Stone Plastics Video

West Michigan. Our home. It has long been a place of strong community where entrepreneurs have been able to breathe life into ideas and watch them grow. Michigan has faced some difficult times as of late, so it is always encouraging to see businesses that are able to thrive in spite of an economic downturn. Stone Plastics is one of them. As a company, they are a youthful 12 years of age, yet they produce parts that make their way onto some of the finest cars in the world, including Bentley and Mercedes-Benz. Their good work is evidence of a great company culture. Each person you meet at Stone, from leadership to engineers to machine operators, seems genuinely delighted to be working there.

Recently, we had the opportunity to work with Stone to produce a video that highlights what makes them unique as a company. We had a lot of fun shooting this piece. Acquisition of B-roll in the plant brought me back to my days as a kid watching Mr. Rogers show how stuff is made on the Picture Picture. There was no lack of visually interesting things to shoot. However, we went one step further and enlisted the help of Matt Johnston, a rally car driver turned aerial video shooter. Matt originally custom-built a remote helicopter camera platform for shooting rally cars, but as it turns out, it also works great inside a plant. This unique platform, combined with Matt’s ability to actually fly the darned thing, enabled us to get some really unique shots that would not have been possible otherwise. It also provided a decent amount of entertainment for the Stone employees. Engineers stood by gazing drop-jawed with iPhone cameras rolling as the flying lawnmower buzzed overhead. And in case you were wondering, there were no collisions and no one was injured in the making of this video.

West Michigan: Home of Mike Tyson

CBS recently launched a new reality show called “Same Name.” Each episode features a celebrity and an average Joe who share the same name. When they trade lives for a few days, they discover how much or how little they have in common beyond having the same name. Sunday night, Mike Tyson was on the show. That’s right, Mike Tyson, the part-time nurse and stay-at-home dad from Zeeland, Michigan…and Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight boxing champ.

Not only did West Michigan get some national airtime in this episode, but two identities created by The Image Group were prominently displayed. “Michigan Mike” and his wife work for Metro Health. Their logo—that The Image Group created as part of a comprehensive brand campaign a few years ago—was shown numerous times throughout the episode. Metro received some great free publicity as a result of the show, particularly in regard to the work they are doing in their community clinics for low-income and/or uninsured patients. In addition, the City of Zeeland got a little shout out as the home of Mike Tyson, and the Z! logo and Feel the Zeel tagline that The Image Group created were shown onscreen as well.

• CBS: Same Name
• Grand Rapids Press article on the Mike Tysons

*iPhone photo stealthily taken by resident paparazzi photographer Jason Kehrer

I gave up air—I mean beer—for Lent.

The season of Lent. I love this time of year and I hate it. Over the last dozen years or so I have practiced Lent in some sort of fashion or another. Rather, I should say I have failed at practicing Lent in one way or another. I’ve tried to give up certain types of beverages, certain habits, sweets, coffee, certain types of meat and media. My track record looks more like a March madness bracket sheet—as I fail, I check off the fasted item till no items remain. I seldom win. This past Saturday I heard about a guy (on NPR) who decided to give up everything but beer for lent. Forty days of beer and water. He’s a brewer. Is it a sacrifice or is it a wonderful self-promotion?—something I can appreciate. (You can track his “Lenten” journey here.)

The idea of Lent as I understand it is to do without something for a time in order to gain or be filled with something of value. Something positive—To feel the pangs of hunger is to be mindful of the hungry. To know silence is to appreciate music.

Here’s some stuff I wish I could give up and not just for 40 days. I’d like to fast from:

• squandering my time
• not being grateful
• sarcasm
• globalization
• HVFCS
• putting stupid stuff on my head
• settling for the first idea
• settling for the cheap idea
• settling for the safe idea
• settling
• refusing to teach, train, explain, coach, defend, enlighten
• fear
• the blank page
• conspicuous consumption
• not saving
• thinking of myself first
• thinking of myself often
• thinking of myself
• driving
• speaking first
• shopping
• snoring
• negative attention-seeking behavior
• large portions
• lonely Saturday afternoons
• snow in March
• joint pain
• anger
• sloth
• pleasing clients

I’d like to give up working for our clients.
And I’d like to replace it with working with them.

Too often have I caught myself providing or allowing solutions that I think a client wants vs. what is right for a client’s audience. To work with a client is to identify needs, speak the truth, defend what is right, describe the full measure of the effort, not over promise, yet not settle. And do it together. It requires educating clients on process, listening to clients—not just for input but for ideas, too. The less familiar a client is with process, the more time it takes to guide them through.

Too often we’ve taken a job with little resources and time and have promised to deliver. And we’ve worked hard at living the mantra “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” But what about a bad plan? Doesn’t a rush to execute against a bad plan do more long-range brand harm? We’ve even justified this course of action with a rapid-prototype rationale. But a prototype is for a controlled audience not a mass audience. There is too much to risk to test ideas en masse.

My business card says that I’m a bridge between what to say and how to say it. I see my role being to identify, uncover, and exploit insight. And then to coach talent to interpret that insight into memorable and effective communication. But there’s a fine line between being a bridge and being a roadblock. Maybe I’ll give up getting in the way.

And the Addy goes to...

Each February, as the cold, gray West Michigan winter seems endless, advertising, marketing and communication professionals from around the area emerge from their winter caves and gather for the Addy awards.  The Addys are a time when people like us get to share our work with others in the industry and recognize one another for some of the best work that we’ve produced throughout the year.  Those who attend, whether winners or not, get to soak in some rays of creative inspiration from the work that is shared and the conversations that are had.

The Image Group is very excited and honored this year to take home a Gold Addy in the Public Service category for a short video piece we produced for Triple Quest, distributor of the Hydraid® Biosand Water Filter.

We’ll admit, we are proud of the work we did on this project.  However, we are even prouder of the product and the people who are saving lives by bringing it to people around the world that are in need of clean, safe water.

Celebrate with us.  Learn more about Hydraid®, the world water crisis, and what you can do to help. Visit hydraid.org