I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to attend Film Hero Live at The Baltic on Gateshead Quayside recently hosted by Mark Bryant, Managing Director at Media Partnership.
I always jump at the chance to learn any new marketing skills… or any business skills whatsoever really, so when a video marketing event came to my attention thanks to Suzy Jackson at Transmit I was sucked in immediately!
Anyone who knows me knows I’m prone to being a tad late so I made sure I left home in plenty time.
In the end, typically, I wasn’t as early as I’d hoped.
I had to walk a bit of a distance from Sage Gateshead carpark and after a fight with their carpark payment machines I arrived, luckily, with a few minutes to spare.
A little flustered after my power walk, (I find it easier to run than walk) I took the stairs up to the first floor, another guy was was headed to the same place so I stayed hot on his heels.
If I have a ‘stairs or lift’ option then having run six marathons and also having a history of purchasing numerous dodgy secondhand vehicles then ‘Legs vs Technology’ is an easy decision!
I donned my best cheesy grin for the Film Hero clapperboard shot, grabbed a drink and found a table before the training started… result!
Plonking myself at the front was a bit of a ballsy move when I’m terrified of being the target of questions but I just liked the look of the people already on the table and my instinct was right as they were a friendly bunch.
Mark was full of enthusiasm and the fact that video is such a visually stimulating medium it was easy to engage in the content.
I’m a sucker for anything that tugs on the heartstrings so being shown ads aimed at triggering emotional responses I was forced to fight back the happy tears a few times through the course of the day.
Mark explained a lot about generating ads that focus on the customer journey from that first moment of awareness to earning their trust and loyalty time & time again.
We were asked to complete tasks throughout the day and given the cutest little sticky notes! Hidden in an envelope one task took my indecisiveness to another level!
(I’ll not say what as I’ll spoil the surprise if you’re reading this and plan to attend a Film Hero Live event in the future!)
During this task I felt it necessary to introduce Strong Point to the table as I was genuinely struggling and thought to seek their opinion. One guy said immediately that it looked like something he would like! Always a good thing to hear.
The day was broken up with a ‘geet fancy’ lunch and the chance to find out a little bit about the other guests at my table. The mix of businesses was interesting, an accountancy firm, kitchen & bathrooms suppliers, a pharmaceutical company, Sky TV AdSmart and then me with our trivia game!
I also received an email in the break requesting images of the game with local landmarks for a local press release we’d recently agreed to.
I checked out the window and the sun was shining.
The Tyne Bridge, Gateshead Sage, The Baltic and the Millennium Bridge would all come in handy when the event was over… and when the heavens opened!
Mark was increasingly passionate as he progressed through more great content in the afternoon session.
The training was giving me so many ideas for Strong Point. It was full of great strategies and guides to prepare for a successful video marketing campaign and my brain was working on overload. (In a good way) Unfortunately I’m not great at getting things down on paper. The items provided and cute sticky notes helped a lot but I can only describe this as similar to a game of whack-a-mole, where the ideas were like the moles popping up and if I didn’t get them noted in time they’d disappear down the hole with the chance of never being remembered.
The afternoon was broken up when Mark introduced everyone to Alice Rowan Hall, creative director of Rowan Homes who is a big advocate of video marketing and has a huge amount of followers on social platforms such as TikTok.
I was inspired listening to Alice’s stories, experiences and advice on how she has used video marketing to build her business, which btw, if you’re looking to add a majestic yet simplistic look to your home don’t look any further than Rowan Homes. Obviously with the addition of Strong Point (the only board game I know that’s been described as luxurious looking) on the coffee table!
I was lucky enough to bump into Alice in the stairwell when the event finished and we chatted and exchanged contact details. I was even more inspired and decided then to maybe record a video walking back to the car. You can see how that went at the end of the blog.
I did manage to take some reasonably decent photos and not so decent videos of the game. The rain was heavy but the game is made of good stuff and it took to the modelling job the best it could.
It aquaplaned along the edge of the Millennium Bridge and even looked good on the flowerbeds (pardon me for sounding like an Arctic Monkeys B-side)
Later that evening I noticed Alice posted a video on LinkedIn after leaving the event. Similar to what I had been trying to achieve in theory I guess, but it became very apparent I’m the novice and she’s the expert.
For a start Alice waited for the rain to stop… and then there’s the small matter of her video saying something of interest. I just said the word ‘teatowel’ a lot! 😂
All in all a fun, inspiring & soggy day!
Thank you Mark and Media Partnership
Here’s a TikTok video I made after the event.
And then, last but not least …
The Teatowel video!
Thanks for reading… and watching!
Gill
X