Digital content specialist helps PR professionals make the most of video press releases

PR professionals are increasingly aiming to reach beyond their traditional audience in the media, interacting directly with consumers and businesses through social networks. The traditional press release can’t always provide the detailed information - or entertainment - that consumers demand and many PRs are turning to video press releases to help. Designer and entrepreneur Phil Pauley, founder of digital content specialist Pauley Media, has produced a 10-point checklist to help PR professionals understand the options video offers their campaigns.

Many options are available to PR professionals producing a video press release. Budget, deadline, and the desired quality of the final film will inform your choices along the way. Areas that should be considered when making those choices include:

1) Camera equipment - there is a huge range of options here including standard definition video cameras or high definition DSLRs

2) What type of video would you like to produce? Short and simple with a single shot, or using a range of shots and a narrative? What is the ideal duration for your film?

3) Sound recording - Quality sound is essential. Are you going to use the camera's on-board microphone, or record sound separately?

4) What background would you like to use? A live background with depth and activity or a clean backdrop with a company logo? Perhaps a “green screen” and its flexibility is more suitable?

5) How are you going to light your shoot? Is there sufficient natural light at your chosen location or do you need to hire a lighting rig?

6) Should you storyboard? If using a range of material or shots, this can help to plan your shoot and save you time. It will allow you in identify when and where you could incorporate additional visualisation to help delivery your story in a more dynamic way.

7) Narration - Who will present the press release and what qualities would you like them to have? Will you read it yourself or ask another member of staff, your client or another professional?

8) Will you make use of a voice-over or soundtrack? Both are brilliant tools for adding texture, delivering information, and adding fluidity.

9) Will you use graphics? Animation can illustrate points, additional video clips add value, whilst company logos and contact details can be used for marketing and highlighting your call to action.

10) Finally, post-production - this can include keying, colour grading, titles, and after effects - a great deal of thought should go into how to take advantage of all that it can offer.

Considering all of the above areas and options, and making decisions regarding each one, will, in the end, make the production of your video press release run as smoothly as possible. You’ll be better placed to decide what you can do in-house and where you should outsource services, products and people to help you make a success of your video press release and reach your new audiences most effectively.

About Pauley Media

Pauley Media is a versatile and creative independent family company specialising in Concept Design, 3D Interpretation, Cultural Communication, e-Learning and Corporate Presentations through 3D Modelling and Immersive Audience Engagement. Find out about previous successful video and design projects for its range of international clients at www.pauley.co.uk/Media/

Contact the company on info@pauley-media.com or +44 (0)1908 522532

The Importance of Branding

A company's identity is inextricably entwined with it's corporate branding. Corporate colours are important to the way a company shows itself to the world, and also to how it perceives itself. A logo defines what your company is and what it stands for. This is why it’s so important not only to get it right, but to stick with it.

The costs involved in rebranding can be huge and large companies set aside vast sums and months of advertising and PR work to get their message across. Aviva's rebrand project is estimated to have cost £80m and BA paid out £60m for theirs so it's important to make the right decision at the outset. A wrong move can mean that a forced change in branding means being forgotten.

To clarify and identify Pauley.co.uk, and to give more continuity to the services we provide, we’ve incorporated our branding over all of our different websites with our main logo in the centre and introduced our world map at the top right side of our websites. This will always link back to www.cultureodyssey.com, our new division dedicated to Art, Travel, Culture and Lifestyle. We have selected red, white and grey as our corporate colour palette but we’re not limited to using these colours in a fixed or formal way. Culture Odyssey www.cultureodyssey.com is very important to us, and to highlight this we have chosen to emphasise and distinguish it by using grey as a subtle base tone. There is consistency in the style and flow of the top band with the colours differentiating the separate company divisions while bringing together a cohesive look and feel to the corporate image.

Tags: corporate branding, corporate colours, logos, advertising.

Diversify, but always inform your customers - latest innovations from Pauley.co.uk

As companies expand and diversify they can grow beyond their original plans, developing new and exciting products and services in addition to their core products. This organic growth can mean that the new developments rapidly become an integral part of what the company does. Before you know it, this success means that you’re offering more services than you used to and your website no longer gives a full picture of all that's on offer.

Many people acknowledge that their website is their shop-front to the world. If it's not letting their customers know about the innovations then it's not working it's hardest for them. It's a disservice to the shareholders and employees by not advertising all that the company can offer. Customers can rarely guess where growth areas are and it's unlikely that they will bother to ask, which means that the company will miss out on valuable business. A good accurate website needs to have enough information to spark the customer's imagination and encourage them to make contact.

Pauley.co.uk has been established for precisely this reason, as a central hub from which our various divisions will operate inter- dependently. Our company has evolved into a number of highly specialised areas and the time has come to split the organisation into a divisional structure to fully explore and develop the unique features of each, and highlight the benefits they bring to our client base.

So the next time you click on www.pauley.co.uk you will see links to all of our other divisions:

www.pauley-interactive.co.uk for design and innovation

www.philpauley.com for concept design

www.cultureodyssey.com our dedicated Art, Travel, Culture and Life Style site

www.cultureodyssey.blogspot.com.

By focusing on the main site, we at Pauley.co.uk believe that our online shop-front now accurately represents the extensive range of services and innovations we offer to our clients.

Concepts to tackle traffic

There are so many things going on at Pauley Interactive that we want to share, so we came up with this blog to post what we’re doing from time to time, to keep everyone in the know.

All of our concepts are based around sustainability, and developing technology while always keeping the environment at the forefront of our ideas. With that in mind we have thought about traffic. It’s a nightmare to sit in, it does nothing for the environment and it clutters up cities. So for that reason we have developed what we have called the ‘Wi-Fly’. It was recently covered by technology magazine Wired, and being big fans of Wired, we were very proud to be in it.

The ‘Wi-Fly’ is a semi-autonomous public transport pod which is controlled in the same way as a Segway, but with an outer casing to make it much safer. The real USP of this concept is how convenient it will be for the public to use. No more congestion charges, worries about finding a petrol station in central London, or getting crushed waiting for a tube: the Wi-Fly is simply paid for by an oyster card, credit card or cash based on how far you travel.

One of the driving forces behind the Wi-Fly is the impact it can have on traffic in congested cities. It is 1/6th the size of a car, so that will naturally reduce the amount of traffic on the roads. Not only will it reduce congestion, it will do wonders for carbon emissions as well, because it runs on a rechargeable battery.

The innovative thinking of this product is testament to the direction that we’re moving in; we spend our time thinking out of the box to come up with ideas that not only revolutionise public life, but are focused on improving the environment through sustainable designs and technology.

The role of Virtual Environments in Marketing

Virtual environments are digitally created worlds that have a huge variety of uses. They are particularly used in the games industry, for example in virtual reality games where users interact with other players online. These 3D worlds do also firmly have their place in the world of marketing and PR.

A 3D world can be used as promotional material because they can give the ability to walk through a computer generated version of up and coming projects. They are a fantastic marketing tool as they can get consumers excited by showing them the potential of a new building before it has even begun production.

These are ideal for the property market because they can give the consumer the option of seeing numerous buildings in incredible detail, without having to leave their computer. It encourages forward thinking about how rooms can be furnished and laid out, and because everything can be made to specific measurements, there are no rough estimates with these computer generated worlds.

Another use for 3D in marketing is 3D maps. They can be a quick and easy guide for a shopping centre or theme park to help the consumer plan out their entire day. With the advancements in digital advertising, these maps can then become hubs for marketing products and services by placing relevant adverts in specific parts of the maps. 3D maps can enhance the shopping or theme park experience by helping the user find what they need, but also by offering advice on where to go, what to eat and what to buy.

3D Animation – The Toy Story Revolution

It is easy to look back fondly on Toy Story as a funny and heart warming children’s film. It reached a generation of children and adults alike, sparking an incredibly successful trilogy and world-wide franchise that is recognisable by its lovable and unique characters.

What isn’t always remembered when everyone looks back on Toy Story is how revolutionary it was for the world of 3D films. It was the first feature length film made completely in CGI, pioneered by John Lasseter, and has contributed so much to how we all understand the role that 3D can have in films. CGI doesn’t just make explosions in action films or force you to wear 3D glasses in the cinema, it can be the basis for telling a story and creating a whole world. It was through making a full feature 3D animated film that Pixar proved this.

It is incredible to see how far 3D animation has come since Toy story was first released in 1995. With only 1 3D feature being released in 1995 by Pixar, to over 10 3D feature length films being released this year by a variety of production studios they have clearly had a big rise in popularity. The numerous studios that create these films every year opens up a world of new ideas and talents.

The quality of the environments, characters and the animation has developed so far in these 16 years. All it takes is to compare Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 3 and you will see the massive difference even within the same studio. The question is, where will it all go to? As technology improves year on year the possibilities for 3D are endless and with Pixar’s latest film moving away from the Toy Story franchise to their first medieval film, ‘Brave’, it is clear that there are no restrictions on what comes next for 3D.

CSR and how it is used today

What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? CSR is when a company takes on the role of regulating how they interact with the law, international norms and ethical standards. A socially responsible business cares about the impact that they have on local and international society both directly and indirectly.

Puma is an example of a company that has taken CSR to great lengths with its carbon emissions ‘profit and loss account’. The idea is that Puma want to calculate the damage that they are doing to the environment by its carbon usage, as well as the impact that their emissions and water usage will have.

These set of accounts were made with the help of accountancy consultants PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC) and research analysts Trucost to understand the impact that they are having, and to work out the best way of making the company more sustainable. These accounts will be released at the end of their financial year, and will be analysed by the shareholders and investors in the same way as their set of financial accounts.

Puma have got the right idea by going through their processes and finding the flaws, as it is only by highlighting the specific problems in the necessary areas of a business that realistic targets can be set to make improvements. They are also accountable to their stakeholders by releasing these accounts which is an extra incentive for them.

Sustainable and green technology can also start from the ground-up, right from the design through to the finished product. The Urban Tree Planter is one project that helps architects incorporate practical sustainability solutions into their designs. Although in most cities there won’t be enough space for even a small garden, these trees can be placed in convenient places to make the most of the space that they have.