“The Service” Movie Screening Party Press Release

For Immediate Release:

Joint release party celebrates the best in Calgary music and film.

Overview: On Thursday October 22, 2009 Flames Central will host an evening celebrating some of the best in Calgary music and film. A joint release party will mark the release of local rock band Static in the Stars’ new EP No Grace in Goodbyes and the inaugural North American screening of the new short film The Service. Local rockers Pure City and legendary 80’s cover band Broken Toyz will join in the festivities. This event will bring together some of the stars in the Calgary film and music scenes and showcase Calgary as a world class entertainment city, all in the premiere entertainment venue.

The Service: Thomas Highe is the kind of guy every woman dreams about. But, when he gets dumped by his shrewd wife a mysterious ‘Service’ offers to have her eliminated. After he mistakenly agrees, it’s a race to stop them before it’s too late. Starring Kent Speakman, Paulina Chmielecka, Tye Evans, Rob Swiderski and Alison Wandzura, “The Service” was produced by Scott Carpenter, directed by Dave Barton, and written by Peter Skagen. Shot on location in Calgary, “The Service” is exceptionally high in production value, and features an original score by PJ Serediuk, and CG effects by Darren Northcott. The film was shot during evenings and weekends, entirely by Alberta actors, and crew.

For more information; http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Service/40281790913

Why Oil & Gas Companies Should Drink Beer with Oysters & Tweet About it!

Well I think I might have put my foot in my mouth. I now realize that drinking Beer with oysters is extremely relevant to oil and gas companies, and they should be tweeting about it!

Last week at the iMedia Brand Summit in California I was speaking to a variety of different brands and was in a roundtable discussion on Social Media. I a sat at a table with Brand Marketers from the Allstate Insurance Company, and Cirque de Soleil along with the Chairman of comScore. The conversation was lead by Geoff Ramsey, Co-Founder of eMarketer.

iMedia Brand Summit – Loews Coronodo Beach Resort, California

The iMedia Brand Summit in Coronado California was a great 3 days of learning, networking and great discussions. iMedia does a fantastic job of brining together a great mix of speakers, brand marketers, and industry leaders from all aspects of the digital marketing community. I had the pleasure of making the trip with Tom Short, Rare Method’s President.

The weekend was framed around the theme of “Online Branding in Stormy Times”. It was kicked off with Sarah Fay welcoming the attendees and encouraging everyone to contribute to the group, gain valuable insights from the knowledge of important members in the digital marketing world and help determine the way forward for some of the biggest brands in America.

“The Collective” CG Movie Trailer

I wanted to share this movie trailer that some of our team from Thought Box Creative, Speakman Entertainment, Back Pocket Productions and Rare Method put together for “the Collective”. I hope you enjoy.

Check out the FACEBOOK Fan Page for all the behind the scenes, green screen and making of CG that went into this project!

“District 9″ – Did it deliver?

This is a quick blog on “District 9″ – A friend of mine on Facebook who works for a large (OK Very Large) Studio commented that no females she knows liked the movie. It spawned some interesting thoughts and I wanted to share them.

First of all, I thought the film was not only action packed, but also very emotional! I thought that the synergies between the treatment of refugees in real life and the alien’s in the movie drew an emotional connection with the audience…. A father’s drive to protect and care for a son… prejudice and segregation against those which we don’t understand…. The themes were layered and brought out in a way I haven’t seen without the use of a crutch that most of these core emotional drivers (in Film, or war) such as religion are usually relied on. Great film, fantastic marketing rollout, they understood the audience, but you (my friend) are right – by having a stronger female lead (Christopher perhaps in a motherly role???) it might engage both sexes on a deeper level. Perhaps Christopher should have had a wife protecting the little prawn and that should have been the partner rather that the other one that got killed.

Case study: Pitching a relaunch – iMediaConnection.com

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Creative agency Rare Method shares the secret of its winning pitch for a re-imagined TV Western.

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How to Successfully Market a Television or Film Project.

 

This is a visual representation of the high level elements that make up a successful program to promote a film or television show.

How to avoid a brand overdose – iMediaConnection.com

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Watch as iMedia’s marketer on the street investigates how to turn audiences on to your brand without making them tune out. Interviews with Kent Speakman and Michael Rosen at the iMedia Enetertainment Marketing Summit in Los Angeles.

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Rare Method wins iMedia Marketing Summit agency shootout

CALGARY July 22 /CNW/ – Rare Method Interactive Corp. (“Rare Method”) (TSX Venture Exchange, Tier 1 listed under symbol RAM), is please to announce that they won the iMedia Agency Shoot Out at the Fifth Annual iMedia’s Entertainment Marketing Summit in Beverly Hills, California.

The iMedia’s Entertainment Marketing Summit is an exclusive event that brings together more than 130 senior marketing executives from the top film, television and home entertainment companies that evangelize and drive digital marketing initiatives across the spectrum of their companies marketing communications disciplines.

“This was an incredible opportunity to show case our capabilities in front of the who’s who of entertainment marketing,” comments Tom Short, President of Rare Method, “two companies are selected each year to have this honor and we did not waste the opportunity to demonstrate that Rare Method has the talent to develop big ideas and deliver with exceptional execution.”

Hospitality and Restaurant Marketing – Don’t lose sight of what makes you Special!

Don’t lose sight of what makes you special – my thoughts on an approach to engaging and creating tools to successfully market and build relationships with consumers in the Hospitality industry.

I think that a systematic approach to interacting with your customers should be fundamentally based on the customers needs, reinforce the customer’s needs at every chance, and treat customer service as a competence and not a function. It needs to be a mindset of the service staff, and extend into organizations online initiatives.

Starting with a look at campaigns; Smart Marketers should emphasize on local relevant marketing programs over high cost glossy mass advertising. All programs need to be measured and KPI’s clearly understood prior to the development of the program in order to ensure that money spent is not taking away from the brand experience in your venues. Consumers are now spending more time online than watching TV, and all consumers are shifting their time spent on traditional media to the internet. It is paramount to develop a long term strategy because that is what will deliver long term loyalty. Your organization needs to be committed to building trust and loyalty through your on and offline initiatives. Concentrate on the brand experience. The most important part of this strategy is the commitment to creating trust and a bond with your guests and a responsiveness to doing the things they want to see…