*TTV Pictures works with and supports Veterans Aid. www.veterans-aid.net )

The Chelsea Pensioners were reviewed this year by Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

This historic event is held each year as close to 29 May as possible. This is the birthday of Charles II as well as the day of his restoration as King in 1660. It is also known as  as Oak Apple Day as it recalls the escape of  the future King Charles after the Battle of Worcester (1651) when he hid in an oak tree to avoid capture by parliamentary forces. (For more information see www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk/founders-day )

Veterans Aid hostel Manageress Pat O’Connor said afterwards “They were lovely, they really fitted in with our guys.  For young people to take the time to work and donate the money for Christmas decorations is just fantastic. And what a great job they did!”

The team decorated the hostel’s foyer, TV lounge and gym/snooker room – and attracted quite a lot of friendly ‘encouragement’ from residents.

For some this will be their first Christmas in the Veterans Aid hostel; for others, a familiar experience. The 57 ex-Servicemen who live there range in age between 19 and 80. Some are unwell, some have addictions, some are perfectly ordinary men who for a variety of reasons found themselves either homeless or facing homelessness. What they have in common is the fact that once – for as little as a day, or as long as 25 years – they served in a branch of the Armed Forces.

Thanks to the young people from the Princes Trust Team VA’s hostel will have three Christmas trees, carefully decorated by some of the young people who worked to pay for them. They are all on their own 12-week voyage of discovery; a group of 16-25-year-olds working to build up their confidence and skill sets, they have much in common with the men whose ‘home’ they are cheering up.

“Everyone here is so friendly,” said volunteer Poshsan Wen, 23. “People came over and spoke to us as soon as we came in. We wanted to do something to help ex-Servicemen and so we looked at a number of organisations on the web. Then we found Veterans Aid and just felt it was the right one.”

With the help of TTV a short film was made of the event for the Prince’s Trust and Veterans Aid, click on the link below to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxyLxj-6H-c

The lyrics of Stand By Me resonate with who we are and what we do,” said Dr Milroy. The film was made as a tribute to some of the people who make our work possible and we are delighted to have a ‘bespoke’ version of this wonderful song, by Northfield. So much of what is written about the veterans’ world is gloomy and we want people to know that it needn’t be. Veterans Aid is a place of hope where military humour and support are much in evidence.”

It’s no coincidence that the latest VA/TTV film is called Stand By Me, again featuring the musical talents of Northfield and a series of light-hearted cameos from Sir Terry Wogan, the Lord Mayor of Westminster, a variety of supporters and VA’s own people.

Click here to view the film:

Stand By Me

To find out more about the festival click here

To find out more about video production or corporate video, visit our website, email us on info@ttvpictures.co.uk or call: 0207 419 9555.

After 60 friends and supporters of the museum had dined amongst the fascinating displays of memorabilia, host and Curator Andrew Wallis gave a whirlwind introduction to some of the most treasured pieces in the collection.

The auction that followed raised £3000 for the museum, with the final amount totalling at £8,500 thanks to a generous donation from L/Cpl Beharry (who contributed his replica decorations, worn for ceremonial occasions, to the sale).

The talking point of the night however, was the location:

“This is an outstanding venue,” said Col Cardozo “absolutely unique”.

The Guards Museum is a treasure, tucked away next to Wellington Barracks and the Guards Chapel in Birdcage Walk –  TTV were asked to make a short film on the venue and what it has to offer.

To find out more about holding your event at the guard’s museum, make an enquiry by clicking here

If you have a great venue and are looking to show what you can offer, call TTV to discuss how a video can help: 0207 419 9555

Or email for a quote/ no obligation chat: info@ttvpictures.co.uk.

Look at other TTV video production

Since then the ‘mutually beneficial relationship’ referred to has indeed been maintained and earlier this week we were back working on VA’s most recent venture; a film covering addiction within the armed services.

The piece saw TTV Pictures in Bournemouth for an interview with a former bomb disposal veteran who has fallen on hard times.

The film will be used for educational purposes, pushed by the charity at events and on their website.

Watch this site for more details.

To find out how TTV can help your charity or organisation by video production,  contact the team. Email info@ttvpictures.co.uk or call 0207 419 9555

It is refreshing to see the love affair with TV advertising is beginning to dwindle and companies, who have long been flirting with the idea of video advertising, are finally looking to pursue something more long term.
The Brightroll Video Advertising Report for Q1, 2011 saw respondents declare a want to move around two thirds (65%) of their advertising budget from TV to online video and it does not stop there; the latter is not only turning heads away from TV but also display ads with 80% of respondents vouching to move away from the traditional, display ads and spice things up with video alternatives.

Put your dollar where your Videos are…

The shift in pledged budget can be explained by a change of outlook on media spend going forward and the reason for it; it seems 28% of respondents expect online video to see the largest increase in spend as 30% of those asked stated online video advertising as being more effective than TV- with 31% seeing it as being at least ‘as effective’.

Spend a penny

Respondents were not only looking to online video, they also predicted future ad spend would need to recognise mobile video and social media; with 27% and 25% respectively claiming they would see the largest increase of media spend in coming budgets. The biggest losses in the report were on one hand seen in the investment predictions for display & search (6%) and static ads (7%); it seems agents using display ads need be conscientious in just how effective they are standing up against the more ‘engaging’ video equivalents. The second and more surprising loss came in the form of the respondents themselves. When asked how effective they believed online video was when compared against its biggest rival TV equivalent 15% of them answered that they did not know.

In the dark house

Unsurprisingly, not being aware of what method is more effective can be seen to be throwing money in the dark. It is possible these respondents have not used much online video and this is the cause of their lack of opinion but should this not be the case, the group could be losing personally responsible for wasting time and money.

It is always Important to monitor spend and see how much consumer attention is yielded by any advertising campaign/ instrument and there are plenty of video ad format and metrics to allow you to do this will accuracy. Click here for a good example.

This will of course lead to lots of valuable questions- what constitutes a video view? How should my video be set up on the page? Is pre-roll valuable? How does it fair against in-banner video?

It is of course, individual choice as to which a company may adopt but one thing is not being called into question and that is if the future of advertising will include online video…

TTV Pictures, as a video production company, are conducting a report on online video. Email laura@ttvpictures.co.uk  for more details or for a copy of the report.

I have mentioned previously and will no doubt mention again the shift in traditional marketing and PR techniques; people are consuming content in different ways, namely online and this is causing print advertising and non-targeted television campaigns to fall on deaf, if not certainly less, ears.

New PR and marketing strategies have to learn to use social media, blogs, new releases and online video to communicate with their consumers and it is a constant battle to get these messages seen.

Online video

There is a movement, a movement that started with a migration of audio and video from online backwaters to the forefront of valuable content.  This movement has the ability to transform a company’s brand, inform its consumers and address public concerns and questions within minutes… that is if a company can find the correct platform.

High speed internet and sites like YouTube have allowed companies to create and upload video content with ease, anyone can do it but not all who do are being seen by many, if any.

How to be a success on YouTube- Tips and guidance

YouTube exec Bing Chen is giving insider tips on the use of online video by… a series of online videos to begin in May of this year.

The first in the series can be seen below and it covers brand awareness, video storytelling and its importance in attention grabbing, tagging and annotation of videos as well as general engagement with viewers.

Video content is of course, the most vital element of any success- you need to make sure the video you post is high quality, interesting and represents your company in the best way that it can.

A good way to think about this is a quote I have stolen from Torquil Boyd, managing director at TTV Pictures:

‘Think of your company as a Porsche and your online video as a paintjob- the Porsche will run to the same standard regardless of the quality of the paint, but to the world- whose first and only impression of that car is the way that it looks in the small window that they view it- they will see the cracks and skip over your model, for a shiny new one in the window next door.’

         If you are looking to create online video content, call TTV on 

                                         0207 419 9555 for a free quote.

Laura Forde

A written break down of the above video as well as a great resource on this and related material is: http://www.reelseo.com/youtubes-secrets-success-exclusive-interview-youtube/