Bresette Insider

Glossy magazines are here to stay!

It does often appear that the days of reading magazines and newspapers are slowly fading away, but according to recent statistics, that is just not so. While the numbers are not shocking, they are certainly surprising:

 

1. Magazine readership has risen 4.3% over the past five years (Source: MRI Fall 2009, Fall 2005 data)
2. During the 12-year life of Google, magazine readership increased 11% (Source: MRI Fall 2009 data)
3. Magazine effectiveness is growing.
   
   
   
   • Ad recall has increased 13% over the past five years. (Source: Affinity’s VISTA Print Effectiveness Rating Service, 2005-2009)
     
     
   • Action-taking—based on readers recalling specific ads—increased by 10%. (Source: Affinity’s VISTA Print Effectiveness Rating Service, 2005-2009)
     

Is this good news? Personally, I think so. So often I look around and am hard pressed to find someone that is not completely glued to some sort of technological gadget. It is relatively rare to find someone who is simply interacting with another human being. It is so easy to become consumed by the latest technology and feeling as if we have to have the latest, hottest item on the shelf.

But, in the midst of this whirlwind of technological advancements, people are still taking the time to read magazines. Why? Maybe it’s because they allow us to focus on one thing at a time. Magazines allow us to explore the power of advertising by really taking the time to analyze the ingenious designs, thought-provoking ideas, passionate creativity and innovation that goes into each page, while the internet is always flashing something new and shinier in our face, so that we hardly have time to digest what we’ve just seen or read.

What would we do if there were no longer any magazines to put on your coffee table, in the bathroom, to read in the waiting room or at the gym? I’m sure that someone out there might have an answer to those questions in the form of technology, and it might be great. But, personally, I think it’s important to remember the value of the simple things in life, like enjoying a freshly brewed cup of coffee and reading an article printed on glossy paper, where I am actually required to physically flip each page.

What about our environmental responsibility?

Want to make sure you get as much use as possible out of your magazines? The possibilities are endless. Hand them down to friends and family members. Donate them to schools or other charitable organizations. You can make all sorts of household items such as coasters, chairs, bowls, etc. Or, simply recycle them.

What’s your favorite magazine? Bresette + Company wants to know!

Okay, well…not really. We don’t shoot commercials every day, but it is a pretty big part of what we do, and it is certainly one of my favorite parts of the job. Aside from the fact that it allows me to step away from my computer for a bit while I’m running up and down stairs with camera equipment, it’s also a ton of fun, but also a lot of hard work!

In these photos, Andrea, Mike and I are on the set of a commercial that is set to air this week for one of our clients, Profile Bank. Without giving away the details of the commercial, we thought it would be fun to show you how we put it all together.

The camera equipment takes about a half hour to set up, sometimes longer depending on the amount of equipment needed for the shoot. We thought ahead and steam-ironed our customized back drop the previous day, in order to save us time on the day of the filming.

This ended up being an excellent idea, due to the fact that it was about 90 degrees that day, and we were filming on the uppermost floor of the building and had to turn off the AC during the shoot as the noise would have negatively affected the audio.

Last Wednesday morning, after a lot of thorough planning, endless creativity and a strong passion for what we do, we began filming the first part of the commercial.

At about 8:45am, our first actress arrived to film her section of the commercial. She came equipped with a few different options for attire and a great attitude. It took a few takes to get it perfect, but she sure did!

The other 3 actors/actresses came in and played their parts over the course of the next couple of hours, and all in all, it was quite a successful morning.

In the afternoon, Andrea, Jim and I headed over to the high school where we were filming the cheerleaders who were dressed in full uniform and holding up signs that pertained to our advertisement. Despite the incessant wind, it was a beautiful day to be on the football field, and the football coach was even nice enough to have his players move down the field a bit to let us use some of the field for our filming.

We wrapped it up at 4pm and headed back to the office, helped Jim pack up his equipment and load it into his car so he could head home to do some editing. What a day!

Posted September 15, 2010 at 11:03 am by Lisa Edwards

So, you’ve probably been in one of 2 major schools of thought regarding the latest hurricane that has been all over the news and weather stations for days now. You’ve either consistently been in the group of people thinking that the flood is coming, and you’ve already gone shopping for a month’s supply of food and water, just in case. Or maybe you’ve been part of the group of people that were convinced that the storm is a bunch of hype and have had better things to do than to worry about buying flashlights and other supplies.

Either way, the time has come and Earl is here. How big he will be depends on where you live, and is still somewhat up in the air, although as the day goes on, some Northeast regions are preparing for a disaster. North Carolina has already been hit hard, while Rhode Island has declared a State of Emergency, and many vacationers in the southern most parts of Cape Cod have headed home early due to the coming storm.

Wondering what to do if Earl comes your way? In a hurricane, you can never be too prepared. Of course, we always hope the weather person is wrong, or at least that they are a little off in their predictions, and that the storm won’t be as bad as they say after all. To be on the safe side, FEMA provides a list of suggestions for what to do to prepare for the worst. Most of these precautions are common sense, but sometimes we forget the most obvious things we should do to prepare for a storm.

Stock up on batteries. Now, to clarify, you probably don’t need to buy hundreds of batteries in anticipation of the end of electricity for decades to come. Just get the basics so you can listen to a battery operated radio in the event that the power goes out, which is likely in any storm.

If instructed to do so, turn off utilities, and keep the refrigerator door closed as much as possible, and avoid using the phone, except for in serious emergencies. Again, these sound like simple precautions, but think about it. When the power goes out, it doesn’t take long before we start getting bored, which is usually when we start to miss our televisions and computers, and so we automatically jump to the next best thing – our cell phones. When we have nothing else to do, it is sometimes hard to resist the urge to call everyone you know, or to open the fridge looking for something to eat every 5 minutes even though you aren’t even hungry…

And, while you may not necessarily need to buy out the supermarket’s entire water supply, you will want to make sure you have an adequate supply of water for sanitary purposes such as cleaning and flushing toilets. Also, don’t forget to turn off any propane tanks, and turn off utilities if instructed to do so.

If you haven’t already, be sure to tie up your boat, and any other outdoor objects should be secured or brought indoors if possible. Shut all doors, windows and shutters and stay away from the windows and any unsecured objects in your home. And, this should go without saying, but travel should be avoided unless absolutely necessary during hurricane conditions. So if you tend to have spontaneous cravings for soda or candy or you just ran out of gum, you might want to take a trip to the convenience store sooner rather than later.

In summary, listen to the weatherman/woman, get some basic supplies, and most importantly, use your common sense.

Posted September 3, 2010 at 11:57 am by Lisa Edwards

It seems like yesterday that the only way to find out what your friends were up to was to bust down their door and demand an answer. People came and went, and only the best of friends stayed in touch. In such a small amount of time, that random person in your biology class has evolved from a stranger you never wanted to see again, to someone who you now know every detail about, right down to the specifics of their personal life, including where they are going out for dinner, what kind of day they’re having, maybe even what they were doing about 2 seconds ago. My, how time flies.

There have been several advances in technology that have lead to this change, but it is arguable that it was mostly due to the social networking medium –Facebook (with a small shout out to MySpace, of course).

What makes it seem as if time is going by even faster is the fact that a movie is already in the making about the origins of Facebook (as if it has been around since the beginning of time). Hollywood really doesn’t waste time anymore. Of course, why should they? Facebook has evolved from a small social site for college students to a worldwide social networking phenomenon (or obsession, in some cases) in a matter of just a few years. Now, friends and families from all over the world stay in touch; businesses can easily reach out to customers and total strangers can grow virtual farming crops with one another.

To put it simply, Facebook is here to stay.

So, here we are at last. Coming soon to a theater near you, is Facebook’s motion picture titled, “The Social Network”. The movie goes into detail about Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, (played by Zombieland’s Jesse Eisenberg) bringing a vivid display of all of his trials and tribulations in creating Facebook to the big screen. While a few may be crying, “Too soon!”, I personally believe that this could be quite an entertaining movie. The site is so imbedded into our daily lives, and I think it is important to take a step back and find out how it all began. A little history could be a good thing.

This is Hollywood, however, so we can assume a little spice will be added to that history. But, then, isn’t that why we go to the movies in the first place?

Expect a more detailed review from the Bresette team when the movie comes out October 1^st.

Posted August 27, 2010 at 2:32 pm by Mike Pickowicz

Early last week, Bresette + Company took a trip down to East Providence, RI, to shoot a fund-raising campaign video for the non-profit organization, Samaritans of Rhode Island, Suicide Prevention and Resource Center. Offering an array of caring services for friends and family members of suicide victims and/or at risk individuals, the Samaritans of Rhode Island is a genuinely compassionate and self-less organization. The main services offered include a 24-hour hotline/listening line managed by trained volunteers in the community, Safe Place Support Group, a free program open to adult family members, close friends and co-workers of people who have died by suicide, along with Outreach and Community Education and Youth & Teen Suicide Prevention Education offering public presentations to people in all areas of the community.

The video, directed and edited by Jim White of Spruce Creek TV, consists of several heart-felt testimonials of heart-wrenching stories told by a group of courageous individuals who have lost a loved one to suicide, along with explanation of why each individual came to the Samaritans for help and the abundance of support and services the Samaritans were able to provide them with. And, as hard as it was for me to listen to their stories of loss, heartbreak and helplessness, I cannot even imagine what it would be like to be in the shoes of any one of these individuals and being able to speak to the community as openly and with such strength as they each did.

They also had one additional message, that, in order for the Samaritans to continue to be there for the Rhode Island community in the way they had been there for each of the individuals interviewed, they need people to donate funds in order to keep the organization running. It was certainly an extremely moving day of interviewing, filming and reflection that will undoubtedly remain in my mind for a long time to come.

For more information on the Samaritans of Rhode Island and how to donate, you can view their website at http://www.samaritansri.org.

We’re shooting to complete the video for October 1^st, 2010, as part of a fund-raising event for the organization.

Posted August 19, 2010 at 11:16 am by Lisa Edwards