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All Zorts of Movies

Here's a pot pourri of Admissions or Fundraising communications for colleges and other humanitarian organizations. Consider these criteria as you evaluate the impact of this work:

  1. Who, precisely is the audience?
  2. What does the institution need to communicate to that audience? and
  3. Does the audience find the message compelling in two ways -- credible information; AND appropriate or authentic emotional impact?

Movie samples: Recruiting and Fundraising

This compendium is organized mostly by client:

AIP is the American Institute of Physics, Washington, DC, serving physicists and physics students in the collegiate, government, and corporate realm worldwide. We were selected over 3 other respected Washington DC producers to create AIP's 75th anniversary presentation. It was shown at a celebratory gala as a motivational and fundraising initiative. Several thousand DVDs were distributed to their clients, school affiliates, and thought leaders in government and public policy circles. The production was also featured on their web site.

A Child's Story was a production for St. Vincent Children's Center, a secular home for troubled children. This production was shown at an annual fundraising breakfast, and then distributed on DVD.

A K-12 School is the working title of a fundraising and admissions presentation for the Welsh Hills School in Granville, Ohio. We think you'll like the emotional arc of this production.

CU is Cedarville University, a conservative Christian private college. They have hired us to create a new admissions DVD every 2 to 3 years since 1983.

Cols Symphony piece is a fundraising effort for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Columbus, Ohio. At 2:20 of the presentation there's a sequence that takes us from the full rehearsal to a single player rehearsing at home, then back to the concert itself ... all carefully choreographed as to musical passage and camera angle. The Executive Director of the Symphony told us she got goosebumps every time she saw it... and said this video was the best orchestra fundraising video she had ever seen.

DU is Denison University, a selective midwest private liberal arts college.We have been producing admissions and fundraising videos for Denison since 1983. (Our first college client!) Michael Eisner, former chairman of Disney and Paramount, once publicly called one of our Denison admissions videos "The best college admissions video I have ever seen."

Lakeside is the Lakeside Association, a non-profit village near Marblehead, Ohio on Lake Erie, which has been a campground and Chitauqua summer vacation spot. We produced a celebratory fundraising and recruiting presentation which defined the traditions and values which it embodies

Limited - United Way was a fundraising effort aimed at the employees of Limited Brands, a national fashion apparel chain including (at the time) The Limited, Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lane Bryant, and Bath & Body Works.

NTC (Northwest Technical College) is the former name of several technical colleges in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. In this campaign we created recruiting TV spots and conducted a new branding initiative called "Focused on You".

OWU is Ohio Wesleyan University, a midwest private liberal arts college. We have produced numerous admissions and advancement videos for OWU since 1984.

Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease is a regional law firm with offices in the midwest and Washington, D.C. They hired us to help with their recruiting efforts to law students (graduate school).

 

 

Advancement Communications:
Email or Web Movies

Here's an example of how one beloved prof can turn into a rainmaker for an entire institution. Just by talking about their passion for teaching and his fond memories of the students, the human assets of a college can be enlisted in the important process of reaping the harvest of goodwill that can plant the seeds for future generations.

 

Professional School Recruiting:
Web or Email Movies

In this series for a major regional law firm, we let their associates address the distinctives that make the Vorys firm unique. The plan for the messages flowed directly from in-depth research which revealed 9 specific areas of difference with other firms including people, work/life balance, career opportunities, client relationships and ethical values. We shot in high def video, using 35mm cine lenses to create depth by reducing the depth of field. The full site, which was created by Shift Global, can be seen here. We did all the shooting, editing, and video compression for hundreds of clips that we captured in five cities in the midwest and Washington DC area. We also captured organic, kinetic still images from the high-definition files which were used in the website and print publications for the campaign.