Goose Island Beer Company has some festive options for you. The company’s brewers suggest Sofie and Matilda as a couple champagne substitutes. You can click those links to watch the videos.

Video marketing strategies… beverage consultation… all in a day’s work.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

–Tony Gnau

I went to nfl.com last night and was surprised by what I saw, but after further review… I guess I shouldn’t be.

The Chicago Bears are headed to the playoffs, so I wanted to check where they rank in the standings for home field advantage. In the past, the National Football League’s website listed the Standings category in the top bar on the home page… usually one of the main selections looking from left to right.

Not any more. The first selection is News. The second selection is VIDEO.

That’s not all. Click through the main story box on the home page and you’ll find video. Scroll down the page a bit and there’s an entire box devoted to even more videos.

Is there any question the NFL knows how to market? Hardly. And those who know how to market, understand the power of video.

Now, your company might not have as many video opportunities as the NFL, but trust me there’s certainly a few. At the very least, you should consider producing a company profile.

Hut, hut!

–Tony Gnau

Watch videos at the links below.

It’s the holidays and the time of year when lots of people decide to give money to charities.

T60’s fortunate to work with some great groups that rely on charitable donations. If you’re looking for a worthy Chicagoland organization, the following are some that T60 produced videos for in 2010.

• Lincoln Park Zoo
• DuPage Habitat for Humanity
• Glenwood School for Boys and Girls
• Northern Illinois Food Bank – happy to announce the capital campaign in this video was a success, but they still need donations for operations
  
• Road To Remember

Happy Holidays from T60 Productions!

–Tony Gnau

It’s a common occurrence. Photographers go through an internal debate whether or not to shoot something depending on the likelihood it will make it in the final product. Today, I’m sad because my mind defeated my heart.

T60 produced a pair of videos for the Lincoln Park Zoo this past summer. On one particular day, I spent two hours in the Lion House to capture a time-lapse video. That’s the day I met Marta.

Marta was the zoo’s black leopard. She passed away this week after far exceeding her life expectancy, and she was simply my favorite animal at LPZ.

Hermione the cat

It’s no wonder I took to her. I live with a mini-Marta, my frequent T60 editing companion, Hermione. They were two black cats who love playing in boxes.

Now, Hermione is a house cat and Marta was a leopard, so their color and love of boxes is where the comparison ends. It’s never good to equate a wild animal to a domestic one, but it was hard to look at Marta playing in her box and not think of my cat at home.

Anyway, I was sitting next to Marta’s cage for two hours during this time-lapse shoot and eventually I wondered, should I get some video of her too? We already had shots of lions and tigers which were a sure thing to make it into the videos. I knew in my head that video of another big cat would simply be destined for the cutting room floor, so I decided not to hit the record button.

Marta the black cat

Boy, do I regret that decision. I would have loved to show you some video today of Marta hanging out in her box, but I don’t have any and it makes me sick. The best I can do is show the cell phone photo I snapped that day.

Next time my heart and mind are battling it out during a shoot, I’m going to let my heart win for a change.  That’ll be for Marta.

–Tony Gnau

eMarketer reports a new study by BIA/Kelsey and ConStat shows that 97% percent of U.S. internet users clicked on web media to find LOCAL products or services in the first quarter of 2010. Search engines, social media… both are in the mix.

Reward those web surfers with a nice video.  You have a chance to literally show them what your company is all about.

Make your first impression a good one.

–Tony Gnau

I blog a lot about the power of video and what it can do for a company or organization, but don’t take my word for it… follow the money.

Glenwood School for Boys and Girls gets kids out of bad learning environments and puts them on a path to a better life. Every year school leaders host a fund-raiser luncheon, and they like to include a video during the program.

In 2009, T60 was brought in and asked to take raw video shot in the past to create a new video, but this year they gave us a couple of ideas and simply let us run with it.

So how did it work for them? This year’s fund-raiser exceeded last year’s by $100,000. That’s in a down economy folks.

It prompted an email from their marketing and special events director, and she cleared me to share it with you.

“Everyone LOVED the video,” said Crystal Phillips. “There were some tears. It made my mother cry. Excellent job. I can’t wait to post it (online) so even more people can see it.”

Sure, I’m tooting our own horn a bit, but really it’s a tribute to the school’s leadership. They invested in video, and it paid off… BIGTIME!

–Tony Gnau

While experts report the recession is over, many companies are still suffering. That’s why marketing tools like online videos are becoming increasingly important.

They are absolutely one of the best ways to promote a product or service. There are plenty of production companies that can create videos on a tight budget, or businesses can can look for in-house solutions if they currently can’t afford a pro.

As long as your company is marketing over the web and developing a social media strategy, video is now one of the easiest, cheapest, and best ways to get in front of consumers.

–Tony Gnau

American Express OPEN is going to start “airing” webisodes its calling, Project RE:brand. The series will document how the company is helping a few businesses with branding expertise.

T60 does not work for or endorse AmEx, but we can offer a free branding tip… no credit required. Have webisodes produced like the ones AmEx will be showing. The preview looks great.

WATCH VIDEO PREVIEW: Project RE:brand

–Tony Gnau

You could get away without it a few years ago, but that’s not the case anymore. Video, especially online video, is becoming an essential part of any business marketing plan, and a new study proves it.

The website emarketer.com reports some of the biggest jumps being made by companies promoting themselves on the web are through the inclusion of rich media content.  Translation… they’re using video.

According to the latest study, 34% of companies that branded themselves online in 2009 were using rich media.  In 2010, it shot up to 84%.

That means if you are branding your company online and you’re not using video, then you’re in the minority and you might want to reevaluate your marketing strategy.

–Tony Gnau

One of the great things about video is it allows you to shape a first impression, and that can be done in more ways than one. Sure, you can craft your message, but don’t overlook the obvious.

I received a reminder on this over the weekend during a video shoot for DuPage Habitat for Humanity. We were all set to capture one of the group’s builds for a promotional video we’re producing when it started to rain… big time! Now, we could have still made the situation work, but why?

There isn’t a tight deadline here, better to come back and shoot on a nice day. It’s more representative of what most builds are like, and it’ll put the organization in a better light… literally.

Squeezing in another shoot to offset an unexpected hurdle might be a challenge for you, but it’ll make for a better video in the long run.

–Tony Gnau