Real Time Inspiration for Video Concept
Mar 03, 2010 | Video Production
We recently received an order from a new client to produce 4 online videos.
The client is a government-linked agency and the job is to produce videos to showcase the use of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in Malaysia. The subject of the videos were specified to us and each of the videos are to feature a particular subject relevant to ICT.
We were also given a bunch of other specs. The videos should be entertaining. The videos should have the potential to create a viral effect. The videos should be linked together so there is continuity from one video to the next. The videos should not be too long. And there should not be a main character in the videos.
Hmmm. Let’s sum it up and see…
We have 4 videos to make up a series. We have 4 dry subjects to make entertaining. We have bunch of characters without any of them standing out from the rest. And we have a short time to tell our story.
Ok, got it. This was going to push our creativity to the limit.
So, after toying around with a few ideas, we finally drew inspiration from the real-time concept adapted to perfection in the iconic TV series 24.
Each of the videos would be broken down into a few separate scenes and characters that would intertwine and link by time. Cool huh (we think so).
Now that we have that concept down, we can move on to working on the storyline and storyboard proper.
More to come.
Electronic Direct Mailers and spam filters
Feb 06, 2010 | Online Marketing
The next time you plan to have an EDM campaign, do not think only of the cost to blast out the emails. Consider also the cost you’re paying for emails that do not go through.
We just completed an arduous exercise that involved sending out electronic direct mailers to something like 500,000 email addresses. Electronic Direct Mailing, EDM or email blasting, of course refers to sending out emails in bulk.
Ok. You’re probably thinking now…copy and paste the email addresses in the “To:” field, compose the message, insert some images and hit Send. No big deal.
Well, not quite. Because here’s the thing with EDMs – it’s a bit more tricky than it sounds.
You see, blasting out emails in bulk can be done by almost anyone with a decent knowledge of online marketing tools.
But blasting out emails in bulk without most of them getting blocked by stringent spam filters or your email domain being flagged for spamming is something else entirely.
Now, there are usually 2 levels of spam filtering for emails – outgoing and incoming. Spam is really, really that frowned upon.
Outgoing spam filters are imposed by the email hosting provider, data center manager or ISPs and are usually triggered by the quantity, rapidness and content of emails being sent or by the number of bounced emails returned.
Bypassing outgoing spam filters can usually be done with highly specialized programs that are hooked up to the email server system.
Incoming spam filters on the other hand are imposed by the recipients’ email provider and are almost entirely triggered by the content of the email. These are the tricky ones.
We routinely do a spam-check on the email content before any EDMs. Unsurprisingly, most email content provided to us by clients flop the test first time round.
Avoiding incoming spam filters means re-composing the email content such that it does not appear spam-like.
Yes, there is a science to composing spam-proof emails. Well, not really an exact science, but close enough.
Now the emails are good to go.
Sensuala is launched and online voting takes off
Jan 31, 2010 | Event Management, Marketing Campaign, Website Building
The first and most significant chapter of our Sensuala Calendar Girl campaign climaxed with the Wacoal-Sensuala Calendar Girl Launch Party on 28th January 2010 at Mist Club, Bangsar.
The night marked the launch of Sensuala’s new logo, the launch of Sensuala’s new official website and the launch of the Sensuala Calendar Girl competition.
Huh? Well, here’s how it works.
Although all the buzz and marketing has been about the Sensuala Calendar Girl competition, the girls and their wallpaper calendars, the objective of the campaign has always been to create awareness and stir a buzz about the Sensuala brand and it’s new logo. The Sensuala Calendar Girl competition was the means to that end.
And the Launch Party was where we presented it all to a load of corporate guests, members of the media, bloggers, photographers and fans.
After the event, the 12-month download-for-free wallpaper calendars were released on the official website.
And online voting for the Sensuala Calendar Girl finalists commenced.
We adopted a simple thumbs-up-thumbs-down online voting system with real-time vote count display. It’s easy, it’s transparent, it encourages participation and it’s fun – all of which fits our theme for the campaign.
We did however face a minor glitch on the first day of voting.
You see, the system was initially set up to allow voters to vote only once for each contestant – either give her the thumbs up or thumbs down. This was to ensure fairness and maintain the integrity of the voting system. We also set the system to allow anyone to vote without having to register or log in, so as to keep things as simple and easy as possible.
But just like any other regular online system, someone somewhere somehow figured a way past the safeguards and the vote counts went ballistic.
Fortunately our team picked up on this breach early and we temporarily suspended voting to fix the problem.
We had a few options to tackle the problem, but the one we thought best was to implement an additional safeguard – require voters to log in to vote.
It was something we had hoped to avoid in the beginning – the concern about this measure was that it would adversely affect voter participation. But maintaining the integrity of the voting results was critical, and so we did what we had to do.
We made the registration process as simple as possible and also made a concerted effort to convince voters it was just that by constantly marketing the tagline “If you do not have an account, you may create one in just 10 seconds.”
Going by the very healthy number of voter registrations we received after the system went back online, it worked.
The system is intact. Votes are pouring in. Discussion by viewers are intense. And website traffic has been terrific.
And so for now we kick back and wait to see what happens over the next few weeks.
Getting ready for the Launch Party
Jan 22, 2010 | Event Management, Marketing Campaign
One week to the Launch Party and our events machinery is running in top gear.
As the on-ground element to our Sensuala Calendar Girl campaign, we were tasked with organizing a club event to launch the Sensuala Calendar Girl competition. And to launch the new logo for Sensuala. And to launch the new official website for Sensuala.
Get it?
Wacoal-Sensuala Calendar Girl Launch Party
Date: Thursday, 28th January 2010
Time: 7pm
Venue: Mist Club, Bangsar
Theme: Cherry Red
Mist Club was also the venue for our Malaysian Dreamgirl 2 Party which was held in March last year. It was a fabulous event and we felt it was the ideal place for this one too.
Although not really our core business, we somehow over the past couple of years built a reputation for throwing helluva events. And despite it not really being our core business, we were still going to do our bit to ensure that title remained.
So there will be dancers. There will be performances. There will be fashion shows. There will be hilarious videos. And the drinks will be flowing freely.
The Launch Party is an invitation-only event and invitees include our client’s business partners, our corporate guests, members of the media and bloggers. We are also giving away a limited number of invites to anyone else who wants to join us at the party. These invites can be won from http://sensualalingerie.com.
One week to the Launch Party and our events machinery is running in top gear.
Viral video concept: Lingerie & food?
Jan 13, 2010 | Marketing Campaign, Video Production
Arguably the most interesting and exciting part of the Sensuala Calendar Girl campaign was our plan to produce and release a viral video series to complement the campaign and create a buzz.
There were a few parameters we had to work with. The viral video content had to be original, light, entertaining and funny. It should fit our client’s brand image. It should not hard-sell our client’s brand or product. It must be non-offensive. And it should absolutely not scream SEX. But gently whisper sensuality instead.
So we pushed our creativity to the limit, threw around a bunch of ideas and finally settled on a concept we thought would appeal the our client.
Our idea was to produce a series of viral videos based on the concept of “How to eat food sensually.” Which really, is as it sounds.
We would come up with a varied list of 12 food items or dishes, get the Sensuala Calendar Girl finalists to summon their inner sensuality and show – on video – how to eat as sensually as they possibly can.
So we put our thoughts into storyboards and produced a few mock videos to show our client.
Here are some screenshots from one of the mock videos.
Lingerie and food? What’s the connection? Hmmm. None?
Exactly. Which is why we thought it was so perfect.
[The features of our talent have been concealed to hide her embarrassment]
Then came presentation day. Our clients watched, smiled, laughed and gave us the go-ahead. *High fives all around*
The viral videos will premiere at the Wacoal-Sensuala Calendar Girl Launch Party on 28th January 2010, and will be released on the official website Sensualalingerie.com the next day. It will then join the plethora of videos on YouTube.
You definitely want to stay tuned for this one.
Casting Call has gone live
Jan 06, 2010 | Community Building, Website Building
After a few days of serious testing, Casting Call – our brand new niche community for models and talents – has gone live. And it’s buzzing.
Here’s a fresh look at the home page…
Our objective in creating this community was to provide a place for models and talents in Malaysia – and anyone who works with them – to be seen and to connect with one another. Besides models and talents, we also had casting agents, modeling agents, video producers, employers, hair stylists, make-up artists and fashion stylists in mind when designing the site.
Since this is an open community, membership is free and open to all. And we even added a Party Crasher category for members – literally for party crashers.
Members get their own profile page, which is customized for models and talents to list their profile information and personal details -the usual gender, heritage, age, height, weight, measurements, hair type, hair length, hair colour, eye colour blah blah blah…
And there is a personal photo album to complete the portfolio…
One of the main features of the site is a free classified ads section that allows advertisers to post ads targeted at community members. We’re talking about ads for casting calls, auditions, assignments and jobs for models, talents, actors, extras, singers, dancers, promoters, usherers and so on…
Ok. Now we’ve to admit this site isn’t exactly in the same class as Facebook, but for a niche community it comes with a load of features for a interactive and engaging user experience.
There’s a stream of recent community activity for a quick glimpse into what everyone is up to…
You can take your pick of which members to invite as friends…
Your friends page shows their latest status and who’s online…
And you also get a stream of your friends’ recent activity…
Being a social community, making interaction among members easy and fun was naturally a priority.
Members can send each other private messages…
Or they can also choose to comment on each others individual profile wire or picture wire…
The next stage in member interaction is the creation of groups.
Casting Call allows members to create their own groups or join an existing group. Members can post brief messages on the group wire or create a group forum for more extensive discussion…
So that’s Casting Call in a nutshell.
There are of course few other interactive features here and there too. But let’s not spoil your experience in exploring the site.
We’re now working on adding more features and content at Casting Call. That will be another story for another time.
Let’s now just watch this baby grow.
Casting Call in the works
Dec 30, 2009 | Community Building, Website Building
We recently started work on building our own community website. And damn, it’s exciting.
Tentatively named Casting Call, the community aims to be a home for models and talents in Malaysia.
Models and talents will be able to post their profile and photos for viewing by agents, producers and clients. Advertisers will be able to post casting calls, auditions and job openings. And the site also has a load of cool features for community members to interact with one another.
Models and talents were a natural choice for our first community since we frequently organized casting calls and auditions as an online video producer. It was a simple choice.
Anyways, development is now at its final stages. Another week or two and we should be ready to go.
Registration closes for Sensuala Calendar Girl
Dec 27, 2009 | Marketing Campaign
Sign up for the Sensuala Calendar Girl search closed today.
We received more than 400 entries in just over 2 weeks – which is quite staggering considering the recruitment drive was entirely online and that this was a lingerie model search.
Here are some random entries we received from aspiring models.
Now, the girls will be assessed and shortlisted contestants will be called in for an audition. 12 girls will then be selected as Sensuala Calendar Girls finalists and grace Sensuala’s new Wallpaper Calendar 2010.
Let’s wait and see what happens next.
Sensuala Calendar Girl kicks off
Dec 07, 2009 | Marketing Campaign, Website Building
The website is good to go and it’s time to roll out the campaign.
Sensualalingerie.com
We were recently engaged by Wacoal Malaysia to organize its Sensuala Calendar Girl campaign.
The concept for the marketing campaign is to launch a brand new Wallpaper Calendar 2010 series for Sensuala – a lingerie line created by Wacoal Malaysia – which will be made available for free download. Yes, the wallpaper calendars we’re talking about here are the kind that go on your computer, not the wall.
And to add a bit more buzz to the calendars, we created a competition around the campaign.
Sensuala Calendar Girl
We are inviting Malaysian girls to participate in the competition for a chance to be on the calendars – and also win some cash and prizes. 12 girls will then be selected, photographed and featured on the wallpaper calendars, with one girl for every month of the year.
Viewers can also get involved by voting online for the favourite girl. The girl with the highest votes will win the title of Sensuala Calendar Girl and the prizes that go with it.
This will be an almost entirely online campaign. And at the center of the entire project is Sensuala’s new official website at Sensualalingerie.com, which we just finished building. This is where it all happens.
The usual Facebook fan page and Twitter account have been set up for greater social sharing. And we will also be producing and releasing a 12-part viral video series to further compliment the campaign.
And finally, we will be organizing a Launch Party at a club venue in late January 2010 as the on-ground element to complete the entire marketing campaign.
So the plans are drawn and the campaign is in motion. And now we wait for our Sensuala Calendar Girl candidates.
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The Uncut Version
Capxion Media is a web studio specializing in branded content creation, online video production, website building, interactive web services, online community building and innovative marketing campaigns. This is its story.
