This on one of my favorite things to do with peeps. Kids love it too.

Today we’d like to share with you our latest work for the Hawaii International Film Festival. Their 2009 Spring Showcase is getting ready to launch and we put together a 30 second commercial to generate awareness, drive ticket sales and build excitement. Instead of trying to smash clips and film titles into a very short 30 seconds we decided the best solution was to be a bit conceptual while still holding true to the art and craft of filmmaking. Our key visual this time is an orchid intertwined with white celluloid and our theme is “Film in Full Bloom.”  The orchid represents spring and the celluloid represents film. We thought about how we could use the image of the orchid and marry it to the filmmaking industry and then put the ideas in motion for a TV spot. The solution was to film an orchid blooming and use a voice over that suggested that the orchid was performing a role in a film. The footage is pretty amazing and the sound track adds just the right touches to suggest that you are behind the scenes watching a film being created…about what you may ask? Hmmm…send us your thoughts. The best idea wins an OrangeRoc. We really have them. Don’t forget your name and address.

Over here at the Roc we believe in giving back to our community in more ways than one, and we have adopted very special non-profits to sponsor. Our first adoption occurred two and a half years ago with The Friends of the Missing Child Center-Hawaii. Our desire started with the understanding that all of us begin life innocently. Unfortunately, some children are robbed of their childhood innocence by abuse, adduction or sexual exploitation. We have made it part of our mission to help The Friends of the Missing Child Center-Hawaii because we recognize a great need in our state to support an organization with a huge mission to accomplish but without the funds to achieve all of their goals. One parent who lost a child that will never return once said to a group of other parents, “communication is key” it’s the difference in life and death. Since we are here to help companies and people communicate we knew we could donate our talent and energy to them. I also learned from Peter Banks, Director of Training and Outreach for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, “tell your children you love them and you are proud of them everyday… or someone else will, and that person may not have their best interest in mind.”

We’ve really been ROCing lately… TV Spots, Documentries, websites, and much more. Today we launched a website for the “Friends of the Missing Child Center – Hawaii.” There are few projects like this. I can say that working with this client has changed my life. Every day I have been deeply effected by the work we have done for this cause, and it has been a good thing.

Check out their new website at:

http://www.missingkidshawaii.org/

Today I picked up 96 parent sheets of Classic Columns Epic Black. Usually we don’t pick paper up directly – the printer does — we only get the final product once it is printed, cut and done. So because of my inexperience with virgin stock I thought ‘no big deal, I can carry this stuff – it’s paper.’ But dang, that stuff was big and heavy! But how heavy…

To figure out paper weight you need the basis weight and size, info that you can find this info in the stock’s swatch book. Classic Columns Epic Black is only made in 80C. The sheet size is 40” x 26”

With that information now all I had to do was visit www.mohawkpaper.com and plug it into their PaperMath Calculator.

31 lbs.

What a wimp.

OrangeRoc is excited to complete work on a website for one of our newest clients “The Cove at The Citrus” – a semi-custom home development in the southern California desert community of La Quinta. We are very proud of our efforts and give a special thanks to our client for all of their help, as well as, our coding partners for their diligence and patience. It was a total team effort and everyone who touched this project deserves a big round of applause. To view the site go to www.thecoveatthecitrus.com.

Lessons from the Web,

I just bought a new bike from a top American recumbent bike manufacturer, Bacchetta bikes in St Petersburg, Florida.  I thought I would share some of my notes on how the web played a huge part in my purchase decision.

1. Be search friendly. I Google all the time for every thing. It was no different for my search for a new recumbent bike. I would search for recumbent; reviews, races, news. Google News played a huge role In me finding Bacchetta.

2. Blogs are you friend (or a least they can be). I found two Blogs thru Google News. (thebentblog.com and www.recumbentblog.com).These two sites wrote about their bikes and experiences and they listed recumbent manufacturers in their side bar.

3. Have a user friendly web presence that is always current. I have been looking at two companies for about a year now (while I saved for my purchase.)  I would check out their sites weekly to see if there was anything new. I’d noodle the specs or just look at the pictures.

A couple of side notes:

Have good, clear photos, overall shots and close ups. Do not photoshop parts unto the bike. It’s evil (I decided against ActionBent  because of an  badly manipulated photo on their website).

Having a blog on your site is a good idea.

Just because some one finds your site and wants your product does not mean they are going to buy right now (especially in todays economic climate).

4. Be Different. Be innovative and communicate those differences in a clear manner. I decided to buy from Bacchetta because of one blog entry that described their patented frame technology. It was concise and detailed. I was sold.

5. Explain your purchasing options clearly because shipping can be a huge expense. Have a phone number and email address available. It’s also helpful to have someone who’s friendly and knowledgeable who is able to respond. Also it help to have a contact form on the site and someone to respond to these as well (this is one area Bacchetta dropped the ball).

I went with the Bacchetta Strada in large part due to their web presence.