Last month, Kodak announced that it would discontinue production of its legendary Kodachrome film. The end of this particular era was newsworthy, but not unusual. Remember Betamax? The “Brownie”? More recently, the floppy disk? Today, these technologies are no more relevant than the daguerreotype or the stereopticon, and tomorrow they may be joined by newsprint and plasma display. (Seriously. There’s already speculation that plasma TVs may soon go the way of the vacuum tube.)
Part of our job at NEWVISION is to stay abreast of changes in media technology. I say “abreast of,” but what I really mean is one or two microns behind the “bleeding edge.” This is where we want to be because it’s where we have to be if we’re going to remain relevant to our clients. We’d be out of business by next Tuesday if we recommended distributing a video on VHS cassettes. Which is why we throw our energies (and not a small amount of our capital) into mastering such technologies as ASP.NET and high-definition video, and it’s why we’re already looking around the corner for what’s coming next. We try to give our clients the media option(s) that will give them the best chance to be noticed by the right people.
But new media technology isn’t the whole story. In fact, it’s only a small part of the story. The real story is . . . the story. No matter how impressive—or just plain fun—new media technology may be, it can’t take the place of a compelling narrative and it can’t completely deflect attention from a weak one. The DVD sale bins are full of special effects-driven movies that failed because they didn’t have a compelling story. And you only have to go back to last year’s “Slumdog Millionaire” for an example of the power of a compelling story, without the aid of bells and whistles.
Thus, while we go to great lengths to ensure that we’re up-to-date with media technology, we never lose sight of the story.
Every company has a story to tell. Let NEWVISION help you tell yours.
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Valley Preferred: www.ValleyPreferred.com
Challenge:
We may have one of the best healthcare system in the world, but it’s certainly not the easiest to explain. Especially when the client expects its website to attract and meet the needs of four distinct groups of visitors.
Solution:
We began by asking questions. What is Valley Preferred? What do doctors, brokers, employers and their employees know about Valley Preferred and what do they need to find on the site? We worked closely with Valley Preferred to answer these questions and to clearly define its products and services, which is strengthening brand awareness. We gave special attention to copy, visuals, and site organization. And we built a rotating Flash banner to ensure news is always front and center.
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Buzzi Unicem: www.BuzziUnicemUSA.com
Challenge:
Buzzi Unicem, a cement manufacturing company, hit the trifecta: its website redesign project was loosely organized, behind schedule, and on a path to being over budget. There’s plenty of folk wisdom against what Buzzi Unicem did next—e.g., don’t change horses in midstream—but the company didn’t have a choice.
Solution:
We worked hard to earn Buzzi Unicem’s trust, which isn’t easy in this type of situation. We also had to earn the trust of Buzzi Unicem’s parent company, which is headquartered in Italy. Our website redesign had to closely follow the parent company’s site, right down to the smallest detail. We did everything we could to help our client look good in the eyes of its parent company, and we both succeeded.
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Elbeco Product Catalog: www.Elbeco.com
Challenge:
Putting a product catalog on a website can seem like coloring by numbers, but Elbeco’s catalog presented some serious problems—misaligned product names, outdated information, ancient photography.
Solution:
We discussed options with the client, formulated a plan, then got right to work. We helped Elbeco rename product lines and re-write copy, and we held product photo sessions in our studio. The new layout is more user-friendly, the new design is more appealing, and the new “plumbing” ensures that future updates to the catalog will be easy and cost-effective.
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Odds-n-Ends
When our schedule allows, we like to help companies whose business is to help. We recently designed and launched a website for non-profit Meals on Wheels of Lehigh County http://www.mealsonwheelslc.org We also got involved with the integration of a secure web portal and web page to host Web SAI. We provided copywriting and graphic design services, and supervised the printing and mailing of 15,000 postcards to drive traffic to the portal. Still no Oscars, but we recently won two other awards—one for a Lehigh-Carbon Community College virtual tour and another for a Lutron marketing video. On top of all this we still found the time to produce a new demo reel. Though, it’s not a reel anymore. That’s technology for you. But it still has to tell a compelling story. Click here to check it out and let us know if we succeeded. |
