Recently we launched Younique Video at the Dad Vail Regatta in 2009 and at the Philadelphia Marathon to demonstrate the effectiveness of internet video marketing.

Recently we worked with the City of Philadelphia to convince them of the significance of social media and how we could increase traffic to their site with quality video www.philadelphiamarathon.com .  Prior to the 2008 Philadelphia Marathon their cumulative total views  of all videos was a mere 4,000 unique visits.  Once Pro Mobile Productions came on site with their Mobile Production Unit and produced 15 dynamic videos of the race, we witnesed over 75,000 unique views of our videos.  This year at the 2009 Philadelphia Marathon we were unable to be there due to city budget cuts, but our website had over 9,000 unique visits looking for fresh videos.  Within the span of one year a demand was created for engaging content that could be shared through social networks.  Our hope is that we will be asked to return to the 2010 Philadelphia Marathon!

Child Literacy

It stands to reason that children who read and write more are better at reading and writing. And writing blog posts, status updates, text messages, instant messages, and the like all motivate children to read and write. Last month, The National Literacy Trust released the results of a survey of over 3000 children. They observed a correlation between children’s engagement with social media and their literacy. Simply put, social media has helped children become more literate. Indeed, Eurostat recently published a report drawing a correlation between education and online activity, which found that online activity increased with the level of formal activity (socio-economic factors are, of course, potentially at play here as well).

Mobile Video Production in the Age of Twitter

As Social Media opportunities arise, the general public still struggles to understand all their options and embrace the newest tools. It is difficult to test and discuss the newer technologies when the application of the program is cloudy and gray. Bob Gollwitzer, owner of Pro Mobile Productions and veteran action sports producer of 20 years, understands the dilemma and has taken the charge to help bring some clarity to the possibilities. Where there is Facebook and Twitter, we offer to tell a story with engaging content and a forward-thinking message. Where there is YouTube and multiple, portable video player options, we offer to capture the heart and soul of the individual. Bob’s last foray into this area resulted in the design and development of THPTV.com, a video driven portal for company information for a local Philadelphia homebuilder. Our mission is clear, our passion became focused. Enter Pro Mobile Productions.

Pro Mobile Productions (PMP) was created on the foundation of professionally produced video. Pro-Inline Productions, PMP’s parent company, began coordinating and filming action sports events like inline skating and extreme games in the early 1980′s. Pro-Inline Productions served as the independent production company behind such well known events as “The Ultimate Inline Challenge” at Universal Studios, ESPN’s “X-Games” and NBC Sports “Gravity Games.” The vision was simple – capture the story on video: the moment, the excitement, the passion. Preserve those frames in time, and allow the participants to re-live their moments again and again. Producing the events not only enabled Bob, also owner of Pro Inline Productions, to storyboard each take, but he was able to capture B-roll footage and secondary clips and outtakes. In the end Bob had enough quality film to share a powerful story and re-purpose the many aspects of the event through vignettes and “teaser” reels.

PMP’s objectives are to produce the best video for many of the traditional mediums (e.g., T.V., on-line ads, product promotion, and video testimonials). Taking this business model one step further, we have married quality video production with mobile viewing. We utilize the available mediums to share the video on cell phones, iPods, and web-based video players.

Regatta Rowers at the Starting Line

Not only do we provide customized content for sporting-event participants, we package the entire event so everyone can benefit from the historical archive on video. Social Media has enabled storytelling to the masses; anyone can share, promote, and create an awareness of their idea. We have honed are services to maximize Social Media Marketing for the sole purpose of gaining a following with specific interest in the product, service, event. This advantage is critical to the effective optimization of the story to be told – we create the interest, we find those interested, and we provide the fanatics with what they expect. It is not the traditional advertising model; to the contrary, we provide the consumer with what they have been looking for, in an unobtrusive way. Enter Youniquevideo.com.

The premiere of our proprietary technology will be revealed at Philadelphia’s 2009 Dad Vail Regatta and Stotesbury Cup in May 2009. Our solution to the dilemma of providing high quality video to individual rowing teams is Youniquevideo.com. The site will be launching soon, and it will provide us with the ability to link event data, customized programming, and video footage of the event. This is the culmination of on-site video capture, mobile editing, and global distribution. We will produce individual video segments for each participating rowing team. We will utilize multiple cameras to capture every possible angle, and the videographers will be staggered throughout the event course.

Pro Mobile's modified RV - now on-site production HQ

Our Mobile Production Unit (MPU) will allow for video highlights via hard-wired cameras creating live feeds to be viewed during the event. We will engage the crowd and fans to peak the interest level and maintain everyone’s focus on the rowers and the schools representing the regattas. The keystone to our success is our MPU (very similar to large network TV trucks, but utilizing all digital HD equipment with laptop Final Cut Pro HD for post production) and the on-site headquarters it provides. Not only can we coordinate the video capture and programming with greater ease, we can manage all facets of the production by having adequate IT Staff available to handle the on-the-fly improvisation sometimes necessary at outdoor sporting events. Being at the heart of the action offers us the advantage of quicker team communication and problem resolution.

Youniquevideo.com’s future includes numerous other outdoor sporting events in 2009. In addition to rowing events, like the Dad Vail Regatta, our plan includes events involving runners and cyclists. From marathons to triathlons, for-profit to non-profit events, Pro Mobile Productions has positioned itself to be the primary provider of broadcast-quality video for sporting events nationwide, with one main difference…video as it happens, when it happens, to treasure and share for generations. PMP will take video storytelling to the next level, encouraging it to evolve as the fluid vehicle it was always intended to be. As times change and technology adapts, Youniquevideo.com is the destination for Your Unique Video.

Contact Information: Pro Mobile Productions

Bob Gollwitzer  |  Cell: 610-223-7884  |  E-mail: bgollwitzer@gmail.com; promobileproductions@gmail.com

However, Twitter can be an effective tool for businesses. Blu3Digital is using Twitter as one “spoke” in the “wagon wheel” of its social media campaign. Promoting clients’ projects and milestones, sharing important and vital links with known, demographically-targeted followers, and creating a solid network of like-minded individuals and companies are the three main tactics for which Twitter has been effective for this website strategy, search engine optimization, and social media company.

Pro Mobile Production (PMP) is a current client where Twitter has played a crucial role, creating awareness of PMP’s video production skills and helping to create a loyal following of action sports enthusiasts and videophiles. PMP might alert followers to a new Blog post on the latest HD Video Camera or when they will be appearing at the next Philadelphia Sporting Event. Subsequently, Twitter provides for a brief but effective outreach to “fill in the gaps” between a Blog post, RSS feed update, or e-newsletter.

Twitter is most valuable when it has clear objectives, a purpose, and metrics as to its weekly feedback. Like many other technical “vehicles”, without proper and constant review, Twitter will loose it potency and fall to the waist-side. Don’t count Twitter out, but do ensure it plays nicely with the other kids on the playground.

This news fits well into what we are experiencing right now. Our business model embraces this new and up-and-coming trend – sharing the best content we can provide. When you control the content and freely provide the manner in which it can be shared, you have gold. Pro Mobile Productions is pursuing that same vertical; reaffirmation at its finest.

No limits…

Later that day while traveling to meetings in Center City Philadelphia, National Public Radio held a one hour discussion from callers all over the United States offering their opinions on the power of social media networks.  It seems sometimes like the world takes years to catch up to reality, but we finally are seeing the fruit of a long seeding period.

I remember my first gig in Hollywood in 1976 at Paramount Pictures as a gopher (production assistant =fancy name) running from the producer’s office to his office on the studio lot…………watching Fonzirelli on Happy Days and falling in love with Melissa Gilbert while she performed on “Little House on the Prairie” set……….then while driving hearing that a man named Ted Turner was going to change the world with an all news network.  The host of the radio show was laughing, the guests were mocking and the entertainment industry responded through its trade papers, Hollywood Reporter and Variety with disbelief that anyone would propose such a ludicrous idea………..that people would watch news during the day instead of the Evening News with Walter Cronkite.