The Passion For Building A Brand

Back in September, I was hired on as the Video Marketing Coordinator for the innovating agency, Grasshopper Marketing. Through various video projects, I have increased my knowledge and creativity in the production field.  I’ve been able to produce more ascetically pleasing shots and have been learning the art of motion graphics.  Although I have not fully mastered AfterEffects, I am discovering that between being a self-taught learner and Youtube viewer, my skills are improving the more I explore.

Not only do I film and work on videos in AfterEffects and Premiere Pro, I also had another opportunity come my way. Back in January, I was approached by my leader at Grasshopper Marketing, with the task to do social media marketing for “Go Waxhead.” My two leaders who I work for at Grasshopper, wanted to start a lifestyle brand out of passion.

To give a little more insight on Waxhead, Our team at Grasshopper will soon be launching energy bars that will help provide extra skin protection in the sun. Kari (who I work for) noticed that her skin behaves better in the sun when she ate foods richer in Vitamin C and E. Her and her husband came up with the idea to create an energy bar that provides sun protection for your skin.

With our energy bar set to release in May, I have the wonderful task of getting people excited about our product through Facebook and Instagram. We decided that our target market would be surfers and fishermen. Once we decided on our demographics and psychographics, we thought it would be best to market towards these people. So far, we have gained a significant amount of followers. We are learning that when our photos represent our brand and the people who are following us, we can gain a few followers from one social media post.

Through social media marketing and building brand awareness, I believe “Go Waxhead” will be successful. The fact that I get to be part of this project from the ground up has been very fulfilling. After we release our bars flavor by flavor, we plan to produce clothing and sun-protecting gear.

As a photographer, I have taken some pics for the “Go Waxhead” Instagram and Facebook page. My goal is to captivate the audience and get them interested in what we are doing. Check them out:

One Spark: Start in Berlin

My classmates and I have exceeded fundraising efforts and had the amazing opportunity to go to Berlin. Our goal was to cover One Spark Start in Berlin. We interviewed many of the creators and innovators who showcased their ideas and talents.

When I was exploring the festival, I found one musical group who had quite the talent. My professor and I agreed that I would do a news and video story on the band, “Somebody Else”.

I shot this video with my iPhone and edited with Adobe Premiere Pro. Here is the video:

Also, How exciting was it to have a segment of my news story end up on the front page of The Florida Times Union? Words cannot describe the fulfillment I experienced. Check out my portfolio to read the article.

Let’s Go To Berlin

In the spring, I was enrolled in the class “Social Media for Journalism.” Myself along with 19 other students and one professor, decided to report on a local crowd-funding festival called “One Spark” in Jacksonville, Fla.

If you don’t know what crowd-funding is, I’ll explain. The concept allows people to show off their ideas they want to make a reality.  For example, I may have came up with a really cool invention of some sort, like a headpiece to put on dogs so people can understand what they are trying to tell them. Okay, that would be really cool, but I’m not that clever.

Really cool inventions require major cost to invent, distribute, advertise and sell. Many of these people at One Spark have a really neat idea, but need the funds and awareness to create their product. Therefore, crowd-funding allows people to give to other people with really cool ideas, projects and even musical bands who want to become well known.

We created the news bureau #IgniteMedia, and reported on many of the entrants who showcased their ideas at One Spark. There were many cool concepts at One Spark including a solar powered lawnmower, veggie ice cream and new and cutting-edge educational programs for schools.

We posted on social media sites including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We also published articles on our website and even have had our stories published in the Florida Times Union and Folio Weekly.

I had the very special privilege of being able to video document all the happenings of One Spark. It was a really neat experience being able to write and film all the inventors, innovators, scientists, musicians and just really cool people with fresh, new ideas who wanted to be heard.

Due to the success of One Spark in Jacksonville, Fla. (where it was founded), other countries became interested and wanted in on the festival.

Berlin, Germany will host their first One Spark festival this year from September 12-14.

After the class ended, my professor asked us if we would be interested in going to Berlin to report on their very first One Spark festival. Myself along with five other students and my professor decided we are going to put our best efforts to crowd-fund and raise money to report One Spark news in Berlin.

We have created our news bureau, #ZündenMedia, Zünden meaning “Ignite” in German.

So far, we have raised over $4,000 and need another $5,000 in order to reach our goal. If you are interested in contributing, please consider our RocketHub campaign which can be found here. We would appreciate any donations, and are offering incentives for anyone who does donate.

One Spark Jax

I am very excited to announce I will be doing press news and event coverage for One Spark this April. I am happy to be part of the news bureau #IgniteMedia. For more info on this exciting event and the news bureau, click on the pictures below.

Photo courtesy of BeOneSpark.com

Photo courtesy of #IgniteMedia