Orange-based production shop JSP Creative LLC has cut jobs to survive the economic downturn.
Creative director and producer Jerry Stanley said the shop dropped its full-time staff by about 20% and has begun tapping freelancers to handle its workload.
“This allows us to ride the tide of the economy as it moves up and down,” Stanley said. “We plan to stay fluid and not add permanent staff until after the slowdown turns around.”
JSP, which has half a dozen workers, focuses on the automotive industry and has clients that include the Scion brand of Lexus, a division of Toyota Motor Corp.
The shop also produces broadcast work for a range of clients and creative projects for print and interactive media.
Stanley said JSP hasn’t seen “any changes until now.”
The shop also pulled back on some face-to-face meetings, Stanley said.
JSP is using an online service to post media work for clients to review for approval, reducing the need to meet in person, he said.
Things are expected to get tougher.
“The second half (of the year) will be much more difficult as companies dig in more,” Stanley said. “Even the more profitable companies we serve have put the word out internally to cut costs and tighten up their budgets.”
As automotive sales continue to slump, “so will budgets to support training, product introductions and marketing support projects,” Stanley said.
The shop’s automotive clients are focused on “what must be done,” he said.
The pressure also is on for JSP to give each client as much bang for its buck as possible.
“Everyone always wants the rock star deal,” Stanley said. “Finding ways to provide the same creative and production value for less money continues to be the biggest challenge.”
Over the past several years, JSP has seen clients cut their budgets an average of 10% per year, Stanley said.
“Work still needs to get done, so the shops doing good work will still be the first call of clients,” Stanley said. “But they will be looking for their vendors to share the pain.”
Direct Marketing
Foothill Ranch-based Mob Media Inc.’s focus on direct marketing is helping it keep business steady.
Allan Whetzel, director of business development, said direct marketing is “so closely tied to lead development and revenue generation” for clients that “they can’t afford to pull back their efforts.”
“They would lose much more revenue than they’re spending on marketing in the short term,” Whetzel said. “We need to keep staffed up to meet their needs.”
Mob is holding at 18 workers.
The bulk of the shop’s clients are in education and job training.
“(These markets) are often up in a down economy as people transition careers from different industries,” Whetzel said.
Still, Whetzel said clients are being more cautious.
Some are using barter services to get better deals on media buys.
Mob also is directing clients to online marketing, which usually costs less than traditional print and TV ads, to help them watch their marketing dollars, Whetzel said.
Multimedia Presentations
Costa Mesa-based Binary Pulse Inc. is giving clients more options.
The shop, which handles online, print, direct mail and more for technology companies, said customers these days are more interested in multimedia presentations, which has been a good thing for business.
“Prospects and customers are more receptive to the multiple uses of the presentations we create,” said Principal Timothy Howell. “They want to make sure it can be utilized at multiple events, Webinars, trainings (and more).”
That’s a shift from years past, when clients were “fine” with creating a presentation to be used at just one tradeshow, he said.
Why the change? The economy.
“There’s no question that customers are more budget-sensitive this year,” Howell said.
The shop is meeting tighter budgets by working smart and staying hungry, he added.
“Our outlook is good. We just need to stop watching CNBC,” Howell said.
Bits and pieces
San Juan Capistrano-based FrontGate Media, which handles Internet and event media marketing for the Christian audience, picked up an account. The shop plans to syndicate programming for Vidshadow Inc., an online Christian video network, and its online video portal, vidshadow.tv. FrontGate also plans to promote the network and bring on other partners Newport Beach-based Blue C Advertising picked up two workers in the past year and now counts a staff of 20. Principal Eric Morley said the shop needed more help meeting demand from clients, who are asking for blogs, Webisodes and more.
