The JMS production blog

Latest JMS news, TV and radio advertising industry analysis.
Mar 17
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Campaign Magazine Top 30 Regional Agency.

JMS Group in Campaign Magazine’s Top 30 Regional Agencies

By | News | No Comments

We’ve made it this year too! JMS Group are once again one of Campaign Magazine’s Top 30 Regional Agencies, as ranked by Nielsen.

Anglian, Rubie’s, Jordan Tourism Board, Credit Claims, and long-term East Anglian advertiser Aldiss – have racked-up £4.81m of billings. Their combined media spend, and our commercials, have placed JMS Group at 29th position on the enviable list of the nation’s Top 30 agencies outside of the capital. This year our advertisers have even outranked advertising greats such as Ronseal, Subaru and Asda!

May 27
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Super 11 Image

Super 11: The Ultimate Football Strategy Game

By | Children's Television, News | No Comments

JMS Group was recently approached by Premium World to produce a commercial for their football-themed board game, Super 11. We have a lot of experience in producing children’s TV commercials (Sequin Art, Rubie’s Fancy Dress, Rollers to name a few) so we came recommended by Guerillascope.

The game itself is a fun mixture of tactics, skill and luck. We were tasked to create a concept that would portray the quality of the product in an edgy, stylish manner, which would appeal to kids and adults alike.

The client chose our concept ‘In The Zone’ as it subverts the viewers expectations – instead of the players emerging onto a football pitch they enter into a domestic setting, bringing the energy of a real-life match into a home environment.

The changing room set and tunnel were both built entirely in our studio. A combination of quick cuts, macro shots and an emphasised use of sound effects make for an ‘Edgar Wright’ (Spaced, Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) inspired intro to build the tension.

These commercials air on Friday 27th May on Discovery History, Cartoon Network, Disney XD and KIX.

“From the creative concept, through casting and developing the script, to shooting on the day, the whole process was seamless.”

Thinking of advertising on TV? Let us know how we can help…

Apr 25
5

ITV Anglia Weather Sponsorship – TrustATrader.com

By | News, Television Sponsorship | No Comments

This week marks the sixth consecutive year that JMS have produced the Weather Sponsorship idents for ITV Anglia. After a competitive pitch we were delighted to be chosen as the production house by their new sponsor, TrustATrader.com.

From the creative concepts suggested, the client chose ‘Whatever The Weather’, as it conveys reliability and trustworthiness. In a series of idents we see a friendly tradesman making house calls throughout the seasons, battling the elements to arrive at your door. Creating all of the different seasons called for some interesting special effects, from snow to autumn leaves to a rain machine (and one very soggy actor!) These visuals were supported not only by shooting on the Arri Amira but also through careful soundtrack development (crunching snow, blowing wind, you get the picture).

With British weather being what it is we really were in the hands of the gods to some extent – it’s near impossible to film a sunny day if in reality it’s chucking it down! We maximised our chances by scheduling the shoot around the weather forecast and the position of the sun.

The first ident, ‘Spring’, was broadcast on ITV Anglia from April 2016. You can watch it below.

Read our beginner’s guide to TV sponsorship production.

If you would like to know more about sponsorship fill in the form below, or call us on 01603 811855.

Apr 12
5
Campaign's Top 30

JMS Group in Campaign’s Top 30 Regional Agencies

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JMS Group has been listed in Campaign Magazine’s Top 30 Regional Agencies.

Campaign is the leading magazine for the advertising industry which concentrates on the fortunes of the biggest national and global advertising agencies and the brands they serve. Every year Campaign publishes a ‘School Report’ which ranks agencies according to billings, based on data from Neilsen.

2016 is the first year JMS has featured in the published list and we are the only company based in East Anglia to achieve this recognition, with the exception of creative production house Fall Off The Wall in Hertfordshire. 2015 was a busy year for JMS that saw us working with big names in children’s toys, the cruise industry and financial services.

So it’s a delightful bonus in a hectic year to be recognised amongst the top players in the advertising industry.

Campaign Magazine's Top 30 Regional Agencies.
Apr 06
5
Crysalis Courses TV commercial shot at JMS Group's film studios in Norwich. TV commercial production.

Take Flight With Chrysalis

By | News | No Comments

We’ve recently had the pleasure of working with the team at Chrysalis on their first TV commercial. Long-term radio and online advertisers, Chrysalis wanted to take the next step and promote their nationwide courses through the fabulous medium of TV, and of course JMS were pleased to be their guide.

We presented a number of options for consideration and the client chose a creative idea that explored the journey someone takes when embarking on a big change in their life, such as a new career. Filmed across 2 days and 4 locations; beach, home, office and 2 studio sets, the creative team demonstrated these thought processes by following a central character as she sets out to change her life with the help of Chrysalis.

Capitalising on the advertising already being used, we incorporated some visual ‘nods’ to the butterfly icon that is part of the company logo – small reminders of the branding that appear throughout the commercial connecting directly with our central character.

Working with JMS has certainly been an experience, for us it was stepping into the unknown, something new and exciting. From start to finish JMS made the experience fun and enjoyable, all of the ideas that they presented were great and the filming was definitely eye opening! (in a good way) would I recommend JMS – YES!

– Ross Elliott, Managing Director of Chrysalis Courses

The commercial broadcasts nationwide from April 2016.

To find out how television advertising could drive more traffic to your website fill in the form below or call us on 01603 811855.

Feb 19
5
Spotify campaign tagging.

Link… Record… Edit… Mix… Repeat

By | News | No Comments

When it comes to producing multiple tags for a client campaign you don’t get much more ‘multi’ than over 50 tags to a commercial ordered in one day!

‘Tags’ – address or offer changes within a commercial – are quite popular with National advertisers because the main ‘branded’ element of the commercial remains consistent, whilst the end of the commercial benefits from a more regional or local reference – such as a specific address or offer.

Once again, one of our biggest clients, Adam & Eve DDB, requested the JMS team to work quickly and closely with them on a Spotify campaign for their client Volkswagen. Supplied with a comprehensive worksheet and scripts by the agency, we were requested to record, mix and supply over 51 audio tags for a Volkswagen Golf Event campaign for use across the UK Spotify service. As can often be the case with campaigns the turnaround was tight with airtime looming, so the mantra of the day was, “Link … Record … Edit … Mix … Repeat”, with the entire process being completed within 6 hours!

JMS regularly provides radio campaign tagging, Spotify campaign tagging, and ISDN voice links for advertising agencies across the UK. In addition to creative and efficient ‘bulk’ audio production, our studio is recognised as having excellent sound – being used for many contributions to national TV and radio advertising campaigns, feature films, television dramas, and programme trailers. Find out more by filling the form below, or call us on 01603 811855.

Feb 17
5
East Coast Nursery - Video Marketing Production

East Coast Nursery – Marketing Videos

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JMS Produces Videos Launching East Coast Nursery’s Developmental Toys at Toy Fair 2016.

We’ve produced a lot of content for the parent and children’s market and we were delighted to work on this new project for East Coast Nursery. The shoot meant having our TV studio invaded by a large gang of cute babies, always a delight. The videos needed to reflect the new brand, be informative and give potential buyers a clear idea of how the products worked and what they looked like in quite a lot of detail.

On-screen graphics gave further explanation that echoed the brochure already being used by the marketing team. We shot nine products with two cameras in one day. We spent a few days editing down all the footage, colour grading and adding in graphics, the project was turned around in just over a week between shoot and delivery.

“The videos were perfect, exactly what we needed to show off to our customers, capturing the essence of play-value of the products. The launch went really well, lots of interest and very well received, and everyone who’s seen the videos has loved them.” – Louise Goulding, Marketing.

To find out how a video marketing production could be used to promote your business fill in the form below or call us on 01603 811855.

Feb 10
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Video Marketing Effectiveness - A shoot taking place in the JMS Group's film studio in Norwich.

Video Marketing Effectiveness – Infographic

By | News | No Comments

When we say, “You should have a video on your website”, you might think we’re a bit biased (and we are), but you can’t ignore the stats on video marketing effectiveness – they prove video is a force to be reckoned with.

In 2014, 64% of internet traffic was from video. That is expected to increase to 74% in 2017 and 80% in 2019*. More and more people are consuming video, and not just of cats and epic fails. Video on a business website has proven to increase organic search traffic, as well as conversions, yet we still come across companies that are focusing the bulk of their marketing budget on print adverts. They might still be marketing like it’s 1999, but the predicted future says there’s still time to take advantage of the effectiveness of video.

With so much to consume on the internet and a vast amount of browsing done on mobile devices, users often only scan through text, feeling the need to consume information quickly. Sure, you want to describe your business and product/service in great detail – well it is said that one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words!

Before my grumble becomes ironically too long, it’s probably best to explain with a video…

Online video statistics infographic
*Source: http://www.reelseo.com/2019-internet-video-traffic/

If you’re interested in finding out more about video marketing effectiveness, or to commission video marketing for your business (and let’s face it, why on earth wouldn’t you?) then give us a call on 01603 811855, fill in the form at the bottom of this page – or just click the widget at the bottom right and chat with a video production expert now.

Jan 28
5

Gardensite.co.uk Launches on Sky AdSmart

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Halls’ Garden Centre Launch Gardensite.co.uk AdSmart Campaign

Last year we were approached by Halls’ Garden Centre about production of three TV Commercials for their online store Gardensite.co.uk.

They asked us to create some modern, stylish commercials that would really stand out from their competitors’ commercials, showcase their ever-changing offers and highlight the ease of purchasing online.

Our team of copywriters came up with a selection of concepts, and once everyone was happy with the final creative we began preparing for the shoot! We sourced a gorgeous location to film in, and luckily (despite being shot in November!) the weather held out for us! We filmed using the Arri Amira, which has a wide dynamic range and allowed us to record more detail in highlights and shadows. The camera sensor processes footage with a cinematic quality that complements skin tones and adds a more realistic, natural feel to the footage.

To show the convenience of shopping online, we created an interesting transition between the digital world and the real-world environment of the garden; the visual ‘swipe’ effect by which the lady changes the products in her garden through the window mimics the swipe effect of a touch screen.

We decided to utilise a ‘doughnut’ technique across the three commercials – the top and tail of each commercial would remain the same, but the middle section can be altered to show different offers depending on season and availability. Combining the visual ‘swipe’ effect with the graphical insert of the tablet made for a great way to mix the sophistication of a live action commercial with the flexibility & cost of a graphics based ad!

The first commercial aired from the 27th January on Sky AdSmart channels in selected postcodes.

Interesting in knowing more about Sky’s AdSmart delivery method? View our AdSmart presentation. To find out how television advertising could drive more footfall to your business (or to see other garden centre TV commercials) fill in the form below or call us on 01603 811855.

Jan 19
5
Voice artist recording in the days before ISDN studios.

The Circuit Voice – Voice Talent Before ISDN Studios

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Nostalgia: Working With The ‘Circuit Voices’

Having just completed another ISDN studio link for one of our regular Norfolk based celebrity voices, I found myself reflecting on the days before remote links, before many of the regular band of radio voice artists became ‘glued’ to their home ISDN studios.

‘Circuit’ voices as they were affectionately known, owing to driving around the circuit of production companies and radio stations, would take to their long suffering motor cars, or in some instances, motorbikes, and drive from all over the UK to our studios at Norwich. Before they got here, they would have little idea of what their voice session was about to consist of, such was the last minute nature of the radio industry even then. Normally the drive had generated just the right level of blood pressure to accomplish any read no matter how difficult!

In a typical session a circuit voice would be expected to cover all the bases, hard and soft sell, character and dialect, even child voices and on one or two memorable occasions a male artist having to do a female voice (Dan Strauss and David Holt how we love you!). Of course, 45 scripts in a session made the journey pretty worthwhile, and who wouldn’t like an afternoon in the beautiful Norfolk countryside.. or what’s more, the Park Farm Hotel bar next door! In fact so much was the enjoyment of said hostelry that the odd voice would start there BEFORE the session! (No names here, but the sessions often turned either giggly or became jolly hard work!)

The introduction to home working via ISDN for the circuit voice artists was met with great enthusiasm for some, but equally with reluctance for others. The not insignificant cost of ISDN rental not to mention buying a codec, microphone, mixer etc and then having to cover the spare bedroom’s walls with egg boxes to improve the acoustics was a big step.. too much for some. Even for those who had so much work that the cost was no concern, some still delayed jumping on the ISDN band wagon, preferring to work face to face with the producer.

These days for most of those ‘circuit’ voices, working from home is the norm, and it provides obvious benefits to both voice and producer, including being able to cast on an individual script basis no matter how small the station. Of course men doing lady voices is pretty much a thing of the past as well! Alongside the advantages, I know many producers who miss ‘the old days’ when being able to ‘eyeball’ your voiceover artist added a certain something to the production. The late Industry voiceover legend Mike Hurley (‘get home early with one take Hurley’) used to drive hundreds of miles in his trusty Volvo covering several sessions in a day. He once commented to me “Carl, I’ll put off ISDN as long as I can, the idea of sitting alone at home doing this stuff does my head in.” Weeks later, even the lovely Mike was under his duvet at home with his microphone. Well at least I didn’t get another studio chair chucked at me… but then that’s a story for another day.

JMS regularly provides ISDN and IP voice links for celebrity artist contributions to film, TV and radio producers all over the world including many leading London facilities. Our studio is recognised as having excellent sound, with many contributions to national TV and radio advertising campaigns, major feature films, television dramas, programme trails and retail products. Find out more about hiring our ISDN Studios or call us on 01603 811855.