Mercury will expand the mission of AdSaint as an entertaining and informative MarCom hub for St. Louis with more stories, more action, and, naturally, more drama. Mercury’s original content has graced the silver screen, national television and publications, cable TV and the web, and the re-launch of AdSaint is a perfect fit for the company’s expertise in film production and communications.

AdSaint bloggers will include Mercury staff as well as outside contributors. The new site will feature the latest ad and PR campaigns, Agency of Record and other news, the latest events, local marketing communications trends and local marketing leadership. The AdSaint team will live tweet at local events, produce online video features and podcasts and share the latest local job openings. New regular columns will include “Ad Devil,” “MarketingVOX,” “You Show Me Yours and I’ll…,” “Getting to Know You,” and a host of additional content.  Walt Jaschek, the original creator of AdSaint, will continue to share his witty insights with his own column “True Walt Stories.”

If you have news, campaigns, trends and story concepts you’d like to suggest, please email them to adsaint@mercury-inc.com. Stay tuned for the new AdSaint! In the meantime, keep reading here and follow us on Twitter: @AdSaintSTL.

Back up, back up, you said WHAT to get a phone call returned? Read the entire post here.

“The world views insurance as a commodity; when you watch insurance commercials on TV, they’re all talking price,” said Steven Link, exec VP-marketing at MECC. “The insurance industry for the most part has allowed this, and our campaign was an attempt to address it.”

Video became the company’s choice as central to a direct-mail campaign. MECC felt that a powerful piece, filled with compelling personal stories of injury, treatment and recovery, would convey its corporate philosophy better than any other medium.

“The type of cases we see, the losses we cover, are catastrophic in nature—as is the impact to the families,” Link said. “We’re the human element of the insurance we provide, and that’s what we wanted to get across in the video. All the collateral material we produce doesn’t have the same impact as video.”

Below is a snippet…

While online video advertising is certainly driving ad dollars to the Web, there is more to it than commercial spots. We’ve all heard the stampede of advertisers with slashed marketing budgets dashing online. Still, if you haven’t jumped in yet, there’s no better time than now to get started. So what are some online video options for digital marketers?

The Telly Awards recognize outstanding video and film productions as well as cable television programs and commercials. This year marked the Telly Awards 30th Anniversary.

“We’re thrilled to win three additional Telly Awards that recognize our work and the level of creativity we bring to our projects,” said Chris Lawing, Director and President of Mercury Multimeda. “These awards highlight our capabilities to create entertaining and informative cinematic content with a clear message and emotive visuals for our customers and their brands.”

Mercury took home a Classic Gold Telly for music video Movie of Your Life. This new Classic Telly is a special category that honors exceptional work that has been produced in the last 30 years. Mercury will receive a Classic Gold Telly Award and certificate that is only available during this anniversary year.

Movie of Your Life takes viewers on a musical journey with Day starring as the pianist at an old movie theater who sings his heart out to a moviegoer who catches his eye.  Together, the romantic duo play out scenes of some of the most beloved films of all time, including Citizen Kane, Casablanca, War of the Worlds and Singin’ in the Rain.

Laden with visual effects Mercury was tasked to recreate these famous movie scenes from scratch, through the reconstruction of movie sets, use of CGI, matte paintings and green screen shooting. Chris Lawing directed the video from beginning to end- introducing concepts, selecting Hollywood films and storyboards, directing talent, and supervising the production crew (30 people) and VFX artists (over 25 people) to ensure the concept came to life as envisioned.

Movie of Your Life special effects were recognized with two previous Telly Awards. In addition, this project received multiple DV Awards, an international competition celebrating outstanding creative and technical achievements in the emerging world of digital video production. Chris Lawing walked away with Most Creative Film Award and Best Visual Effects Award at the 2008 St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase for directing Movie of Your Life.

After seeing Mercury’s own demo reel, McGowan Crain, a St. Louis-based advertising and marketing agency, hired Mercury’s production team to create a new video demo for their agency to use as part of a new business pitch.  With McGowan Crain’s creative direction and Mercury’s execution of a compelling visual thread, the “Simple. Smart. Strategic. McGowan Crain Experience” demo was recognized with a Silver Telly.  “Simple. Smart. Strategic” has also won a Videographer Award.

“We came to Mercury with several concepts on how to use video to define our breadth of work, and they brought our ideas to life on the big screen,” said Ben Crain, Principal at McGowan Crain.  “We have been able to leverage this demo in several capacities and were able to secure several new business projects as a direct result.”

Mercury also took home a Bronze Telly for the company’s work on a marketing video for St. Louis-based Midwest Employers Casualty Company (MECC). Mercury conducted 26 one-on-one interviews of employees and customers, shot and gathered footage of MECC and customer work environments, and created motion graphics for a modern, professional final video. Within weeks of the video’s completion, MECC secured two new customers exclusively due to the video, which was sent out as a direct mail DVD. One cold prospect received the DVD and immediately contacted their broker to request a quote from MECC to become a customer. The video remains the most-watched asset on MECC’s web site.  Mercury has also taken home a MarCom Award for the MECC marketing video.

“Choosing Mercury Multimedia to work with us on our first major marketing project was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made,” said Renée A. Lunceford, Director of Marketing, MECC. “They really understood how to communicate our brand using video, and we’re now firm believers in using video marketing to further our efforts in building awareness in the Workers’ Compensation insurance industry and to assist with sales/marketing efforts.  We’re allocating additional marketing budget for videos, as this video ranks as one of our best marketing projects yet.”

These and other award-winning videos can be viewed on Mercury’s web site at www.mercury-inc.com.

This year marked the 30th for the Telly Awards, and winners were selected from more than 13,000 entries from all 50 states and countries around the world.

About Mercury Multimedia, Inc.
Mercury Multimedia is an idea powerhouse that uses film, video and interactive media to take concepts from script to sale. The company’s creative team builds buzz and generates business results by merging the power of filmmaking with a resolute focus on strategic communications. Mercury has decades of experience producing commercials, television content, and marketing videos on the big screen, the boob tube and the Internet. Satisfied clients include Adobe, Bell-Carter Foods, EarthLink, eBay, HOK and SRI International.

Mercury Multimedia also creates a variety of public relations campaigns to propel companies into the spotlight, from product buzz building to broadcast media packages, from print to online placements. Mercury has created messages, crafted stories and obtained placements in hundreds of media outlets for dozens of companies. With a successful client track record in the fields of technology, consumer entertainment, business, non-profit and government relations, Mercury’s team members offer a diverse communications background.

###

“McCarty, an active user of Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace, said the two hours a day she spends on social networking sites helps get the company’s name out into the business community and has brought new clients to the firm. The company, for example, is about to close a video production deal that originated through a Twitter contact.”

“Most people do not exactly think of the Gateway City as the filmmaking capital of the world, but Angie Lawing, senior producer and writer for Mercury Multimedia, hopes to change that perception.”