New Hardware

 

Insight was just notified that we won 11 MarCom Awards for 2009 (loud applause)!

Just for the record -- no, we didn't send in 50 entries. Just 16. And yes, we had competition, with nearly 5,000 entries.

Also, for the record, we like the little statuettes MarCom Awards bring.

Here's how we did:

•  Four Platinum Awards -- the highest honor -- for “Moonlight Movies,” a movie trailer produced for Downtown Sioux Falls; Ethanol Today covers for the American Coalition for Ethanol’s membership magazine; a video for Children’s Home Society on the making of the Little Red Stocking window; and Santa’s Prayer, a book also created for Children’s Home Society.

•  Four Gold Awards for the “DSU 2.0 Invitation” for Dakota State University Foundation; the “Chicago TV Spot” for the Sioux Empire Community Theatre; the “Does it Hurt When You?” advertising campaign for Open Upright MRI of South Dakota and a television campaign, “It’s Turkey Time,” for the South Dakota Poultry Industry Association.

• Three Honorable Mentions, for the “Enjoy the Scenery” Season Poster and the Season Illustration for the Sioux Empire Community Theatre; and the logo, letterhead and business cards for Chicagoland Community Church.

The MarCom Awards is an international creative competition that recognizes outstanding achievement by marketing and communications professionals. It is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals.

 

 

Downtown Sioux Falls in 3D?

Insight was approached by Downtown Sioux Falls to create a new trailer for Moonlight Movies, which is a series of family movies shown at Fawick Park.

The trailer is more for informational purposes than entertainment value. With messages such as movie dates, event dates and rules, we had to make sure that the content was first and foremost. However, knowing that there would be a lot of children at this event, we also wanted to make sure that it was entertaining and fun.

In the brainstorming of the trailer, we kind of settled on a crazy kind of carnival idea -- a magical place where things were not quite normal, and we definitely wanted to work in elements of Downtown Sioux Falls into the piece . After a little ribbing from my Creative Director, the decision was made to create the spot entirely in 3D. We ended up using the open source software Blender 3D, I've been a fan of Blender for many years but have never really worked it into my professional workflow until recently,

Downtown Sioux Falls was great to work with and gave us total creative freedom, and this was the outcome. We hope you enjoy viewing it as much as we did creating it.

Downtown Sioux Falls from Insight Marketing Design on Vimeo.

Submitted by Matthew Muldoon, Broadcast Producer

Diluting our Profession?

Recently I've been checking out sites that sell stock video effects.

As I was looking around these sites I thought to myself, "I could take some of my time, create a couple of really nice projects and rake in the dough."  However something I heard in college started to replay in my mind as I was concepting projects to sell. It was something one of my instructors told us: "Some of the biggest competition you will face in your field are desktop publishers -- people who think they can sit down and design a brochure or business card."

And can they? Yes, though not many can compete with a trained Graphic Designer. Now more than ever this is true with video, too. There are countless Bobs and Jims at home in their basements with a decent HD consumer camera and a version of Final Cut or Avid Express, who can shoot well enough and edit well enough to put a video together.

As I thought about the numerous jobs that have been lost to Bob and JIm, because they are cheaper, I started to think, why do I want to create a great motion graphics piece that I can sell for $25? Maybe some day I will bid a job and it will be awarded to Bob or Jim because they can do it cheaper, and they'll buy my template to complete the job. So not only would I lose a bid for a job that would surely cost more than $25, but now the person who won the bid has used my idea/work to complete the project.

Don't get me wrong -- stock photo, video, illustrations are great assets to us as creatives. They allow us to give our clients what they want at a lower price. But in a world where almost everyone has a copy of Photoshop, Illustrator, Final Cut, etc., and statements like, "I'm a designer, web designer, video editor" are thrown around with wreckless abandon, are we as artists slowly making everyone an "artist?"

Submitted by Matt Muldoon, Broadcast Producer

Killer Ad Campaign for Ford F-Series Trucks

Let it be no secret that I'm a Dodge and GM fan. That's all I've ever chosen to drive, and probably won't change anytime soon.

However, let me tell you that Ford has caught my attention with the great look of their latest F-Series trucks ad campaign.

They have created a unique, well-branded campaign. It's just simply refreshing and really great to see their products placed into a complete graphically enhanced environment, whether it's the cool-looking contrasted desert landscape in the TV spot, or the fully engaging interactive website with all the bells and whistles.

Ford has really invested the time and money, when Detroit is "holding back" is this tight economy – it's a gutsy move. Maybe it’s in response to Dodge’s “All Guts. All Glory.” Truck Challenge campaign.

It’s great to see competition bringing out the best in the auto builders. This proves that when money is scarce in an established market, advertising actually becomes more important to gain market share than when the money is flowing. Companies desperately need sales revenue these days. Insight Marketing Design is very aware of this fact, so let us know when you’re ready for your new killer ad campaign to get that market share that is critical right now.

Ford has at least made this GM/Dodge loyalist sit up and take notice, just because of the really great look and branding. I suppose it has a lot do with the fact this it is a younger and hipper looking Ford. So, they nailed their target market with me. Who knows, maybe I'll go kick a few tires on an F-150.

Yes, they have ad agencies in South Dakota

Yep. Along with the pony express and gunfights in the streets, South Dakota has ad agencies.

We even have that Interweb thang.

Thanks to one of our favorite blogs, Make the Logo Bigger, for the shout out on our video about the Children's Home Society project.

Thanks for the mention on the OSOCIO ("Social advertising and non-profit campaigns from around the globe") Twitter feed.

And thanks to Graphic Content for the kudos, as well.

Back to advertising -- one of the most famous campaigns in the history of advertising originated in South Dakota.

Remember the Wall Drug signs...which still exist in some locations? This out-of-home campaign is legendary, with signs worldwide.

Of course, Insight can't take credit for that campaign. But its constant presence keeps important advertising principles top of mind as we whiz by on the stagecoach.

Spirit in Action

We’ve blogged here about our Little Red Stocking project, artwork, display, campaign and event for Children’s Home Society.

Now the movie version is available for your entertainment. Check out Little Red Stocking, a delightful production which illustrates Insight’s holiday spirit in action and features all your favorite Insight stars.

Little Red Stocking from Insight Marketing Design on Vimeo.

Say Hi to Matthew

Meet our new broadcast producer, Matthew Muldoon. Most recently senior editor at another Sioux Falls ad agency, Matthew brings hardcore video editing capabilities to Insight.

He'll also oversee production of radio, TV and video at Insight.

Here's an excerpt from my interview with him.

Q: What’s your favorite band? Or top 3?
A: Right now it would have to be Flobots, Hollywood Undead, and Rise Against.

Q: What’s your favorite song? Or top 3? And why?
A: Goddamn Electric Bill - Lost in the Zoo. Because I've never heard another song that relaxes me more.

Q: If you could be a rock star, who would you be and why?
A: Ringo Starr, cause he's super rich, and he told all his fans he was to busy to sign autographs anymore.

Q: If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be?
A: Banksy, cause then I would be the only person to know his true identity, and would become famous by association. Plus he's a killer artist.

Q: If you could redo one thing in your life, what would it be?
A: I would have partied less in college so I could have graduated with honors.

Q: Where is the love?
A: In Mom's homemade cooking, of course.

Q: Who plays you in the movie made about Insight?
A: Norman Reedus

Q: What is your favorite beverage?
A: Based on pure volume consumed, Diet Pepsi.

Q: What are three things you want to achieve during your lifetime?
A: Create a short film. See Greece. Have an art piece of mine published.

Q: Where does the time go?
A: It's wasted away thinking about the things you want to do, instead of doing them.

Q: When you hear the little voices, what are they saying?
A: REALLY.... WOW!

Q: What comes after infinity?
A: Hopefully a nice, tasty beverage.

YouTube Awakens

As of late I've been very impressed with YouTube.  There was a time when my interest in the site had peaked and I only visited when I had nothing else to do.

The site had become plagued by nuisances like poor video quality, pretenders (lonelygirl15) and staleness. It seemed as if they didn't care.  They had been purchased by Google and seemed to be happy driving their new cars and eating their Kraft dinners.

But I was wrong.  YouTube seems to have awoken from its slumber.  They have had a number of just plain awesome contests, shows and events lately (example: YouTube Live).  And their current project sounds like something I wish I could be a part of.  Check out this video.


The whole idea is just great.

But they've done other things to bring me back.  They added further support for HD clips, not just in conversion, but by resizing the view window for all videos.  They made it easier to upload videos, added tools that recommend videos based on the previous videos I've seen, and gave me the option to view videos in high quality mode if I should choose to do so.

I'm impressed.  It seems like they've really got the pulse of their users and I hope they stay on it.

If you feel that you'd like to see for yourself, I'll put in a plug to check out the IMD profile.  If you subscribe you'll get all of our video goodness delivered straight to your YouTube homepage.  What a deal.

Voices for Children Volume Turned Up

South Dakota Voices for Children is an awesome organization.

Founded and led by Dr. Susan Randall, SD Voices organizes and advocates on issues important to children. And because children don't have a voice in public policy, SD Voices speaks on their behalf.

In the past, I worked with this group on an Early Childhood Education Initiative.

So I was excited when Insight had the opportunity to work on a new project for SD Voices. It's about children's mental health and included a DVD and website, which needed to complement an existing print piece.

This "campaign" is intended to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and encourage parents to get help for children who need it. The project even received props in an Argus Leader editorial.

We're proud of our work; check it out at www.sdkidsmentalhealth.org. The video is under the "Parents' Guide to Children's Mental Health" tab.