News

PEG Works on 2024 All-Star Game Open

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 10:00:00 Z

The Pritt Entertainment Group team couldn’t be more proud to share that we recently had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with Major League Baseball and Shine Entertainment to create the opening video for the pregame show of this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, hosted by the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The video debuted right before the start of the pregame festivities on July 16, 2024, in front of a sold-out crowd of 39,343.

This video was a true team effort and celebration of what makes Texas so special, showcasing how its heritage is intertwined with that of baseball in America.

Shine Entertainment brought us into the process just about a month before the game, and collaboratively we hit the ground running. We immediately began working with project partners to identify talent and locations in Texas that would be perfect for filming. About a week later, our team was on the ground in the Lone Star State, capturing footage of real-life cowboys on a rural ranch and at the Ranger's home in Arlington.

The PEG Team on location in Texas

With one day to scout locations and two days to film, we worked quickly and efficiently, traveling between locations to capture everything that we’d need for the piece. We supplemented all of the amazing footage we captured with footage from real Texas rodeos thanks to our friends at The Cowboy Channel and we received an amazing selection of highlights of 2024 MLB All-Stars from Major League Baseball and MLB Network.

PEG, Shine Entertainment and David Poulsen on voiceover Zoom session

To create truly iconic pieces, though, all aspects of a video need to be thoughtful, intentional and have meaning. To make sure this piece was authentic and not only looked but also sounded like Texas, we were fortunate to be able to team up with legendary rodeo announcer David Poulsen on the voiceover and composer Matthew Jordan Leeds, who’s work has also been featured in pieces created for the Walt Disney Company, Netflix and Amazon, to compose a custom track for the piece, collaborating with our PEG team and the Shine Entertainment team.

We couldn’t be more thrilled with how the piece came together and that it could kick off such a memorable night on a global stage. This project really did have it all: a great story to tell and great storytellers to tell it with every step of the way. We can’t wait to continue to create with all of these great project partners in the future to help bring the most iconic events, like this one, to life.

2024 IDEA Conference Recap

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 09:53:00 Z

The annual IDEA Conference is always one of the best weeks of the year. Not only do you get to reconnect with friends and partners from across the sports industry, but you also get inspired by a week of chatting with some of the best and most brilliant minds in the sports creative industry.

This year’s IDEA Conference took place in St. Louis and was another one to remember. D.J., Josh, James and I represented the PEG Team this year. We had the chance to showcase our work to professional and college teams and leagues from across the country, take part in some awesome experiences and see venues from around the city.

Before the event kicked off, we got to attend a Cubs-Cardinals game at Busch Stadium. It was great, as always, to get to see a team’s show in-person. We also got to check out the area that has been redeveloped around the ballpark, which fits seamlessly into the in-park experience and feel.

We also visited the Enterprise Center, home of the St. Louis Blues, where we voted for this year’s Golden Matrix Awards. Congratulations to all our partners and friends who were honored as finalists and winners this year!

At that event, we also debuted our new PEG Sports brand video. This piece was so much fun to put together and showcased our team in a fun, outside-the-box way that mimicked the style of a real sports open video.

We also spent time at CITYPARK, home of St. Louis CITY FC, which was an incredible venue and clearly a great place to watch soccer in a re-energized part of the city.

All in all, it was another great conference. Thanks to the organizers of IDEA, who put the conference on, and planned a great trip for our team and all those who attended!

2024 SXSW Recap

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 12:00:00 Z

Last week, for the fourth time, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend SXSW in Austin, TX. As I’ve written about on this blog before, every time I’m able to spend a week at this event it’s one of the most reenergizing experiences for me. To be able to surround yourself with industry leaders and discussions about truly almost any topic you can imagine is incredible.

For me, when attending sessions I like to not only focus on video and our industry specifically, but also enjoy taking in speakers talking about business, technology, leadership and sometimes even ones that are completely random, but fascinating nonetheless. (Ever heard of stock exchanges that sell fractional ownership of songs from big-name artists? Neither had I until last week.)

First Time Speaker Experience

This year was even more special because I was fortunate enough to be selected as a speaker at this year’s SXSW. It was such a humbling honor to have the chance to talk to people from across the globe about Storytelling in Sports, sharing a stage with Jonny Greco of Shine Entertainment, Tara Hewit of Charlotte FC and Lamont Buford of the Seattle Kraken.

This was especially meaningful because through PEG we’ve had the opportunity to create some of our most memorable pieces with everyone who joined me on that stage and I couldn’t think more highly of each of them and the work they do.

While some people or groups might find a full hour of public speaking a lot of time to fill, we could have talked for an entire day. The discussion was fantastic and I’m excited for you to see it.

Check out the full SXSW Panel here!

Everyone is Talking about AI

Beyond our panel, the big topic this year at SXSW, unsurprisingly, was the emergence of AI. It felt like every third session was based around it in some way or another, discussing what it can do, can’t do, where it’s going and how it will be able to be integrated across a variety of industries, not just ones like ours.

It’s incredibly exciting to think about what it will be able to help us do in the future, potential efficiencies it can create and how it can be used to not replace the creativity that organizations like ours bring to the table, but how it can allow us to do things that we may never have been able to before.

A big theme that continued to come up was how important it will be to stay up to date with everything happening and to be on the forefront of the new technology, something we’re really focusing on here at PEG. Unlike some hot-button topics that pop up at SXSW for a year and then have mostly disappeared by the next, I’d expect the conversation around AI to be on that will continue there for years to come.

All in all, it was another memorable year in Austin and one that I’m grateful that I had the chance to be a part of. Keep your eyes open for the video of our session on our social channels and be sure to let us know what you think!

2023 NACDA Convention Recap

Tue, 20 Jun 2023 13:18:00 Z

It’s always great to see old friends, and just as fun to make new ones. Our team got to do both of those things last week at the NACDA Convention, the biggest show in the country for college athletics. This year it was held at the World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando, Florida, the gathering spot for over 6,000 attendees.

PEG was fortunate to have the opportunity to exhibit at the partner expo, where we were able to showcase our work to schools from across the country. The show itself was large, as always, and featured a wide range of vendors, everything in our industry from video board manufacturers to content creators like us.

As with most events like this, some of the best parts came not just getting to show our team’s creativity to potential new partners, but inside and outside of the exhibit hall getting to connect and reconnect with current and past co-creators and partners that we don't get to see in-person very often. It was great to see and hear what everyone has been up to and learn from their experiences in the always-evolving work of college athletics.

IDEA 2023 IS COMING UP

Our convention fun isn’t over though just because NACDA is. Our team will also be heading to Austin, Texas in July for the annual IDEA Conference, which brings together video board and game entertainment professionals from all across the world of professional and college sports in North America. More to come on that soon, so make sure to check back and also follow us on our social channels to learn more as IDEA 2023 approaches!

SIGN UP FOR PEG INSIDER

Also, a friendly reminder and shameless plug, that if you’d like to get the latest info on what we’re up to here at PEG, there’s no better way to do it than to get it delivered right to your inbox with our newly-relaunched PEG Insider e-newsletter. Signing up is simple! All you need to do is visit this link, and you can stay connected with where we’ll be, what we’re working on, and some great industry insight, video tips and tricks and more from our team.

Biggest Takeaways from SXSW 2023

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 13:18:00 Z

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in the 15 years of Pritt Entertainment Group, it’s the importance of always taking the time to learn and evolve. With that in mind, the opportunity to attend SXSW has always been one that I’ve loved to take advantage of over the years. This year was the third time that I’ve been able to go to the “festival,” which really has evolved over the years from an event mainly centered around music and film, to something much more all-encompassing. Almost any industry/speciality imaginable is represented in some form or another through the different sessions that they put on over the course of the 10-day event.

Planning my Trip

For a company like ours, there are a few different angles that you can take when planning the different sessions that you’re going to attend. For me, those choices have evolved and vary each time based on where we have been at as a company and what my biggest focuses have been. Sometimes it’s been very marketing-heavy, sometimes very tech-heavy, and this year based hours of perusing the calendar of sessions before getting down there, I really found myself narrowed in on a lot of workplace and business leadership sessions that peeked my interest.

The Future of Work

Obviously, the last few years have seen a huge disruptions and evolutions in the ways different companies work and function, and there’s still a great deal of uncertainty and ambiguity when it comes to the future of how work will be done and the best practices to do so. That was a big theme/takeaway from many of the sessions I went to that revolved around different workplace policies and tactics that have shifted over the last few years, is that there’s just still so little long-term data on how certain shifts have affected productivity, quality of work, work-life balance, employee engagement/satisfaction, etc. A lot of people/companies have jumped to short-term declarations on what is best, but the general consensus from the experts on most of the panels that I attended was that we’re really probably still 3-5 years of data away from really knowing what works, what doesn’t, and how to implement certain things long term.

Remote Work

Multiple sessions I attended related to remote work, and those ran the full spectrum of people/companies that swear by it and that it’s not only the future but the present, to those who felt the opposite, and many that currently have landed somewhere in between.

While there’s definitely been a rise in remote work since the start of the pandemic and 20% of American workers were doing so during the height of the pandemic, that number has shifted back down to 13% today. So while it’s much more widespread in certain industries, in the big picture the sample size is still quite small when it comes to companies doing it and the long-term results. While a couple speakers I saw were proponents of fully-remote work, a majority of the experts suggested that going all the way in that direction is very risky and the more data that comes out, the more results that indicate that at least some form of an in-office component and collaboration is essential, and still leads to better results, better teamwork, workplace/job satisfaction and opportunities for employee growth and advancement.

At PEG, we are still fully in-office primarily. With this approach we have not only have we found the best creative results, but also it's technologically essential for most of our team members because of working collaboratively with large files, footage, projects, etc. that require certain infrastructure, high-speed connections and desktop computers that give our production team the processing power/speed needed to work efficiently. And they aren’t really practical to transport to and from an office like a lesser-powered laptop would be.

That isn’t to say though that we haven’t become a bit more flexible in certain situations in the last few years, so it was really interesting to hear from so many people about where they see the future going in this regard and how to find the right balance that will lead to the best results and best and happiest ways for people to work. It definitely will be something we’ll continue to monitor and keep our eyes on as time progresses.

4-Day Work Week

On a somewhat similar note, another session that I found to be really interesting was on the topic of a four-day work week, which has been gaining momentum in multiple European countries in recent years. This isn’t saying going from five eight-hour days to four ten-hours days either, but truly just cutting a full day out of the work week.

It’s a challenging concept to fully implement in this country, where the expectation of a five day work week is the norm, but there were some really interesting techniques and approaches that were discussed about how companies have found success with through minimizing/shortening certain meetings, being very strategic with schedules, etc.

There’s still challenges to fully-embracing it in the American work culture where the expectation is that people will be available five days a week, and especially in an industry like ours where video shoots often have to be scheduled on specific days and times and collaboration with our partners and clients is a big part of making projects successful, it would have its challenges on how to strategically implement. It was, however, still interesting to hear about and think more about how something like that could possibly work in the future, especially if more U.S. companies start to look to the trend of it happening in Europe and aspire towards it.

That’s just a couple of the topics that I got to learn more about. There are countless more that I could write about that would fill up pages and pages relating to leadership, scaling businesses, employee benefits and other aspects of workplace culture. But since this is a blog and not a book, I’ll stop here for now!

All that said, if you’re interested in these types of topics and ever have the opportunity to attend SXSW, I’d highly recommend making the trip to Austin and taking it in. I often tell people that it’s like a crash course of going back to college as an adult, but truly getting to pick from just the topics that you are passionate to learn more about in your professional life.

2019 IDEA Conference Recap

Mon, 15 Jul 2019 11:38:22 Z

Another year of the IDEA Conference is officially in the books and it was another phenomenal experience!

The team at IDEA puts on an incredible conference every year and this year in San Diego was definitely no exception. It was great to see so many of our creative partners and friends from all across the country all in one place. San Diego was a great host city. As it always is there, the weather was perfect. We got to spend time outside, soaking in the sun, each day of the conference. From a great hangout with everyone at the Beach House, to voting for the Golden Matrix Awards at Petco Park and then the actual Golden Matrix Awards themselves on the USS Midway, an actual aircraft carrier, the atmosphere could not have been better.

If you’ve been to IDEA before and work in the sports entertainment industry, you know why it’s a must-attend event each year. If you haven’t, be sure to add to your calendar next year. The amount of creativity and passion all in one place just can’t be beat. The event just keep getting bigger and better every year, welcoming those who work for teams or companies who work in the industry, like ours. This year over 700 people attended, which is the most in the 37-year history of IDEA!

There’s no way not to leave this conference feeling completely invigorated and full of creative ideas, concepts and inspiration to bring back to the office when you return. I know, personally, I keep a list throughout the event of all of the cool things that I see and look forward to sharing them with our PEG team. If you ever think that you’ve seen it all or that there aren’t any other creative ways to make a certain type of piece left…IDEA will prove you wrong every time. It’s so exciting to see what everyone is creating and even more exciting to see how the industry will continue to grow and the bar continue to get raised thanks to all of the talent in our industry in the years to come.

2019 SXSW Final Recap

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:34:16 Z

Well, my time at SXSW is officially in the books for 2019. This year was the second year in a row I’ve attended the festival and once again, I enjoyed it immensely. Throughout this week, I’ve been blogging about some of the industry trends, innovations and just general scribbles from my notebook while in Austin. So, I thought it would be a good conclusion to explain why I like the festival so much, why I plan to go again next year, and hopefully even have others from our PEG team join me.

More Than a Festival

First and foremost, some people think of SXSW as just a music and movies festival. Well, it used to be that, but definitely isn’t anymore. This year’s featured not only leaders from the tech industry, but basically any other industry that you can think of. It really has evolved into an all-encompassing event that really encapsulates anything you’d want to learn more about. I mean, there’s a reason nearly every 2020 presidential candidate made an appearance.

Take Away What You Want

In terms of what you can take away from the event, it really all depends what you’re looking for. If you are someone into music, you could spend every single day and night listening to live performances and learning about the industry. Same if you were a movie-lover. There are screenings going on almost constantly, day and night. For me, while I dabble in checking some of those things out, I really love it for the sessions and lessons that you can take away from it. Whether it’s video-specific, entrepreneurship, work culture, etc. I fill the week I’m there by listening to people who are far more successful and far smarter than myself, just trying to take some of the lessons and learnings that they’ve had back home to put into what we do here at PEG.

The best way I can describe the way I try to experience it is like going back to college for a week, with the ability to pick and choose anything that you want to learn about without being boxed in to the standard College Algebra or Humanities in Western Civilization courses. My general goal is to attend four sessions per day. Two that directly pertain to our work (video, business, leadership), one about something I’m passionate about (urban design, technology, politics, sports, etc.) and one about something that I don’t know anything at all. It’s a good mix that leads to a week that goes by in a flash and leaves you looking forward to next year without getting too burnt out on one particular topic. Everyone tackles it in their way, but this is just what I enjoy. Both years I’ve gone, I’ve come back feeling refreshed, inspired and with a list full of notes that I am excited to bring back and incorporate into my day-to-day life, both personally and professionally.

Anyway, that’s all for this year’s week of SXSW blogging! I hope you enjoyed it. Already looking forward to next March and doing it all again!

2019 SXSW Recap: Day 6

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 10:06:40 Z

Back again from Austin with another PEG Insider report from SXSW! In my first few entries from the festival, we’ve talked about different sessions I’ve been to, the art of making films, and some industry insight. So, for today, we’re going to take a little bit of a lighter approach and I figured I’d share a few random musings about things I’ve seen while down here. If you’re looking for hard-hitting video/industry insight, now’s your time to move on from this one…

There are scooters everywhere. I’ve never really been in love with the whole scooter thing, mainly because I think they make a city/downtown look incredibly sloppy as people just leave them scattered all over the place. Well, that’s never been more the case than this week in Austin. There are over 8,400 scooters that have been brought in for SXSW and you can barely walk a block on the sidewalk without almost tripping on one or being nearly hit by one riding by or at you amongst the masses of people. I’ll admit, I tried them with a couple of friends on Tuesday night, and they were fun…and efficient. But man, they make a city look and feel like a mess. I could write about this for a while longer, but this article from Mashable summarizes the situation pretty well.

Texas BBQ is just the best. Not exactly breaking news here, but it’s true. They just do it so much better than every other state. My personal favorites: Black’s Barbecue and Salt Lick BBQ. The fatty brisket from Black’s and the Frito Pie are both fantastic. From Salt Lick, if you don’t do a chopped brisket sandwich, you’re doing yourself a real disservice in life.

The Trade Show at SXSW is like a bizarre trip through the future of…stuff. They had everything there from a robot from a Japanese country that could make you breakfast all by itself, stand-up desks with hammocks underneath them (kinda a fun idea…but guaranteed awkward), and even fuzzy little robotic creatures that recognize you, can look you in the eye and just want to be hugged. One had glasses and all of them were equally adorable and creepy at the same time.

Grab-and-go breakfast tacos are a thing in Austin, and they should be everywhere. There was a nice, little local food truck by where I was staying that had them available to walk up and grab every morning, and even the grocery stores downtown just have them warming by the registers. This doesn’t have to just be a Texas thing. We can make this happen if we all speak up and demand more access to breakfast tacos.

Lines are also a really big thing in Austin when it comes to SXSW. The brand houses and special events that companies and places put on really are incredibly well done and I wish I could have seen more of them, but there’s just so much happening at all times, it’s personally hard for me to justify waiting in massive lines that can be over an hour long to get into a crowded house/party showcasing a brand. That said, they really are incredible and definitely unique to the SXSW experience. Watching them all get assembled and put together in the day or two leading up to the show is astounding. Entire houses and restaurants get converted literally overnight, with new facades, brands, etc. It really is cool to see and massive credit to the folks that built these things and put them back to the way they were all within a matter of days. It’s like watching an arena change from a hockey arena, to a basketball arena to a concert venue all over the same weekend.

That’s all for today! Tomorrow, I’ll recap the SXSW experience and talk about the key trends and learnings that I’ve gathered while in Austin. Stay tuned!

2019 SXSW Recap: Day 5

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 07:58:50 Z

The fifth day of SXSW was another fun one in Austin! If you enjoy discussions about safety and movies about trash dumps, then my day would have been right up your alley! In all seriousness though, these were both really entertaining parts of my day.

I talked movies in yesterday’s blog, so let’s instead talk about my favorite session of the day, “Stop a Disaster: Where NOT to skimp on a shoot”. This was a four person panel discussion that consisted of a Producer/AD, a Director and two Filmmakers talking about where to make sure you don’t cut corners on a video shoot. This discussion was one I was really looking forward too because, to be honest, it’s a question that comes up a lot in our day-to-day world at PEG, figuring out how we can best utilize and maximize a client’s budget and give them the most bang for their buck.

First and Foremost: Safety

The topic that the most time was spent on is such an important one to remember, that no matter what, you can never cut costs or make concessions when it comes to the safety of every single person involved in the project. People have been killed and injured on video shoots, and Directors have been sentenced to jail for being responsible for putting crew members in positions where those things have happened. It’s also important that during a shoot, if anything comes up or anyone involved with the shoot is being asked to do something they don’t feel is safe, they absolutely should bring it up and a new plan needs to be devised, regardless of how amazing the shot might be. Panelist Jenn Wexler put it best: “Safety first. Movie second. Feelings third.” Sometimes this means, too, that the extra shooting day that you’re pushing for…really might not be able to be sacrificed, even if it does increase the project’s budget. If you need that extra time to make sure everyone is safe, if there are any unique filming conditions, then you need that extra time. Mistakes can happen when people are rushed or don’t have time to properly prepare for the situation they’re in.

“Safety first. Movie second. Feelings third.”
Jenn Wexler

Beyond that, while it seems obvious, insurance and permits…also things that cannot be ignored, even if they do come at a cost.

Sound Guy

Other places not to cut corners on a shoot… A sound guy. This is something that I am personally a big believer in as well. There’s nothing more important on a video shoot that involves audio than making sure you capture great sound. You can cut a video together many different ways to play with how it looks, but if you capture bad audio, particularly of someone talking on camera, there’s no good way to fix that in post. While you always want to capture the absolutely best shots, the untrained eye may not always notice if a shot is an 8/10, 9/10 or 10/10. But what they will always notice…is something that sounds bad. There’s no hiding it from anyone watching.

Producer

Another topic discussed was the importance of having a Producer or Production Manager on-site. Sometimes people frown upon seeing someone not running a specific piece of equipment on a laptop at a shoot, but those people are incredibly valuable to making sure the vision of the project is brought to life on the day of the shoot. While everyone else is in the weeds, executing their roles, that person keeps things on track, moving and provides valuable big-picture oversight.

It’s stuff that we talk about all the time in our office, but it was a really good discussion to be reminded that while working with limited budgets can be challenges that everyone in our industry deals with at times, there are certain times that you need to step back and be realistic about not only what’s best for the project but also first and foremost, the safety of everyone involved, from the crew to the talent to the client and anyone else on-site.

Video Q & A: Should My Online Video Have Captions?

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 14:31:23 Z

Question: Should my online video have captions?

Answer:

Now more than ever, it’s important to consider the usability or viewability of your video when an audience can’t hear it.

Consider Your Audience

As we’ve discussed many times in past blog entries here on PEG Insider, video is being viewed more than ever on social media and websites. Many of these apps and sites have autoplay functionality built in, and while the video may play by default, a separate click is required to play the audio along with the piece. Now, think about your own viewing habits. Oftentimes when you’re on social media, you’re at work, out in public, sitting on the couch with friends or family. In those cases, how many times to do you disrupt what is going on by making that extra click to play the audio? Probably not very often. Or maybe it is not about your habit, but about the habits of someone with a hearing impairment or someone who learns better by reading. Regardless of the reason, what matters is that captioning and on-screen bullet points or text are now more important than ever to ensure that the maximum number of viewers get your message and know what is happening in your video. After all, what’s the point of a video if the viewer can’t tell what is happening in it?

Improve Your SEO

Annotating videos on sites like YouTube also comes with some hidden benefits as well, in the way of improving your SEO. Google now has the ability to take those captions that are entered in and factor them in to your SEO in a similar way to how they rank your site based on the text written on your website or blog posts. Adding captions through the sites, like Facebook, YouTube, etc. has very little downside. So it's a no-brainer to go through the process of doing when uploading your video.

Multiple Versions for Multiple Uses

On-screen graphic callouts, however, can at times feel unnecessary on a piece that has will be being shown in a situation where the audio is guaranteed. In these case, it often makes sense to create two different versions of the same video. One, cleaner version to be played in presentations, at a big event, etc. and another version with the on-screen callouts to be uploaded to social media or for other uses where the viewer might be experiencing the piece without the audio turned on. These are always important things to think about in the beginning of a project, so that pieces can be created with each end-usage in mind. This helps streamline the creation process, plus helps define accurate deliverables and budgets from the beginning of a project.

Contact us to let our team guide you through this process, and make sure your next video project and effective one everywhere it’s viewed.

Thinking video? Think mobile first

Wed, 12 Dec 2018 09:42:14 Z

Think about how you experience the internet throughout a normal day in your life. Sure, you might spend some time browsing the web at your desk, but today’s world is busier and faster-paced than ever before. This, coinciding with the mobile experience steadily improving, has led the usage of websites on mobile devices to skyrocket in recent years.

It was just a few years ago that responsive web design had just started to become popular to help accommodate the growing number of mobile visitors to websites. Now, that growing audience is classified as way more than “growing.” That audience is the majority. Much like website views have evolved in that way, so have video views. 60% of videos watched on YouTube are now watched on mobile devices. And in a world where so many videos are being created for social media, 90% of videos viewed on Twitter are now viewed on mobile.

What does that mean for pieces you create?

It means that the first thing you should do when planning for your next video is ask yourself where it will be viewed. Nowadays, the answer is (likely mostly) on mobile devices. If that is the case, it’s important to consider how that video will look not only on a computer screen or TV, but also on a small handheld device. That might mean larger videos. Maybe square videos. Or it might mean captions or on-screen, graphic text call-outs are vital to convey your message. But remember, if a majority of viewers are watching your piece on a device that’s only a couple of inches wide, small text and detailed animation callouts might get lost and not effectively communicate your message. It can be a delicate balance.

A shift in mentality

The shift to a mentality where mobile viewing comes first isn’t going away, so make sure it’s something that you consider early on when talking about creating your next piece. After all, the goal of a good quality video is to make it look good and represent your brand for a long time to come. It’s always important to think not only about where those shifts in viewer behavior are now, but also where they will be in one year and two years down the road.

We’re happy to help lead that strategy discussion with you and share our expertise to make sure your next video is designed to stand the test of time. Just send us a note and we’d love to hear about what your goals for your next video project and offer recommendations on how make that next piece as effective as possible.

Being Invested In Our Community Matters

Tue, 20 Nov 2018 04:13:53 Z

Every company has a story. That story is made up of a variety of elements, including the usual who, what, when, where and why. While all of those are important, I wanted to take a little time today to talk about the “where” and what that means to our company at PEG. Since our company was founded 10 years ago, we’ve been proud to call the city of Akron, Ohio, home. Sure, we do work for clients all over the country (and sometimes all over the world), but we still take great pride in being a part of our city and the downtown Akron community.

In today’s world, it’s more and more common to see companies filled with team members working remotely and being split up all over, isolating them from collaboration. Personally, I believe that in a creative industry like ours, it’s important for people to be in one place, bouncing ideas off of each other, actively teaching and learning from their fellow teammates, and sharing in activities as a group. Communicating by sending witty GIFs on Slack can only go so far, though we send plenty of those as well! Since we moved to downtown Akron in 2013, it’s been a priority of ours to not just “exist” downtown, but to be actively invested in the community. We do our best to support events going on in the city, make sure our employees are always in the know with what is happening, and encourage our team to engage and build a bond with the area, so it becomes more than a place they just drive to and from each day. It makes their work experience feel more like home and a place they have greater comfort with, beyond just their experience in the office.

Being in a downtown environment gives us a distinct advantage from a culture-perspective because we have a huge walkable area right outside our office doors, filled with places our employees can go to eat, post-work happy hours, walk and exercise, and even take in the occasional baseball game or listen to live music outdoors on their lunch break. Those are just things that you don’t get when your team members are all in different places, or together, but in a suburban office park. We have also been fortunate to help our team members become invested in downtown by working on projects where we get to help tell the city’s story.

We’ve been lucky over the years to collaborate with the City of Akron, the Downtown Akron Partnership, the Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau, Greater Akron Chamber, ArtsNow and the Akron Marathon. All of these organizations do great work helping our community, and by getting to work with them, our team members have also gotten to learn and tell the stories of Akron through their own eyes, and also become aware of many new people, places and things in the area, enhancing their connection to where they work. In the world of business, anything you can do to take advantage of your strengths is essential for success. Being a creative company in a city that we invest in with our work, time and fun allows us to help set ourselves apart. Our passion to be a part of downtown Akron’s resurgence is in our blood at PEG, and is something that will continue to be part of our story for years to come.

Everyone Loves to Learn

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 12:11:21 Z

Remember the joys of going to school as a child? There was always new and exciting things to learn and everyone had a favorite subject, teacher or class. Some of that child-like wonder certainly can wear off once high school, college and life set in, but inside, everyone still has that desire and passion to learn. As a brand, you can harness that desire. And video allows you to do so better than any other medium.

We’ve likely all seen the rise of explainer videos over the last few years. Here are a few examples from the pages of Tasty and HGTV and even brands like Purina and Chipotle. What these videos do very effectively is teach you how to do something in a short, fun and easy-to-understand way. That favorite teacher you had as a child…now that teacher could be your brand. Especially if the subject matter is something that you’re passionate about, teaching your audience about your product or service should be a fun experience for the creator of the video and the viewer of it.

Whether you’re a lighting company explaining the advantages of new technology and how to incorporate it into your home, a food brand showing how to utilize your product in fun, easy-to-make recipes or a tie-maker who wants to show users the proper way to tie a tie (something that I will openly admit to having searched for on YouTube myself…), when you present yourself as a teacher, people will become more attached to your brand and trust you and your product.

We’re all passionate about what we do for a living and what we create, sell or market. There’s no reason to keep those passions and the knowledge that comes with it behind closed doors. When you share it with your audience, they’ll just become bigger fans and brand ambassadors.

Our team is here to help you share that story and educate your audience. Reach out to us here and we’d be happy to help identify what insight you can share and build that attachment with your audience.

Celebrating 10 Years

Tue, 16 Oct 2018 15:07:27 Z

Yesterday, we officially celebrated our 10-year anniversary. That means it has been 10 years since Jeffrey and I founded PEG back on October 15^th, 2008. We’ve been through a lot over those 10 years, but wow…what a fun ride it’s been so far.

When we started PEG back in 2008, we didn't really have a clue it would become what it is today. We certainly couldn’t have predicted the awesome projects we’ve gotten to work on 10 years later. Not to mention the even more awesome people that we’ve gotten to work with on those projects along the way.

We’ve been beyond blessed with an incredible group of talented, hard-working team members. And an equally impressive group of collaborators that we’re lucky enough to call our clients.

To help prepare for this day, I recently started to make a list of all the people we wanted to thank for making these 10 years so special. (I really did this.) And once I wrote them all down, I added them up and there were 146 names on that list. And I still felt guilty about possibly forgetting some people. So, rather than list all of those out, I want to use this note to say a huge “Thank You!” to each and every person who has been a part of this with us.

Whether we’ve worked together on our PEG team or worked together on a project, or whether you’re one of the countless people who have supported us over the years with kind words of encouragement or by lending an ear or offering advice - each and every one of you has been a part of this journey and we wouldn’t be here without you.

Here’s to many more years of creating!

Outside the first PEG office in downtown Akron

Video Q & A: Should I Be Using 360-Video?

Mon, 20 Aug 2018 09:56:28 Z

Question: Should I Be Using 360-Video?

Answer:

For arguably the first time, 360-video is finally mainstream enough that nearly all viewers will have no trouble viewing it and they have a great user experience while doing so.

The Market is Finally Ready for 360-video

The rollout has been slower than many in the industry thought over the last few years. But one by one different popular sites like YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, etc. gradually integrated the technology. Not only across their websites, but their apps as well. This means there’s no better time to get on board and bring your brand into the 360 world. (I say 360 instead of VR, because there is a definite difference.)

That being said, 360-video isn’t for everyone and isn’t for every brand. When utilized properly, 360-video can be incredibly fun and engaging. We recently completed a project with our friends at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank that showcased one of their great volunteer events in a simple but effective time-lapse style video. This video proved to be wildly successful for them. It had the most views and the highest engagement of any video they had ever posted on Facebook to date.

But 360 For the Sake of 360 = Bad

When you create 360-video just for the sake of creating a 360-video, though, the result could come off as gimmicky or not an engaging experience for the user. Doing this can ultimately damage the success of future 360-videos that brands release. Users might remember the previous videos as not being a good use of their time to watch and not give the newer videos a watch, which obviously is not a desirable outcome. The moral of the story is that 360-video can be done in incredibly cool and effective ways. But, it does require the same strategy and planning that goes into a more traditional video.

Our team would love to help guide you through that process, so if you are ready to get on board with 360 video, feel free to reach out. We’ll work with you to create a compelling concept. And we can even to give you advice on if we think that an alternative method would be best to achieve your goals. 360-video is definitely growing in popularity. The only thing left to consider is when to jump into this new and exciting world!

2018 IDEA Conference Recap

Mon, 23 Jul 2018 10:00:09 Z

Last week, we were fortunate to attend our first I DEA Conference in Indianapolis, which was an incredible experience. IDEA (short for Information Display and Entertainment Association) is a yearly gathering of the brightest minds in game entertainment and video production in the world of sports. Teams from all major sports leagues, as well as minor league and college teams, attend to share ideas and learn about the latest technology and trends from across our industry.

We exhibited at the Partner Expo, held at the Westin in downtown Indianapolis, which was a great host for the event. There, companies and organizations like ours got the chance to show off and share our work with all of the attendees. We had a great time meeting new people from teams across the country and picking their brains about some of the cool things they’ve been working on and seen throughout the industry.

Other highlights of the week were the excursions and opportunities to see the different major sports venues in the city. We had the opportunity to visit Banker’s Life Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers, Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500. The Brickyard was an incredibly cool opportunity, as we not only got to ride in a car around the track but also got to kiss the bricks (a tradition!) and stand in the winner’s circle.

The entire IDEA Conference was a great experience and one that left us inspired by the work and people we saw while we were there. There’s so much talent and innovation in the world of sports entertainment and production and it motivates us more than ever to come back to our offices and continue to innovate and push the boundaries in the world of production and collaborate with teams across the country to bring their brands to life.

Video Q & A: What is "Snack-able" Video?

Tue, 12 Jun 2018 10:39:25 Z

Question: What is "Snack-able" Video?

Answer:

If you’re tuned in with industry trends, you’ve likely heard the term snack-able video thrown around recently. But what is snack-able video? It’s not necessarily video about how to create a tasty treat. (Though it could be!) Snack-able video is any type of short-form piece of video that is proving to be highly effective for communicating with viewers and sparking attention and engagement online. Traditionally, we think of commercial-type pieces as :30 in length, sometimes even :60 or :90.

But traditionally we also used to think of commercials as only being viewed on television. Today, so many commercial-type pieces have shifted online, and for good reason - the ability to target your audience, the cost-effectiveness, and the ability to do creative things to make your brands stand out from the crowd, especially in an age of shorter attention spans and DVRs that allow you to skip ads altogether on television as more and more viewers stray from watching programs live, and instead at their own convenience.

Thinking of Video in Only Six Seconds

So, if you’re trying to create a commercial-style piece online to be distributed on social media, or as an ad on YouTube, Hulu, etc. what is the most effective length for that piece? Incredibly, research shows that you should think of your video as a six-second piece. That’s right…six seconds. You might be thinking that sounds like an awfully short timeframe to get your message across. And you’d be right! But with the right dose of creative story-telling, you can create a quick-hitting piece that leaves the viewer wanting more. When done effectively, the shorter timeframe actually leaves more intrigue, as you don’t have time to tell as full of a story. This can make a viewer more likely to need to click through to your website to find out more details.

That is better than just watching a longer piece, thinking it’s cool, but then forgetting about it. I once took a film-writing class in college where they taught us how important it was when submitting a script to get made that the first page is the most compelling and impactful. That’s because even though you may have written a 100 page script, that first page the only page you’re guaranteed to get someone to read. If that first page doesn’t leave the reader wanting more, they’ll never know what happened on page 70, because they stopped reading long ago. This same concept also applies to video.

Getting Your Message Across Before The "Skip"

It’s important to consider certain usages - like sponsored ads on YouTube. Users are often given the ability to skip the remainder of an ad after five seconds. So, when you’re trying to tell a story in 30 seconds, the user can skip through the video before ever getting to the pay-off. That means a majority of viewers will likely never have fully-heard what you had to say. The lesson is to take advantage of every second that you are guaranteed. If you’re looking to create online commercial content, our creative team is ready to tackle the challenge of how to tell your story in a snack-able way.

Send us a note and we’ll work with you to brainstorm fun and effective ways to grab that attention and maximize your video’s effectiveness.

Video Q & A: Should I Be Using Square Video?

Mon, 14 May 2018 15:35:16 Z

Question: Should I Be Using Square Video?

Answer:

It wasn’t all that long ago that the big shift in aspect ratio in videos evolved. From the older 4:3 format that was associated with standard definition, to the fancy, new 16:9 widescreen format that came along with high-definition televisions and screens. The rectangular movement was on! But now, square video is the hip, new trend, and that seems puzzling…but actually makes more sense than you may think or even realize. So why sacrifice that newly-found extra space on the sides of the screen? After all, it allows you to show more in the frame and offers a more movie-theater like experience. Well, here’s a simple visual to show you why.

Do you see it now?

Square Video and Social Media

In a world where more video than ever is being created with social media in mind, and often as the primary place where videos will be viewed, square video, while seemingly a step back into the past, is actually an incredibly forward thinking way to capture additional real estate on a screen and ensure that you piece stands out from your competition and other distractions, which there are plenty of on social media.

The popularity of square video among forward-thinking brands has been slowly increasing in recent years and you’ve probably seen it many times, especially with Tasty/Buzzfeed-style videos. In fact, Instagram has been onto this for years. While most people didn’t even realize it, and may have even wondered why the app wanted them to crop their photos into a square, there was always a method to the madness.

How People Hold Their Phones

The science behind it is simple. Most people watch videos while holding their phones the way they were meant to be held - in portrait mode. Nearly all websites and social media applications fill the screen horizontally with the video/photo content. By creating square content specifically for these uses, you’re commanding the maximum amount of screen space possible. (See that visual above, again) Since the apps are designed the way they are, it’s almost silly not to take advantage of it.

But Is It For You?

All of this isn’t to say that your next video will be shot in a square format, but it’s something that is important to think about before your shoot. If you know that it's something you’ll be looking to do when distributing the content on social, we can plan for that when framing shots during the process. This will allow us to still film your piece in the widescreen format you know and love for a website or more traditional uses, but also create a square version for your social media accounts or for smaller breakout videos.

It’s all about planning properly at the start of a project, and our experienced team can help guide you through your next video project and make sure you’re ready to take advantage of all the latest trends, like this one. Send us a note, and let’s get started in bringing your brand to life, in whatever shape is best!

Your Brand As A Media Company

Tue, 08 May 2018 16:31:26 Z

The importance of video in your marketing plan is growing every single year. We don’t need to bore you with the same stats you’ve seen time and time again for you to know that. Brands and companies that used to be content with creating one video each quarter are now being tasked with creating one each month, each week, or maybe even more often to keep up and keep their audiences engaged. Given that, it’s more important than ever for brands to start thinking of themselves the same way a media company does.

With the rise in video’s usage and popularity, it’s no longer just about thinking of your strategy for creating one video, it’s about thinking in advance of your overall video strategy and how each individual piece fits into that comprehensive plan. This contributes to the style and length of each piece, as well as what content you have already created, future content you plan to create, and how those all fit into a year-long timeline of video content.

Taking a Lesson from Sports Teams

One industry that has been very progressive in shifting their strategy to be more like a media company is one that many of us are familiar with and follow online: sports teams. Whether it’s re-purposing in-venue video content to post online, online-only sponsored pieces, brand-building pieces or even utilizing snackable content online in the way of highlights of gifs, sports teams know the importance of constantly keeping their audience engaged and staying near the top of the feeds of their fans and followers.

Quality AND Quantity

Given that quality obviously matters to properly represent your brand in the best possible light, one question that we hear a lot is how to balance creating a steady stream of content, but doing so while also maximizing the quantity of content to get the biggest bang for your buck. This goes back to thinking of our overall video strategy for the year. Often you can take a longer-form 2:00 client/customer testimonial or interview-style piece and not only create that piece, but also break down the footage shot in creating that piece into 5-10 additional shorter-form videos to share on social media. Then, instead of having one video, for a very small additional cost, you have 6-11 pieces and can post one weekly on social media. Now you’re thinking like a media company and creating a steady stream of content. It’s that simple! We work with our clients routinely to offer suggestions and solutions to maximize your video budget and help you and your brand look like a powerhouse, constantly churning out content on social media, through internal communications, etc.

That pre-project planning is one of the most fun parts of the brainstorming process, and is important to think about before creating your next piece.

Have questions? Contact us and we’ll be happy to help!

Video Q & A: How Trendy Should I Be?

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 11:55:43 Z

Question: How Trendy Should I Be?

Answer:

Everyone wants to be cool, hip and trendy. And video, as an ever-evolving medium, certainly goes through its share of trends. As a brand, it’s tempting to want to jump on whatever the flavor of the week is; whether that’s "Tasty"-style videos, snack-able video, etc. However, it’s important to first ask the question "Are these video trends right for me?"

One of the most important things to think about is who your target audience is. For instance, snack-able videos (short videos, often less than 10 seconds in length) might be great for a B2C brand who is posting and promoting their videos to a public audience. But if you’re making an internal video speaking about company values or workplace safety, you’re obviously going to need more time to tell that message properly.

"Tasty"-style videos, made popular by cooking/recipe-based videos on social media, are great when you’re trying to teach a consumer how to do something or to illustrate how easy your product is to use. But that style doesn’t work as well in longer-form pieces or if you product doesn’t have the right attributes to be demonstrated in that way.

There are plenty of times and instances when it is right to be on-trend and create pieces that are on the cutting edge of industry video trends. But it’s also important to remember that there is a reason that some tried-and-true video styles have been successful, and will continue to be successful for years to come.

We’re happy to discuss your vision for a project with you, and our expert team is happy make recommendations on if your next project is best suited to follow one of the video trends or if a more traditional method will be best to tell your story. Just send us a note to get the discussion started. Because in the end, the most important thing about your video is that it delivers your message to your targeted audience as effectively as possible, trendy or not.

My Creative Inspiration: Ryan

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 11:00:15 Z

Inspiration can come from a lot of places. For me, it comes from everything around me. The media I consume, the people I’m around and the things I see. One thing that I try to do when consuming different types of media, is not to pigeon-hole what I’m seeing into the context of how it’s being presented.

For example, as someone who watches a lot of sports in my free time, a commercial for college football on ESPN might also be a unique way to present a product launch for a corporate video. A new graphics package used for sports could also be a really cool way to animate a piece that is for an entirely different industry. Looking at the mechanics of why something works is a lot more interesting to me than just saying “Oh, that’s pretty!” and judging it only by the context it was created.

Another place that I gain a lot of creative inspiration is from the people around me. We are very lucky at PEG to have a team of people who are passionate about creating cool, new things and always staying on the cutting edge. We have a video inspiration channel on Slack where everyone is constantly sharing neat things they’ve seen, information on how those pieces were created, etc. (Sidenote: We’re working on better ways to share some of those pieces that inspire us with you. More details on that coming soon!)

We also are fortunate to work with some clients who are always coming up with and creating cool, new ideas as well. Watching what they do and the pieces they create both with us, and independent of us, is great.

Good ideas are everywhere. When seeking out things to inspire you, sometimes the best way isn’t to seek it out at all. Sure, there are some great Twitter accounts you can follow, blogs you can read and tutorials you can watch, but keeping an open mind and looking at everything you see, from product labels to billboards to other pieces of digital content, is the best way that I’ve found to keep generating new ideas in an ever-evolving design world. Sometimes the simplest ideas and snowball into concepts and creations so much larger.

Storytelling without Special Effects

Tue, 28 Nov 2017 12:36:07 Z

Last month, Burger King released a PSA video as part of their partnership with the No Bully campaign (You can watch the full spot here) that became a viral sensation on the internet. It had over four million views on YouTube in less than a month. The video was incredibly well done and did a great job of telling a powerful story of their cause in a video-based way that didn’t require an excessive amount of special effects.

While there is absolutely a place for animated pieces that involve 2D or 3D animation or other fancy effects, and we make many of those types of pieces here at PEG, I’ve always had a soft spot for projects that are able to tell a story in a way that elicits an emotional reaction almost exclusively through video. Doing so is definitely an art and something that takes a lot of talent to accomplish.

Hidden Cameras

In the example that Burger King created, it was done through a series of hidden cameras. But capturing video like that takes very careful planning and pre-shoot preparation to allow the concept to work. That can’t be underestimated.

Interviews

Another way is to find a great story and tell it via on-camera interviews, where the subjects tell the story. We were lucky to work on a project earlier this year that gained a lot of traction locally and regionally for the City of of Akron that focused on interviews of area residents. Allowing them to tell the story set the tone for the video and gave it a heart that really resonated with viewers.

Organically

Another way to do this is to organically capture an event and rely on great camerawork, a great story to develop in front of you and great editing to bring it all together. There is a video guy named Ty Rogers. He does football video for University of Michigan. I follow him on Twitter. He does a great job of capturing great footage each week and putting a piece together.

All of these example videos rely on great footage and great storytelling to be effective, without needing much at all in the way of effects or graphics to tell the story. They’re proof that while those elements do have a place in many videos, sometimes the most effective stories don’t require all the bells and whistles if they’re planned, shot and edited in a creative manner.

My Editing Playlist: Ryan

Thu, 19 Oct 2017 11:47:13 Z

Over the last couple of months, our creative team has been sharing their go-to playlist while they edit. While I don’t edit videos myself, I didn’t want to be left out of sharing my favorites! Those who have owned a business know that, outside of the fun and exciting parts, there are also plenty of more mundane tasks that go along with the role. And those can sometimes require some serious desk time. I’m not someone who enjoys working in silence, so when I’m doing those more tedious tasks, here is a look at what I listen to.

Music

When it comes to music, Discover Weekly on Spotify is my jam. I look forward to the playlist being refreshed with new tunes every Monday. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s basically a weekly playlist built off of your listening preferences. Because of this, for me, this playlist can vary a lot throughout the year based on what concerts I’ve been to recently or what friends I’ve recently taken long road trips with. At times, it’s alternative, country, rock, folk and even some EDM mixed in! If I were to go to playlists of individual artists, you’re probably going to see me primarily listening to a Bleachers album, Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness, Third Eye Blind, Stephen Kellogg, Sherwood or maybe even some Zedd if I’m feeling like I need an energy pick-me-up.

Podcasts

I would be remised if I also didn’t include some shoutouts to podcasts that get me through the days, because those are frequently what I land on as well. I’m a news and politics junkie, so every day if I haven’t already listened to The Daily, that is a must-listen on my list. In that genre, I also look forward to every Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It episode. Obviously, anyone who knows me knows that I also love sports. So, there are plenty of those on my feed as well. The A to Z Podcast, The Bill Simmons Podcast and The Lowe Post are all on the subscription list in that category. I’m also a sucker for business podcasts. The Creative Agency Podcast is one that I particularly enjoy. It gives some great, candid industry insight from an agency that is similar in size to ours here at PEG. How I Built This is another must-listen for me. I love to hear stories of how other entrepreneurs have succeeded in building their businesses.

There you have it! Between the music and podcasts above, there’s plenty of material to help get me through each week, no matter what mood I’m in. Any recommendations on other great podcasts (or music!) that should be added on my list? If so, I’d love you to comment below. I’m always looking for new additions!

Lessons Learned From Live Events

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 14:47:52 Z

When our company got its start, live events were actually our focus, and the lessons that we have learned from our live events experience have given us incredible insight into how to connect with an audience. We still incorporate many of these underlying principles in every piece that we make, no matter what type of client or industry each piece is for. Here’s a look at three of my biggest takeaways and lessons that I’ve learned from live events.

Eliciting a reaction from the audience should always be your goal.

Nothing is more rewarding than creating a video or animation for a live event that gets an immediate reaction from the fans as soon it plays. To get that reaction, you have think about when the piece will be played. What will the mood/energy of the fans be at the time it runs, what type of reaction are you looking to get from them, etc. Thinking about these types of things also will help make a video for a corporate client successful. Let’s say it’s a video about a new product that needs to grab the audience’s attention. Where will they be watching it? What do you need to do to grab their attention? What type of response do you want them to have to the video? Is it an action, an emotion, increased brand awareness or maybe to start a conversation with the people they’re with? Everything you do when creating a piece should be with the audience in mind.

Being prepared for everything is vital.

If you ever look at a script for a live event, you’ll see that it has a ton of elements. Way more than most fans would ever guess! That’s important because when you go into a live production with a thorough, well-designed plan, it allows you to calmly adjust and react when the inevitable changes come up over the course of the event. The same type of careful pre-planning is also vital when doing a video shoot. What a client should see is a well-organized, seamless shoot from setup to execution to tear-down. But the blueprint for that is laid out well in advance. Before that shoot event happens, we create a project outline, hold a meeting with every person on our team involved in that project, review everything that will happen, create a gear checklist of every single item that needs brought on that specific shoot, and create a shoot outline explaining who will be on the shoot, all of the locations, the timeline, and any other special notes. It seems like a lot, but doing this allows our team to make the day of the shoot look effortless and allows us to quickly adapt to changes that might (and probably will) come up on-site. This turns a complex process into a much easier one for our client.

Teamwork makes the dream work.

Okay, that might be a corny way of saying it, but it’s true. When producing a live event, it only looks seamless to the audience, because all the members of the production crew are on the same page. Everyone performing their tasks the way they should makes everyone look good. A successful video project requires this exact same type of teamwork. Sure, a video project might take place over a few weeks or months, as opposed to a few hours, but there are so many people involved in making sure everything goes as planned, from the people on the video shoot to the editors to the project manager. Everyone must execute their role so the process runs smoothly. So remember, whether it’s a video or animation project or a live event, the easier it looks, the more thought, planning and teamwork that went into it.

Getting To Know: Ryan Pritt

Wed, 05 Jul 2017 11:27:50 Z

Well, it looks like it is my turn to answer the tough questions. Check out our newest episode of the Getting To Know PEG Series.