We’re proud of our pro-bono work for the Semper Fi fund that aids injured Marines and Sailors – but don’t want to be accused of taking sides in a rivalry that dates back more than two centuries.

So a Manning HD crew was on hand at the U.S. Military Academy at Westpoint to document the presentation of a new Army Football truck donated by Navistar Defense.  The LoneStar vehicle was custom painted with rich graphics that salute the Black Knights and vow to defeat the midshipmen from the Naval Academy.

The footage of the ceremony and the cadet pep rally will be used to showcase Navistar’s support of our troops.  They can take sides – the Navy probably doesn’t use as many trucks.

We’d like to say we left our hearts in San Francisco, but the truth is we were too busy producing web content for the ABA to see much of this city by the bay.

Team Manning was hunkered down for a week in and near the Moscone Center, the site of the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting.  Mitch, Mike and Doug spent long days and nights shooting, editing and posting video clips to the group’s primary communications site www.ABANow.org.

Photo by Phil Coblentz

Our team was kept busy with quick turnarounds of video content such as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, new ABA president Stephen Zack and David Boies, the attorney who successfully challenged California’s ban on same-sex marriages. It was a fascinating time to be in San Francisco considering this ban was overturned while the meeting was occurring. Not that we had a great sense of what was going on outside of our edit room. Our late night work schedule limited our opportunities to get to see the city. So while there were few cable car rides, we were able to have some amazing Chinese take out. Continue Reading →

There is a huge surge in the number of adults watching online video and studies show that there is a big explosion in mobile video.  Mobile video has the highest growth rate of any mobile application category.  A new Cisco study reports that nearly two-thirds of the entire mobile data traffic will be video in just 3 years.

CNN's iPhone App gives users access to mobile video.

Overall video is now one-third of all consumer Internet traffic, and will approach 40% by the end of this year. Cisco predicts that video will account for more than 90% of all Internet traffic in just 4 years.  A Pew Research report backs up those numbers. Pew’s survey shows 69% of all adult Internet users watch video online.  While there is a big jump in comedy clips, the number of people watching educational videos nearly doubled since 2007.  We are seeing online video move beyond skateboarding tricks and cats playing the piano to thoroughly embrace serious communications.

Tonight our beloved Blackhawks take to the ice to face Nashville, beginning a month-long bid to bring Lord Stanley’s Cup back to Chicago for the first time in 50 years. (The very idea of the Music City having a hockey team is, of course, preposterous.. but that’s another post.) So here at Manning, we’ve spent the last few weeks scraping the bottom of the creative barrel trying to think up a way to show our support.

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First let me say that a large part of why this movie was successful to me is that it wasn’t easily knowable beforehand.  I heard a lot of discussion about the advertising strategy for Avatar—the amount they spent, the choice to show so little about the movie, the typeface, etc.–-but the one thing it most assuredly did was to avoid giving away the story, and that was important.  I’m going to do my best to avoid having any spoilers in what I’m about to write, but if you’re concerned at all (and you should be because you should see the movie and you should do it fresh), you may want to forget reading this and just adhere to the my underlying point: GO.  Go NOW.  Take anyone who might like it and who can sit still for three hours.  Take anyone who can’t and ply them with confections, age permitting.  See it in a theater.  See it in 3D.  If you like sci-fi, if you like love stories, if you like action movies, see it.  If you like any films, or even movies… or if you have a pulse… see it in 3D and do so at a theater. If you don’t you’ll regret it.

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We’re pleased to announce that Manning was awarded two bronze Telly Awards for the a global branding program “Making A Difference” produced for our clients  Stryker Corporation and their PR Agency, Gibbs & Soell. The video was a winner in both the Corporate Image and Employee Communications categories.

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Video on the web is not a new phenomenon, nor is the hype around the impact that video will have. But we are now starting to see how video can play a role in social media. As my colleagues Kirk and Patrick like to point out, social media is more than just Facebook and Twitter. Social media is information designed to be disseminated by interaction. With that in mind, web-based video players are starting to enter the social arena. Here are some players with social features that I have interacted with recently. This is not meant to be exhaustive but provides an overview of players I know about.

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Vegas is a city filled with distractions, as evidenced in the movie “The Hangover.”  So if you’re trying to promote an event in Las Vegas how do you grab people’s attention?

Our solution?  Make a lasting impression.

We created this custom E-Card to promote East Side Entrees at the upcoming School Nutrition Association Conference in Las Vegas.

Enjoy!

www.BreakfastBREAKSmilk.com

For years I’ve been fascinated by how visual effects technology has advanced storytelling in motion pictures.  As a kid, I was first introduced to this with Return of the Jedi.  I’ve never been the biggest fan of the Star Wars films, but I watched them to see just how someone’s imagination was translated for everyone else to enjoy.  The film that changed everything for me was E.T.  I was 8 years old, and although I had no career ambitions, I knew I wanted to create things using my own imagination.  Fast-forward 26 years, and my work as an editor has allowed me to do just that.  Both in my personal and professional work, I’m allowed the freedom to create while earning a living.  Not bad.  When you have the time, take a look at the Michael Bay website and the “Reels” section of the Digital Domain website.  One provides a unique look at one of the most successful Directors, while the other shows examples of how script and imagination are translated to the big screen.

Americans continue to shift their video viewing habits in record numbers. New data from Nielsen report more than a 50% jump in viewer watching video on a mobile phone versus a year ago. Watching videos on a computer from the Internet also grew dramatically, up 13%. While most people still may prefer to watch video on the best device available – the research shows videos have a strong appeal on virtually any platform. The research reinforces that people want this video content at a time and on a device of their choosing. Even for those watching conventional TV – more than a quarter are time shifting using a DVR or other device.