Flavio Lamenza

🎥 Take your brand film to new heights with our top tips! Start crafting your next video production with our advice below ⬇️ 🎬 Create an immersive and visually stunning brand narrative, from captivating storytelling techniques to sophisticated cinematography. Ready to transform your brand story into a cinematic masterpiece? ✨

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Tell us you’ve never been to Manchester without telling us you’ve never been to Manchester 🙃 That’s exactly what Mancs thought the day THAT Magnum ad popped up claiming its ice cream was the only thing that could make lying on Piccadilly Gardens even better… But in-house creatives at On the Beach hit the nail on the head with a much more relatable reactive. Why did it work? They understood the nuances of local life… IYKYK This is a great reflection of our Mind the Gap research, which found regional gaps in the UK are widening, not narrowing. With regional othering by London Brand Marketers being a standout trend. Uncovering there’s work to be done to draw brands closer towards how and where consumers across the UK live. To understand what we mean by regional othering, download our Mind The Gap report here: https://lnkd.in/eg9Zy-rf #WeAreBrazenPR #MindTheGap

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Client’s Mind Blown Attempting to Create a VR Project   To quote Liam Neeson in “Taken,” creating virtual reality requires “a special set of skills.” Same goes for augmented reality. So, sit back and get a grip: Because Beard Boy creates AR and VR for companies large and small — using domestic resources — more quickly and affordably than those bigtime, big-city gaming houses. Contact us today to get your project underway with our free, 15-minute Jumpstart Session™. And ask about special pricing for first-time clients.   Deep breathing? Transcendental meditation? Primal screaming? How do you handle the stress of creating video content? Let us know in the comments below. Beardboy.com #beardboyproductions #videoproductioncompany #corporatevideo #brandingvideo #videoagency #animationcompany 

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What Can Animation Be Used For? Check out this video we created to show different ways animation can be used (more than just weekend cartoons)

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Ever felt overwhelmed by the idea of writing a book? Imagine a tool that could simplify the process, making it as easy as having a conversation. That's where Clio comes into play. 👉 Clio is the first AI-powered platform designed to help you "speak" your book into existence. With Clio, you answer tailored questions, and the AI seamlessly organises your answers into a coherent, polished manuscript. It's like having a ghostwriter, editor, and publishing consultant all rolled into one – except it captures your unique voice authentically and efficiently. 📈 Why Clio? Because it's not just about writing a book - it's about preserving your authenticity, saving time, and cutting costs. Traditional book writing can be daunting and expensive, but Clio offers a pathway to authorship that’s both high-quality and cost-effective. 🎤 From the initial concept to the final manuscript, everything is designed to accommodate your busy schedule. Whether on a flight, between meetings, or simply taking a morning jog, Clio captures your thoughts effortlessly. Ready to transform your professional output? Sign up for free today: https://lnkd.in/e3dtcn4f #ClioBooks #BookPublishing #BookPublishingTool #BookWriting #ClioBooksAI

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Are brands pushing it a bit with how low the budgets are getting? (And by that, I mean places losing money on projects but having to take them on!) This is kind of the other side of the coin from my post on salaries last week, but funnily enough, this popped up in a conversation I had this week with someone else. Through talking to brands about Unorthodox, it’s quite clear that their current order of business is to save money and keep budgets the same or even reduce them (despite more content requirements than before). Which I totally agree that they should be. But something came up yesterday in a conversation that made me think: are we actually going a bit far here with the budgets? One agency in particular (not a large one) that I was speaking to this week said that one of their clients wanted a TVC, which they obviously tried to service as they are a large client of theirs. But in the end, the agency ended up LOSING 40K on the project!! But felt like they had to take it anyway. I think this is the most extreme case (some would say silly as well) that I have heard of in recent times. But you know what, I kind of get it. Now, obviously, this is not a common occurrence for this agency, nor is it something they wanted to do. But in times like this, it’s hard to turn work away from one of your biggest clients because of fear of them going elsewhere and you losing out on a 500k+ a year account when things pick up. But as someone who has been critical of a lot of agency setups in the past on here, looking at the other side of the coin, I think we can all agree that in the same way low salaries from companies are unacceptable at the moment, so are some of the budgets coming from brands. To all brands, what I think is important to remember here is yes, the larger agencies are more expensive and often not worth it. But if we want alternatives, we need to find a middle ground. Because with stories like this, there aren’t going to be enough independent agencies or studios around to facilitate any content at all. There’s no denying that the market is in a bizarre state at the moment, to say the least. But it benefits brands as much as anyone else to keep places alive with the budgets they are putting into content. There’s an education piece to be had here as to exactly what processes go into producing quality pieces of work. Which I feel is slightly lacking client-side as to exactly what they can get for their money outside of the absolute top-end large-scale agency costs. It still costs something. Remember, without the smaller guys, you have no option but to pay 4, 5, 6 times the price to a major agency for the same work.  Anyways, make of that little nugget of information what you will. It’s still a bizarre world we are currently living in! Unorthodox #contentproduction #industryinsight #thoughtoftheday

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Want to see some brilliant use of AI in advertising? This campaign by Dove highlights a real issue with AI bias. Its a potent reminder for those of us involved with AI and using it for image generation daily, to be mindful of the images we generate and their intended use. Surreal has it's place, as does fantasy, but there is something important in taking extra steps, measures and adding extra focus to creation of images that are fair, realistic, and empowering to humanity. We've all seen these impossibly perfect images - particularly of women (spend 30 seconds on a prompting site like prompthero.com and you will see the bias immediately), but genAI CAN be harnessed in more thoughtful ways than it has been to this point. Like women (and men for that matter), need ANOTHER reason to be conscious about body image?? What do you think? Have you seen AI imagery used in harmful ways, how can we do better? #AI #MachineLearning #Advertising #BiasInAI #TechEthics #BodyPositivity #WomenEmpowerment #BodyImage

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Power to the user: with a user-focused identity and website, BB Agency untangles eOne’s complex brand → t-bi.link/eone

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Power to the user: with a user-focused identity and website, BB Agency untangles eOne’s complex brand → t-bi.link/eone

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Power to the user: with a user-focused identity and website, BB Agency untangles eOne’s complex brand → t-bi.link/eone

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Currently fixated on the concept of a blender bottle. ⬇ Let me explain: I was on a call with biz bestie Emily Holland telling her about some running pre-workout powder a brand sent. Struggling to get it to fully mix, I asked whether she put the powder in the glass before the water, or the water before the powder. She was like... Um, why don't you just use a blender bottle? And I was like... Why would I spend money on a bottle that I don't technically need?! 🙄 But a few days later, a gift from Emily arrived in the mail: A (pink!!!) blender bottle. I was skeptical. But immediately, I noticed how this very simple tool made a task easier enough to be a notable help. Suddenly, I started seeing "blender bottle" metaphors EVERYWHERE in my work. For years, I've told myself my minimal desk setup was enough to "get me by." But I've been hating the way my laptop camera lines up on my desk while on calls. So I bought a laptop stand and external keyboard and OMG within 10 minutes it made everything SO much more professional. ✅ Small $ investment, mega reward. I've been going nuts with back-and-forth emails to schedule meetings, and also to hold my boundaries of not wanting morning meetings. But it was working "enough," so I didn't want to buy scheduling software. Well, blender bottle inspired me to investigate software options, and I found an incredible open source calendar app that took me less than an hour to set up and that will prevent endless future headaches. ✅ Small time investment, super mega reward. A big theme while planning and reflecting throughout April was the idea of outsourcing and delegation of the tasks I know I could pass off in order to spend more time on deep work. But that's scary-- to invest your money and TRUST(😱) in other people to help you with your mission. But damn, I'm looking at that 'lil pink bottle and know that intentional initial investments of money, time, and effort will only help me in the long run. Raising my blender bottle in a virtual cheers to you for reading my monthly reflections. It helps me stay accountable.

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This is why you MUST listen to your community. For context, Helldivers 2 launched earlier this year and was an instant success across Playststion and PC. It was regarded as one of the best and most successful games of the year and a huge win for Sony. 3 months later (a few days ago) Sony forced a policy on PC gamers forcing them to register a Playstation account (PSN) to be able to play the game from now on. PC gamers have never needed a PSN account for their games and over 170 regions a PSN account are not even available. So for all those countries, gamers no longer have access to a game they purchase and had been playing for 3 months. In just 2 days the PC community review bombed the game with over 120,000 reviews and counting that have dropped the games reputational ranking to the Mostly Negative category. Somebody from Sony is going to come back from their long weekend break to a big shock! A company business decision completely out of touch with their user base has ruined a product and relationship with its audience.

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This is an amazing ad from Raid. Here's why When you saw the ad, the first thing you saw was probably spiderman's arm lying on the floor. This is an element you instantly recognised and connected with. You probably thought to yourself 'what is spiderman doing on the floor?' Then you looked around and saw the can of raid. And it all made sense spiderman signifies insects and a spray of raid took him down. Clever isn't it. Raid leverage two powerful things in this ad 1. Pop culture 2. Hyperbole Pop culture Spiderman is in the ad This is a character we all know and can relate with. In your ad campaigns, leverage pop culture. Use an element your audience can instantly recognise and connect with to make your ads more relatable. Hyperbole Raid used this artistically. If it is able to take down spiderman then it can very easily get rid of all the bugs in your home. In your ad, exaggerate in such a way that it is humorous and over the top. This increases hold rate which increases the chance of a conversion. If you are interested, I took a dip dive on the use of pop culture in ads here https://lnkd.in/ds9NubBC Follow me for breakdowns like this

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AI avatars, AI personas will not replace real people regardless of tech. Creators of these tools miss the fundamental principle. Let me explain. It’s true that you can create video massively faster, at scale, get everyone who wasn’t comfortable on camera. AI video avatars will get infinitely better and more realistic in a few years time. Yes, and yes. But what about people who watch it? The viewers? Have you thought about them? Video is a medium that builds the highest levels of trust of any online content.  It’s what makes people see who you really are, what you are really like. AI persona breaks this trust barrier irreversibly because it's not real. You don't know who is in the video, what they look like. When people realize it's fake, they stop watching. How many people want to watch AI personified video? Why would they trust a sales person who sends an AI based video of themselves? Does it mean a product company sells will be a "little fake" too? Businesses like viewership is based on trust. Once trust is broken there is no way back. So what's the point of AI avatar video in a first place [in b2b world]? To demonstrate cool tech, increase valuation, add another finance round, beef up marketing. It's certainly not to make better content for people. But that's just one part of it. Video by itself means nothing if it has not been seen [aka consumed]. If message hasn’t been heard. That’s why YouTube and other platforms measure viewer retention and drop off rates so carefully. Prioritizing one type of video content over the other. Viewer consumption and retention will show creators of AI avatars what real people really want to watch. Will they listen? 🤷‍♂️ [it'll be very different to chatGPT. You'll see.]

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The Octopus = Social Media management 🐙 Just like the octopus, we seamlessly navigate the vast depths of social media, with tentacles reaching into every aspect of the digital space. Our multi-faceted approach mirrors the versatility and adaptability of this incredible creature, ensuring we cover all angles of your social strategy. Dive into our DMs to find out how we can help you improve your brand's messaging on social media. 🚀 #TNcomms #creativeservices #socialmediamanagement #digitalspace

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Selling Your Creative Business? Unlock EMI Opportunities! Join Joe Lythgoe and Ayesha Chanda from our M&A team as they dive deep with industry experts from Lewis Silkin. In our latest episode, they chat with Michael Birchall, Associate in our Employee Incentives team, about the power of EMI options. Key Takeaways: 1. Tax Advantages: EMI options offer unmatched tax benefits and flexibility, especially for employees. No tax at grant, and gains fall under the more favourable Chargeable Gains Tax regime. 2. Eligibility: Ensure your company meets the statutory requirements to avoid surprises. EMI options must qualify, or they revert to non-tax-advantaged options. 3. Timing is Crucial: EMI options cannot be granted if a sale is imminent. Plan ahead to grant options well before any potential sale negotiations. 4. Avoid Pitfalls: Have your EMI paperwork reviewed thoroughly if you’re considering selling your business soon. Tune in to gain invaluable insights and prepare your creative business for a successful exit. 🎙 https://okt.to/Kk9zVT #CreativeBusiness #EMIOptions #TaxBenefits #BusinessExit #LewisSilkin #MergersAndAcquisitions

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