Pitching Wedding Promos to Venues
 

Good morning,

We're wondering if anyone has experience with pitching a promotional video to a particular venue that they could then include in their informational packet for wedding couples.

We have an idea, actually a written script, for a promo for weddings at certain venue. We have experience producing promos, but have never approached a company with an idea. All the ones we've done have approached us, and it was for a television ad, not for a sort of inside promotional video. We would present a budget, the idea, shoot it, edit it and hand it over to them.

We have shot weddings at this venue, but as freelancers for another company in the past. We have not shot any weddings there since the creation of our company. We may have some contacts at the venue that we're trying to work that now, but we're really just curious about any experiences any of you have with this approach.

Thanks!

~Miraj

It might just be me being thick after shooting all day today, but I have no idea what you are asking.

Mick Haensler
Higher Ground Media

A video showing their venue as a desirable place for a couple to have their wedding. Has anyone done this before.

We're wondering about approaching Venue X and saying, we have this idea for a short video that you can include in your informational packet that is given to engaged couples for them to watch and help them decide if Venue X is where they would like to have their wedding/reception.

And, if anyone has experience with this.

Hi Miraj

I have no experience in this at the moment, but I too am hoping to get into this kind of work. With online being such a big part of research for brides, I think online videos will definately be a good way to go.

My suggestion would be to put together a "media kit" as such, very like the kind of thing you might recieve from an a magazine etc that you advertise with. It ususally includes a brochure, dvd example and a rates sheet. Then I would call wedding coordinators at your selected venues to book a time to go in and pitch it to them.

This is just a theory though, so if you try it tell me how you go!
Emily

Hi there, we do have a sort of media kit that promotes our business in hopes of getting couples to book with us as the various venues we've sent them too.

But what we want to do is make a video to be included in THEIR media kit that they give to brides, or like you say, put online.

We've got, what we hope, is a great idea and great script and the perfect venue to offer this to, but we were curious, I guess, if A: this was being done at all and B: how those who have done it have gone about it.

I would be surprised if you got the venue to pay you to make a promo video for them. If you've shot weddings at the venue before and want to do more there, your best bet would be to make a promo reel of events at just that location and give it to them. If they can use it to sell their property, they will show it during their presentations and will be likely to recommend you. Now if it's something where they want discs to send out, you may be able to pass the duping charges on to them.

I know that Eric Model and Adam Mancini made this a part of their presentation at 4EVER Group 2008, but I wasn't able to attend that seminar. If they are on this board, you can find them in the member search. Otherwise, you might be able to find them through here:

Taking wedding videography to the next level

I remember having a conversation with Tim Suddall (sp?) from Philly (I think) once as well, and he was talking about how his promo videos for all the major hotels outlast the catering managers, so he has an 'in' when the new person is hired. Perhaps you can pick his mind about what he includes.

jones

Now I see. Boy I was being thick.

Not only do I have experience with this, I also worked at a venue like the one you're talking about as the Director of Media Services. If this place is anything like my old employer they are hurting in this economy which will make spending any money they don't have to a pretty tough sell.

I would approach them not just with the scripted promo idea, but with what I call the "shoot for the long haul" sales approach. Everyone wants more bang for the buck so selling them on the idea of "shoot once, use it many times", is much more appealing than a targeted piece. You can include in and focus on your scripted piece in the sales pitch, but also sell them on shooting stock footage that they can use for a variety of applications. In your sales pitch be sure to point out all of the various ways the footage can be used like direct marketing, commercials, web video, in house kiosk, etc. This approach shows that you are looking out for them, and insures that any additional work down the line will most likely go to you. If you do get the contract for the promo, make sure it stipulates that you are delivering a specific piece and that YOU own any and all raw footage.

Hope that helps

Mick Haensler
Higher Ground Media

Wow. Awesome advice.

Thank you so much. We really do love this venue. We love shooting there, we love the staff. We love the way it looks on film. And we DO want to look out for them and want to build a long-lasting relationship with them. The in-house kiosk thing would be great too.

We're putting together our "pitch" now and brainstorming ideas for other venues.

Thanks again for the great advice!

~Miraj

I have done this with one venue that really liked me and how my company operated. But I found that their small venue meant small budget and being a bit circumspect in their dealings. It could be they are just wary, but from what they said, they have never seen a videographer show up with a three person crew and cover everything so may be they really did like me and just aren't sure they could afford the kind of commercial price I would ask.

I think you folks are way overthinking this. Everytime I work at a venue, my highlight video of that event IS their promo, and I send them a link to it that they can use however they want. After I've done a few there, I send them a DVD with those videos back-to-back. No pitching, no concept, no writing, the work's already done. Inevitably, they come to me (not vice versa) to ask if they can pay me to make copies for them to hand out, and that becomes my biggest referral tool. Also take a look at how I organize these highlights on my site for their benefit. Use the venue selection tool on my home page or go to my vendor page and scroll down to the venues and click on some. Very simple but powerful. I've thought about creating a seminar about this topic...

IndyVisual website
Vendor links

I totally see what you're saying on this, but we just happened to come up with a cool idea that wouldn't really benefit us other than being the ones that make the concept happen...it promotes the venue to either brides in an informational packet or even as a television commercial.

We haven't done any weddings of our own at this particular venue, or else, you're totally onto something with that being a foot in the door and jumping off point...the idea just presented itself and the perfect venue came to mind. We couldn't execute the concept using footage from a wedding. We'd need a separate shoot. I do like how you've chosen to show the symbiosis you have with the various companies!

Plus, for something like this, we'd need to be paid and would have to propose out production budget...