Inspiration for Senior Capstone

My next step for my senior capstone is to research other videographer’s promotional videos.  I sometimes get strange looks whenever I tell people that I look at other wedding videographer’s work, but I tell people that it is for inspiration, not for stealing.  I never copy exact concepts or videos. 

Moving forward, the video I checked out was a wedding videographer that also does photography.  They are called “Blueberry Fusion”.  There promotional video can be found below:

Now there are aspects that I like from this video and there are some that I do not like.  I do like that the video is very playful but I cannot help but feel that the video becomes cheesy. In addition, it is obvious that it is scripted. I would like to mention that I plan on scripting some parts of my promotional video, but I do not want to use cheesy lines or humor to cover it up. I would like to present myself as a serious company.  Moving on, I do like that Blueberry Fusion demonstrates the difference between professional vendors and family members that some clients may choose instead: one of the biggest mistakes a bride and groom can do.

I learned from Blueberry Fusion’s video that it is important to show your specialty.  What sets you apart from the competition? For Blueberry Fusion, it is the fact that they are both wedding videographers and photographers.  And they demonstrate the advantages to this in their video. Now, I have to figure out what my specialty is…

"Competitive Promotional Strategies"

Before I even start considering how I should put together my project, I want to review my own business and how it stands with my competitors.  Mostly, how I structure my pricing and promotions.  After all, it is a PROMOTIONAL video.  So I checked out Chakravarthi Narasimhan's article: Competitive Promotional Strategies.  Now, most of this article contains lots of mathematical equations and honestly, situations that aren't that relevant to me.  However, the first part of the article contains some very useful and basic information that can help me shape my business plan and create a promotion that is most profitable and effective to get the audience that I am looking for.

Now I generally do offer promotional discounts every year around this time.  It usually involves me raising my prices but still offering the old prices if you reserve your date before the month of May. This usually proves to be effective but I never knew why.  Narasimhan claims that there are three tools for promotions: Advertising, Trade Promotions, and Consumer Promotions.  Overall, Promotional Discounts.  Now, I have discovered that the reason that why my yearly promotional discount is so effective is because it is wise to "fluctuate prices in order to include brand switchers".  There are two reasons why this is effective. First, there aren't generally brand switchers in my business, only new comers who know nothing about anyone else.  So, a price change can make a big difference when selling your self.  And second, it attracts both higher and lower class audiences. It's hard to believe but sometimes a higher price for a wedding vendor is advertising in itself.  Some people are looking for quality rather than a low price and sometimes that turns people off when they see a low price. A soon higher price will suggest that we still have the quality of a reliable business.  Having these constant price changes will attract a much wider range of audiences and will not turn off the higher class that can get me a pay check.


Article: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2352790uid=3739704&uid=2134&uid=4577523657&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=3739256&uid=60&uid=4577523647&purchasetype=article&accessType=none&sid=21101693542557&showMyJstorPss=false&seq=8&showAccess=false

Photo: http://www.webcommunicator.net/images/sitepicts/2010/photos/promotion.jpg

Capstone Introduction

Well it's finally here.  The course that I have been working for since my freshman year: Senior Capstone. But now it is time to ask myself what project I should do to well showcase my abilities.  Also, it should be something that I learn with, a project that I have not experienced before but would still be of use to me after I  graduate. After taking all of these into consideration, I have decided on a perfect project: A promotional video. I have no experience making a promotional video, except maybe a short one in my Advertising & Imagery course.  I would like to get some experience with advertisement and promotional videos since I see in future with a company that constantly makes commercials. Now, I have decided that what better to promote, than myself and my company: Stevenson Productions.  This will require lots of organization and editing as there are hundreds of hours of footage from previous jobs.  I am very excited about this project and I feel like it will be very beneficial to and my future career. Above is a link to just one of the many videos I plan on featuring in my promotional video.