The Perfect Pitch

/0 Comments/in /by

Winning Concepts for a Successful Presentation.

Winning Isn’t Everything… Ah, Yes It Is!
It’s so much more fun to be on a winning team, reaching for the prize and actually attaining it. Well, that’s what we have been taking on over the last 20 years as a big part of our business. In fact, over the last few years we have seen it grow, along with the amount of new infrastructure projects that are out for bid by the government, and being chased by the large multinational consulting, construction, and engineering companies.

blog01

Up for Grabs
These huge contracts are up for grabs, meaning these large companies must invest heavily just to get the jobs. Bidding companies assign project management teams, even before they’re awarded the work. They even design some of the key parameters as part of the competitive challenge. It’s always been so, it’s always been expensive, and traditionally they win a small percentage of the pitches to which they respond.

The Secret
Over the last few years we have found a secret that has helped many of our clients win pitches for large government infrastructure jobs; a strategy and a technique that has helped many of our clients increase their win record substantially.

In many ways, it all comes down to their willingness to change the way they enter this arena in the first place. Certainly, bidders will continue to fill out reams of background data on their companies, on their key personnel, on the financial strengths of the their firms, and on the information that makes them compliant with bid criteria. One false move here and, without explanation, they’re often left out.

After all is said and done, usually the top 4 or 5 firms percolate to the top, and are ranked and selected to make a final presentation to a selection board that are usually made up of either elected officials, citizen volunteers, or appointed government staff. At this point the contract can be considered up for grabs. Depending on the selection rules it can be anyone’s game, or it can be stacked in favor of one bidder. Politics can, and often does, play a part in the process.

The Sweet Spot
This has been the entry point where we have found a sweet spot – a place where we can, and have, made a difference for many companies and bidders who find themselves short listed. How do you win from this position? How do you get those extra few points to get on top of the group of those short ranked with you?

The answer is simple…

You’ve Gotta Knock Their Socks Off!
You want to create a presentation that turns your presenters into heroes and geniuses, differentiate your company as the only safe choice, and leave an impression with the  election committee that your ideas are the ones that hit the mark.

That’s what we have been doing; looking at each presentation (specifically for engineering, consulting and construction assignments) like a well-orchestrated episode of The Discovery Channel’s Modern Marvels. It must be thought out, scripted, created, rehearsed and timed.
Presenters must be shown how to stand, deliver, look to the supporting screens, and be genuinely excited about the prospect of digging that tunnel, or building that roadway. This is often the hardest challenge an engineer has to overcome. Let’s face it. He/she went to engineering school, not drama school. Additionally, these timed presentations are always cut short (by law) when the presenter reaches the end of the allotted time period… a bad thing.

Rehearsals with a Stopwatch – and Lots of Them – are a Must

Media must be created that enhances and supports the message of the live presenter, not steal his or her thunder.

We design creative and very short video modules that perfectly support one thought at a time, and are immediately enhanced by the live presenter, who confirms their content, guides us through the presentation, and leaves the viewer wanting more.

The presenter should be the host of the show, and must excitedly move from segment to segment effortlessly, aided by – but not supplanted by – visual aids. They should not mindlessly read PowerPoint® slides, or ignore the viewer. Instead they should be shown how to engage their audience with facial expressions and specific statements aimed at individual members of the selection board.

It’s a show, and what we have been doing simply enough is creating a good show that influences a finite number of audience members that we get to know, and get them to like us more than the other guy.

You do the elements I’ve just outlined and you win… a lot.

We are enjoying guiding our clients through successful presentations. They in turn have been granted more than $3 billon worth of business in the last few years, thanks to us.  Our video production services come with a lot of experience in winning big jobs.

It works.

 

The Birth of a Branding Campaign

/0 Comments/in /by

Producing “Diego Galante” to sell Colombian Emeralds International

As with many great branding campaigns, the idea of how to market a chain of jewelry stores with outlets throughout the Caribbean came from Turkel, an advertising agency with whom we have worked closely over the years.

The idea was to sell the concept of what it takes to find emeralds and precious stones in the mines and jungles of Colombia, doing whatever is necessary to get them, and bring them to market.

Turkel created Diego Galante, a fictional character who makes it his job to trek through the jungles and mines of Colombia to supply the stores with these magnificent goods. It was a great idea from the start, and it would give the client a branding position than no one could copy.

blog02

Turkel called on Multivison to partner with them to bring these stories to life, and to capture on video the adventures of this cross between Indiana Jones and Michael Douglas from “Romancing the Stone.” The storyboards were imaginative and fun, and it was very exciting from the get-go.

We at Multivision decided that even though most of the action was to take place in the jungle, we could get the look, the dense foliage, and the feel of the deepest and darkest jungles of Colombia at Pinecrest Gardens, in the suburbs of Miami. With this backdrop we found that all the scenes had a perfect setting where we could shoot: a river bed for a rusty old canoe, the jungle itself for Diego to hack through (there was plenty of that), a tropical lake, and even a little old restored bungalow. This last component was to serve as the final scene where Diego would walk in for each of the 3 spots and say triumphantly “Come to Colombian Emeralds International, and see what I just brought back from the mines.” It took a lot to get to that point however. First we had to find Diego.

Castings were held at Multivision’s Coral Gables studio, and over the course of a week many leading men (adventurer types) were auditioned and they got to read the lines. After much searching and auditioning, Brazilian actor Fernando Plentz won the part, and was slated to become Diego.

Costumes were selected from specialty stores all over Miami to find the right look, and props were sought out to exacting specifications.

Multivision brought on Director of Photography Carlos Prio to lens the project. Along with Turkel Creative Director Mike Tesch, the shots were planned out to each detail.

Our location production would need generators, along with a light truck, to create the shafts of daylight needed for true authenticity.

We selected another location, the Wings Over Miami Air Museum, near Tamiami airport. Here, a working replica of a World War II era plane was used in one of the shots. There was also a motorcycle scene shot in deep west Miami-Dade County, along with a moving Jeep scene. Even a mule from a farm in Hialeah Gardens made an appearance, and he steals the show and the carrots.

Multivision shot the project on the RED® Epic camera system to create brilliant high definition images, and to allow room in the video frame for any color correction or image manipulation that would be needed during postproduction.

Back in Coral Gables at Multivision’s studios we “propped” and shot a museum scene, as well as several tabletop product shots, with diamonds and emeralds.

The spots were finished and will start airing on November 1, 2012.

Thanks go out to producer Laura Becerra and an able team of assistants, and to the Turkel team of Mike Tesch and Allison Filella, make-up and stylist by Rory Lee, post-production and color correction all done in-house by Multivision’s René Borroto and Pedro Mendez.