Brief videos explaining how to use a web-site or web-app are all the rage. I like it. It’s an engaging way to tell people how to use your service without them having to dig through explanations. Its just a shame that most of these video’s don’t go the extra mile and pay attention to the sound.
It is a bit of a bug bear of mine - but there is nothing worse than watching a grainy vimeo video where I can’t hear what instructions being mouthed by the demonstrator. If they knew how easy it was to get a voicover to mix in decent audio, perhaps more people would do it.
So here is how it works.
Find a voice-over for your gig. You can search for Irish, UK and Canadian talent. FYI: the Canadians sound just like yanks so you can hire them if you are targeting that market.
For a small job like this, you are looking for someone with a home studio. We can help advise on this front.
Get a portion of your script together and post it via our online auditions.
The results come in pretty quickly, and once you have someone you like, hire them.
They’ll send back a mp3 which you can lay over your video. Some of them will be able to mix the video for you also.
And that is it. It won’t cost a bomb but it’ll make the world of difference when it comes to how likely your users are to actually stay and figure out how that website actually works.
There’s a new agency in town, Boys and Girls. They are fun, we like them. Here is a wee interview to get to know them better.
So what’s the deal with Boys & Girls?
To put it simply, 4 boys and 2 girls got together. One thing lead to another and next thing we knew we were the proud parents of an agency. A very talented, creative agency at that. We’re so proud.
When did you start and how’s it going for you? We opened our doors last November and we’ve been delighted with the response so far. We’ve won a number of great accounts and were pitching almost every week.
What’s your background/history?
We’ve each been in advertising for a fair chunk of time (over 85 years when added collectively) and have worked in most of the big agencies in town. Which in turn means we’ve worked on most of the leading brands in the country. That’s a lot of experience concentrated into our new agency.
Starting a new agency in a recession?! Are you a masochist or something?
Yes… I mean no… I mean yes. Apple Strudel!! (What’s the “or something”?)
A lot of people have asked us that question (the ‘setting up’ one, not whether we’re masochists). We think recessions are a good time to set up. For one thing, clients are actively looking for effective and efficient solutions and are willing to listen. For another, you can really keep your operation costs in check. If you can create an efficient business model that succeeds during a recession…well that’s a sure sign of a damn fine model.
If you had to choose - would you rather buy products that were made by child slave labour, or products that are made from illegal ivory poaching?
Hmmm, I know this is going to sound boringly PC, but I worked on a “Stop Child Labour” campaign for Concern a couple of years ago. And elephant’s are my favourite animal. So I’ll go for ‘C’ because an ad told me there is always a ‘C’ option. And ads don’t lie.
Radio advertising is like marmite. You love it or hate it, and normally it’s hate. What’s your view?
I love radio advertising (I hate marmite). I think radio is a very creative and impactful medium…when it’s used properly…which if we’re honest is seldom. You’ve heard the expression “Radio is the theatre of the mind”. Well most peoples minds’ don’t feature two people repeating a phone number back and forth, and I’m pretty sure glorified infomercials aren’t considered theatre. Advertising works best when you have a simple, singular idea. It has impact if that idea is executed with creativity and daring. It is not a competition to see how many words you can fit in 30seconds. This is as true for radio as it is for any other media. As a medium, radio is facing a huge number of challenges, from DAB to iTunes. There’s a constant battle to hold on to listeners, so increasing the creative quality of both the programming and the advertising is absolutely essential.
To check out their website, go here. To see their boardroom table built out of Lego, click below:
Our chief nerd has been nerding his little hiney off over the past few weeks and along with a spanking new look for Piehole, we also now have an exclusive iPhone version. If you’re down with the Apple kidz you can browse our entire collection of Voic overs from the comfort of your director’s chair, anywhere in the world.
To add Piehole to your home screen, open safari and browse to www.piehole.ie (or piehole.ca or piehole.co.uk) and then press the ‘+’ button and select ‘add to home screen’.
Irish ad agencies are on a roll, like seriously on a roll. There’s another winner on this week’s best ads for Publicis QMP. The previous week were 2 Irish winners, and also two the week before. Nice one.
