This week my CPS/ITS coworkers and I took on an assignment handed down to each service team in the ITS department. The intent of the project is more or less to get teams thinking creatively about communication and refine the messages they send about the services they offer, for this project and looking forward. It’s likely these ads won’t see light outside this internal meeting, but it is a good way to get teams thinking, being creative and having fun.
The assignment: to create an ad for our services. The parameters were wide open as to how your ad is created and presented. The only stipulation is that the presentation of your add is at least 30 seconds. Each of the teams ads will be shown internally at an All Staff meeting later in the month.
Being the communications team in the ITS department, we decided to exploit the cliche with “We don’t just turn lemons into lemonade… we help you share it with the world.” Ultimately, the images will be edited in MS Movie Maker and cut with music and voice over to create our commercial. We chose to use photography rather than video, as we had little time and far more ability with image manipulation than film. In order to get everyone on the team in many of the images, after setting up the images I used a timed shutter release to join them in the frame. I used off-camera flash with Pocket Wizards, and my Gorilla tripod which worked well to wrap over the back of conference room chairs to get the right angle. Pasted below are only a few samples of what was shot on day one. We will finish up shooting this week and once I have the completed commercial cut with sound I will post the file here.
In today’s business environment, it is more important than ever to invent new ways to keep your employees engaged and inspired to find creative solutions. Don’t be afraid to invent projects, even those that may only be seen internally, to encourage the environment you want to grow. Enjoy.
