Irvine-based video and production company Blackstone Media Group has watched some clients shift tactics to weather the tough economy.
Some accounts have made “slight cutbacks” in travel to reduce costs, owner John Denlinger said.
“Most budgets for trade shows and live meetings are down about 10%,” he said. “Video and film budgets are holding about the same.”
Blackstone made some of its own changes.
The shop, which also does creative work and other services, sometimes uses local crews when traveling to “control airline costs” and trim down on traveling with gear, Denlinger said.
“We have always put maximizing the client’s budget up front,” he said. “Our competitive status has not changed.”
Denlinger said he’s got a “very positive” outlook on business for the remainder of the year.
The shop has a “diverse range of clients” and offers various services, something that continues to draw work, he said.
Help Wanted
Irvine-based HyperDisk Marketing, which handles digital media projects, said it may be hunting for some workers in the upcoming weeks.
Chief Executive Nick Singer said the shop is “picking up some new large contracts” that “are going to overload us.”
He said it was too soon to tell exactly how many workers he might need.
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BB Dakota model: touting new line |
The shop has seen “a rapid increase in online marketing,” Singer said.
“A lot of companies are recognizing the need to be found (on) and use the Internet for outreach,” he said. “Most clients are shifting to that arena.”
HyperDisk gets the bulk of its business through word of mouth.
“A lot of clients were referred to us through other clients,” he said.
Web Focus
Costa Mesa-based Inno-vate Media Group continues to carve itself a niche in online video production.
John Cecil, partner at the shop, said the company “scrapped everything” else to focus on producing and delivering video on the Web.
That includes coming up with a product called 3-D Web effects, where the shop shoots a person on a green screen and superimposes the image on a client’s Web site.
“That particular product has given us identity,” Cecil said. “Any big campaign we do we get phone calls.”
Innovate upped its number of clients in the past year, bringing in companies that include Napster LLC, Apartment Home Living and Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Cecil said.
It’s a switch from a few years past, where “we heard so many no’s,” he said.
“Now the phone is ringing unsolicited,” Cecil said.
The shop brought in three workers last year in sales and production to help with new business. Innovate has a staff of 13.
Online video “is a hot new vertical in online marketing” and is helping us “maneuver” around the advertising slow down, which “really hasn’t hit us yet,” Cecil said.
Team Work
Irvine-based Vision Star Media is teaming up with other multimedia shops.
Producer Mike Strauss said Vision Star, which produces videos and more, works with other multimedia companies in its business complex to give clients “one stop shopping.”
“It makes you appear much bigger,” he said.
The move also helps Vision Star draw in more business, which is key since the slow economy has made things “tough,” Strauss said.
The OC shop needs to be “flexible,” he said.
Vision Star, like other multimedia companies, is faced with increased pressures.
Budget-conscious clients are demanding more work for less money.
“People are willing to do things for a lot lower prices,” Strauss said. “Which is not good for our business.”
Plus, Strauss said more people these days have access to video equipment and are making low-quality videos for YouTube.com and other Web sites.
“There’s a lot of crap out there,” Strauss said. “It brings the whole bar down.”
The result: Vision Star is working to do what it calls good work and build “really strong” relationships with companies so they “come back and request your services for future work,” Strauss said.
Vision Star also keeps overhead down by tapping freelancers, he said.
Bits and Pieces:
Irvine-based BB Dakota, known for its women’s clothes, is getting the word out about its new line for females ages 15 to 19, which launches in the fall. The collection, called Jack, includes dresses, jackets, sweatshirts and knit tops and bottoms ran-ging from $28 to $150 Newport Beach-based Juxt Interac-tive, which handles Web marketing and more, just launched the first phase of a big marketing project for Adobe
Systems Inc.
