Tuesday, 6 November 2012

The Reel Business

This live brief was given to us by Christina Garlington - who owns and runs her independent film company based in the Media Factory at Uclan.

The brief was multi-fold; its' purpose:
- acting as a business consultant, my task was to inform Christina how she might best expand her business into new business sectors within the North West that perhaps she had not considered previously.
-I was to find evidence to back up the proposed new market sector I was suggesting in terms of size; financial return; viability in terms of being able to need and use video marketing as a marketing tool for their business.
- If possible, I was going to produce a database using excel for Christina to use should she decide she liked my proposal.

http://thereelbusiness.co.uk/

Looking at the business on the website and after the presentation that Christina made to us about 'The Reel Business', an idea sparked in my head for her to expand along similar lines to the market sector she was already enjoying some success in.  She explained to us that her work in producing video diaries for a charity representing terminally ill children was not only a totally worthwhile experience but emotionally rewarding as well as financially sound and imparted her love of working with children to us.

Not straight away, but soon after analysing the task, I identified what I felt was a niche market for her to tap into (following my past experience as a parent with a small baby/toddler) that of Private nurseries or Day Care facilities for children.  The idea began quite simply as offering 'A Moment in Time' Video to capture a young child's day at the Nursery for a parent to keep forever.

So idea in head, I began my research ...
part of our brief was in fact to place the importance of the emergence of film as a marketing tool clearly in the mind of Christina's' customers and so I needed to find evidence of use of video marketing; growth of video marketing; net worth of the financial returns of the video marketing market and perhaps also evidence of customers using this technique as a means to advertise or help increase their company sales and profits.




Surprisingly, there was a lot of information out there about video marketing and the figures were very encouraging!
So, I was happy that I could give Christina enough background evidence to convince her prospective customer about the benefits of her business offer to them.  Next I would need to find the evidence to support my idea in terms of financial viability of the offer, to Christina.  Unless she could see a return for her business and a large sustainable market, then it would not be a reasonable proposition for me to make.

The good thing about the education sector is that there is lots of evidence available and I was able to find statistics from experts to back up my suggestions:




Following on from this I needed to show that there was a market within the North West for my proposal and so I gathered statistical information to show that private childcare provision was not only alive and well in the North West in difficult economic times, but that it appeared to be steadily growing and the trend continued to be upward!




With all my research gathered; analysed; edited and produced into my report, the final stage was to formulate the idea so that Christina could understand how she might apply the proposal within a real context by expanding The Reel Business into the education sector for pre-school children:

There was more than one way I felt she could do this and so I gave her all the options I had considered viable:





Finally, I had made my case for business expansion into a new business sector in the North West and included a database of over 100 companies that Christina could contact as possible customers for her service.

I presented my idea to her in a client presentation forum and from feedback I received, my idea was met favourably!




Monday, 8 October 2012

Challenge three: Make a Profit!

What a fast and furious week it's been - our last task seems a dim and distant memory ...

This one was met with mixed reception and pressure seemed on from the word go.

We struggled as a group coming up with ideas -  I kept thinking of the feasibility/safety of some of the ideas given the timescale; other pressures and the projected outcome of PROFIT.

I thought eBay - where in the past I had had success selling items,  we may do quite nicely in terms of our profit it we get bidders bidding at the auction.

Initially the idea was met with some disdain and other ideas sought as more interesting ... I'm glad we didn't go with the dry ice and Vodka shots! (After today's horrific tale)
I remember saying in my very first blog post there is no 'I' in team but there is a me. Oh the challenges of team work ...
Anyway cut a long story short we went with the eBay idea.  We couldn't decide on a unanimous product so we all pitched in to sell, either a used item worth in the region of £10 or a new purchase for £10 approx. ( remembering to take off fees )

I suggested toys; phones; clothes and in the end I decided myself to go with toys:

I found this really interesting article about LEGO and how the brand has been revitalised again with the development and production of the new 'Friends Range'.
 
So I bought brand new lego, off Amazon for a reduced price.
 
I checked out eBay for evidence of this product selling and found the exact same product  had sold for about £10.
 
Set the auction of on Thursday night and then watched as it took place over 3 days.
 
There were 11 watchers on  and about 9 bids on the lego.
 
It sold on Sunday night for £10.50 with postage quoted at £3.45 (may be less to post)
 
I paid £7.45 for it originally - so I made a small profit of about £4 after fees were deducted, giving approximately 54% profit.
 
For my presentation slides I decided to do pros and cons of selling on eBay - so that's tomorrows presentation.
 
 
Thank You and good night! See you again soon ...

Monday, 1 October 2012

Presenting to Emmaus

Very nerve racking - don't know why - I guess nerves are a good thing though!
Brilliant presentation - team worked well and Tracy loved the short film - it's RAW quality in all - we managed to capture perfectly what Emmaus is about ...

Thanks to everyone involved.

Challenge two: Creative PR Event

Brief 2: Creative PR for Ivana Helsinki

-to launch the brand into London Based Boutiques and raise awareness of brand using guerilla marketing:


[Prior to researching her brand - ideas formulation with our new group - went well and got some good stuff.
Only concerns I have are over the 'low-cost' aspect of what we are doing and maybe also environmental issues re: bus?
Could do the same campaign I suppose on rented london bikes - where Ivana Helsinki clad models ride around classy parts of london urging you to photograph them and share experience on Social media (raising profile) - competition winner gets Ivana spend in-store/on-line (winner picked later on from Ivana website/twitter/facebook pages at random). Just an alternative to our campaigne idea if the buses were considered too environmentally unfriendly].


OK so first I needed to check out IH to find out what she does and get the tone of her brand fixed in my head!
Here are all my links:




























interview: PAOLA from IvanaHelsinki

 

I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with Paola before the show about what is coming up for IvanaHelsinki, what inspires her and why, people like me, really do make a difference for a brand like hers.

 

The biggest news for this brand is their new flagship store opening on Elizabeth Street, proudly next to the likes of Rag & Bone and Tory Burch. (Post to come on this!) After the successful pop up store a couple of years ago, it became a goal to find a permanent home in NYC. The scene invites the likes of IvanaHelsinki to feel right at home. The boutique will not only feature the collections but local artists and musicians. Having numerous friends within the indie scene, Paola, a film maker herself, wanted the space to be a place where artists can come together and share through different events.

 

IvanaHelsinki's collections have a strong bohemian feeling yet the Scandinavian countries are known to produce design that is minimalistic, simple and functional. Paola feels a much stronger influence from the Slavic countries. She clearly translates this in her 70's reminiscent fabric patterns and styles. She owns each piece in the collections, designing each piece down to the fabric patterns.

 

My biggest burning question for Paola was why she valued individuals like myself, who promoted the brand through blogs and social media. I first photographed IvanaHelsinki in Copenhagen back in 2010. From then on, each NYFW I have been covering the show, keeping my readers up to date with Paola's collections. Paola feels that it is the new way to reach to the masses through the small veins that bloggers create. "I think that its the modern way of communicating with the people, that's the way to do it nowadays..it's part of being in this underground culture, I don't think fashion should be up there." With the likes of Natalie off Duty, Late Afternoon and Flashes of Style showing up in the front row, this really is a major way of connecting with the masses and allowing consumers to feel a part of the experience.
  

Thank you to Paola for giving us an insite to IvanaHelsinki. It's about creating what inspires you and growing in today's world while keeping a true sense of style and individuality.

 

 

Post to come: Backstage, Runway show and Store Opening

 

xx Marie-Louise

 
... And thanks to Marie-Louise for her interview!
 
Ok so back to the presentation - our idea is to have a 'Boutique Bus' travel around the smarter/afluent areas of London where the boutiques and cool fashion people are.  Picking them up on the Ivana Helsinki Boutique Bus where they will experience the Ivana Helsinki Brand in it's many product forms with focus on fashion.  They will be given Ivana Helsinki promo ticket and asked to tweet their experience of what they saw/did.  There will be a competition and from all the social media a winner will be chosed and given an Ivana Helsinki discount voucher to spend in her boutique.
Here are my slides from the presentation:
 
I have to script it yet but I'm ok with that.
 
A little look at some of her designs in my moodboard.
 
A quote from Ivana Helsinki:



" ... For me beauty is the inner aesthetic and for me that is a combination of the hippie style and rock and roll. My designs need to have that edge. For beauty is not just about happiness. Beauty has to have sadness and a dark side..."

( http://www.scanmagazine.co.uk/2010/05/the-secrets-of-ivanahelsinki/)

Just finished the ticket for our 'Bus Boutique' - aide memoire for those passengers who don't tweet until later on -
(artwork not mine only text -via google images)





 

Monday, 24 September 2012

Today's meeting ...

What a horrible day!!!! rain, rain, rain ...

At least our meeting went well this morning and everyone's happy about the short film idea produced. The presentation is good and everyone is happy to write their scripts for tomorrow.

Remembered to mention we get any supporting stuff to Steff tomorrow so we can hand it in with the rest of our submission.

Contacted Tracy Hopkins of Emmaus via telephone/email to ask if she would mind taking a look at our ppwt and give us some feedback - oh and to say thanks for her and Guy's time on Friday!

All good for tomorrow - fingers crossed it goes well
 - a little rainbow to make you smile!
 
Rearly time for the school run ... bye for now!

Sunday, 23 September 2012

My Plan of Action

So much has happened in 6 days!
I made a Gantt chart today to keep track of where we're up to - it's all looking good - the grey columns are sat/sun, the green bits are what we've completed (either individually or as a group) and the red ones are still to do ... I'm happy we're on track for Tuesday though.

Just to expand a bit on what I'm doing/have done:

Tuesday 18th - assigned our groups; discussed ideas; presented to class; got feedback.

Based on feedback we decided to make a short film about a 'sofa being abandoned, and what happened to it' . This was inspired by the following site I found, check it out 'Disguared Furniture - Rebecca Grove-Humphries' http://www.gove-humphries.co.uk/category/discarded-furniture/ - all the disguarded furniture made ma almost cry (not to mention the impact on our environment!)

Oh, the idea is we can create symbolism between this piece of furniture journey and a family breakdown where a person ends up homeless and show how Emmaus Preston charity picks them up, supports them and makes a positive outcome of a negative situation.

1st group task - make storyboard of idea action Steph & Rochelle

2nd group task - produce worked up photoshop idea to show customer on Friday morning action Steph & Rochelle (Looking good - you'll need to see their blog for that!)

Joint decisions were made regarding the content of our group slides - visuals ready for Friday meeting.

Wednesday 19th - got together in the studio

Worked up ideas further - needed input from Emmaus to confirm moving in right direction.

Thursday 20th - watched the end of 'The Bletchley Circle' on tele.  If you've not seen it, you need to 3 part series ITV  ... BRILLIANT, sadly only 3 parts to it but check it out - http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=324930
 
 
So no work tonite - ooops!
 
 
Friday 21st - Meeting with Emmaus Preston
 
Wow what a fabulous charity http://www.emmaus.org.uk/
- very inspired by it all - got loads of leaflets and recorded interview with Tracey and Guy. - they've got plans to do some great stuff ... and all in a good cause too.  Very interesting interview/ meeting thanks for that Tracey and Guy. 
Showed them our idea and got a few pointers about things to change - appreciated the feedback, brilliant!
 
Back to Library at Uni to regroup and discuss what needed to be done
 
Up date short film Powerpoint action Rochelle and Steph.  Send to me for presentation.
Iqra send me info re. research she did on Emmaus.
 
 
Saturday 22nd
 
Made the powerpoint presentation - couple of goes here (OK so quite a few)
 
Tracey at Emmaus suggested a track for us to use for the film and so did Iqra - checked them both out and the following one is better http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjQbZ4F_BVY&feature=related
 
 
Brilliant lyrics fit into our film nicely - needed some editing though as don't want to use it all - remember this IS only concept idea so copyright not issue at this stage. 
 
Don't have any editing software, but have used it previously, so could use again if needs be - as time tight I'll use digi recorder and edit it to shortened MP3 file to use in powerpoint. Phew .....
 
Ok so Sunday now, finished the presentation powerpoint and the final animation of the sort film, sent it off for the group to write there presentation scripts; give me feedback re changes if any needed and tomorrow  ...
 
Meeting in the library for practice session and making support materials - action Amy Iqra.
Looking forward to Tuesdays presentation - will let you know how it goes tomorrow!
Here's a sneak preview of the powerpoint stills,
but that's all you get tilll Tuesday -
got to go now and clean the house; iron some shirts; make some tea; bath my daughter; and get on with my next brief later on this evening!
 
Love it X
 
 


Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Hey guys (girls actually!),
 
Here in the studio 13.51 - all new to me,
Tarnya, Amy, Rochelle et moi!

Let's get down to some work then ...

Out in the Cold

ok, so as a nubie to blogging this could all go smoothly or terribly wrong!  However, if I never try, I'll never know ... just what IS possible ... so here goes:

My first brief back after summer break from Uni - started yesterday with finding out who I'm going to be working with in our group and what our task is - so far so good.

Group work is always a bit of a challenge, they say 'there is no 'I' in TEAM', but there is a me, so here's hoping we all work together on this one!

As a group, we are taking on the role of fundraiser for UK Charity and Preston shop, Emmaus

this blog will be my documented story of how we reached our goal.