Stage 2 Awarded Philanthopist of the Year Honor

Stage 2 Studios was recognized with the 2011 Philanthropist of the Year Award by the Alaskan Aids Assistance Association on September 8th, 2011. The award presentation took place during Four A's annual board meeting in Anchorage.

Over the past several years, Stage 2 has donated their creative talent to various projects which include transforming a print media campaign into live action for TV, and most recently transporting viewers through time with the creation of Four A's 25th Anniversary fundraising video. This video debuted during the Four A's anniversary celebration in February, and helped Four A's raise donations to kick off their Legacy Fund. Donations to the Legacy fund raised a total of nearly $88,000 in just one night.

Stage 2 is honored to have received such an award and is proud to continue to support Four A's and its mission.

Stage 2 Studios Announces New Video Game Trailer: Lifeless Planet

Stage 2 Studios has just released the first trailer for their new indie game called "Lifeless Planet." This exciting video introduces the intriguing backstory and hints at the spectacular environments to be featured in the upcoming sci-fi adventure.

While seeking life on a distant planet, a skeptical astronaut discovers an abandoned Russian laboratory and suspects his mission is a hoax until a mysterious young woman saves him from a strange and deadly phenomenon...

Lifeless Planet will be a game that puts the adventure back into "action-adventure." Combining great graphics with a great story, Lifeless Planet aims to be a gaming experience in the spirit of classic action-adventure games like ICO, The Dig, and Out of This World. Lifeless Planet is under development for PC, Mac and mobile platforms.

Check out the trailer and learn more about the game at LifelessPlanet.com

Stage 2 Builds Online Store for Airline in Discovery Channel Show

Stage 2 has just launched a new mini-store for Era Alaska, the airline featured in "Flying Wild Alaska," a Discovery Channel TV series. The store offers branded merchandise like hats and shirts.

Stage 2 developed Era's new website last year based on a design by Bradley Reid + Associates. The site includes a full content management system (CMS) so Era staff can easily create and edit content on the site.

Stage 2 Releases New Marketing Book

THE IGNITION EFFECT—a new book from Stage 2 Studios—is now available for sale.

After nearly twenty years of helping nonprofit and small business clients market their services, I saw a need for a basic introduction to advertising theory and practice. So over the last year I worked hard to write a book that would provide a straightforward and approachable introduction to the fundamentals of advertising.

Now there are a lot of gimmicky marketing books out there. This book is not one of them. The Ignition Effect begins with an overview of fundamental advertising principles. The emphasis is on proven strategies and insights that you can put to work right away. My philosophy is that only with a strong understanding of the rules can you learn how (and when) to break the rules.

Most of our clients are nonprofit organizations, so I have included helpful information for nonprofit organizations and educators. The Ignition Effect was written in large part to help nonprofits recognize the powerful impact effective communications can have on motivating communities and boosting fundraising efforts.

In addition to the advertising primer in the first section of the book, I've included several essays on new media marketing and social media. These sections challenge the reader to explore and implement innovative media solutions they may not have previously considered.

Above all I hope this book will help you inspire audiences and ignite growth.

Learn more or purchase the book here:
http://stage2studios.com/communications/

Americans Now Spend More Time Online Than Watching TV

A new survey by Forrester Research reveals a major shift in media usage. For the first time, Americans in 2010 are now using the internet more than they watch TV. This is perhaps not too surprising since around 80% of households have internet access now, and even 25% of mobile users are going online. And of course, younger Americans have been using the internet more than other media for some time.

Still, the survey reveals a significant landmark for internet usage. We've reported in the past how online advertising rivals or surpasses all other media, so it was just a matter of time before internet usage surpassed other media usage.

Time spent viewing TV isn't going down. TV viewing has been mostly flat over the last few years. Reading newspapers and magazines and listening to radio have gone down--and that time has shifted to internet usage.

Of course, we like to point out that much of what people are doing online amounts to watching TV--but online. Further, many people use the web for listening to internet radio, or reading newspapers or magazines. It's important to recognize that watching video, music listening and reading isn't going away--it's all simply moving online.

Finally, businesses should note that the number one use of the internet is e-commerce. Since shopping is the most popular activity online, business advertisers can greatly benefit from targeting online users with internet advertising. We find most small to medium organizations are significantly underspending on internet advertising (in some cases, doing none whatsoever). Those that do increase online spending see big benefits.

Sources:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20025607-93.html
http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/understanding_changing_needs_of_us_online_consumer,/q/id/57861/t/2

Stage 2 Studios Announces Launch of 2010 United Way Mat-Su Campaign Video

Stage 2 Studios, LLC recently announced the launch of the new 2010 United Way of Mat-Su campaign video and website update. The new video is now being shown throughout the area as part of United Way's annual fundraising campaign.

This year's concept was, "What is United Way Mat-Su?" To help answer the question, Stage 2 filmed United Way executive director Stephanie Allen as she visited all 22 partner agencies across the Valley. Partner agencies are those local charities who benefit from annual contributions to United Way campaigns.

"This was one of the most ambitious projects we've ever undertaken" said John Conn, a partner at Stage 2 and a United Way board member. "We filmed at 18 locations in two days to capture footage from every one of the United Way partners. Then we had to find a way to edit down 35 hours of footage into a nine minute video, and do it with a fast turnaround. Despite the challenges, it all came together and the finished video has been extremely well received."

The United Way Mat-Su website was also updated to reflect this year's campaign theme. To illustrate the concept of "Live United," Stage 2 took 22 on-location photos of staff members from each of the partner agencies. Then all of the photos were carefully edited together so it appears the people in the images are standing side-by-side clasping hands.

Stephanie Allen, Executive Director of the United Way of Mat-Su said, "The video and website are incredible. People look forward to our video every year and the media services we have received from Stage 2 Studios have really helped to increase our visibility and engagement in the community."

The video and website were exhibited at this year's campaign kick-off event, held at Evangelo's restaurant. This is the fifth year that Stage 2 has provided media services at a discount to the United Way of Mat-Su and donations have risen steadily as a result of their media partnership.

The video and Flash animation can be viewed at www.unitedwaymatsu.org


ABOUT UNITED WAY OF MAT-SU:


United Way of Mat-Su has been serving the Mat-Su Valley for over 20 years by supporting education, income and health in the community with local dollars supporting local services. Because we all win when a child succeeds in school, when a family becomes financially stable, when people have good health. For more information visit www.unitedwaymatsu.org or call 907-373-5807.


ABOUT STAGE 2:


Stage 2 Studios, LLC is a dynamic marketing firm based in Palmer, Alaska. Stage 2 specializes in rich-media projects for organizations in Alaska and around the country. A strong supporter of education and community service organizations, Stage 2 provides discounted media services to many nonprofit organizations.

Google Instant Search Goes Live

Head over to Google.com and prepare for a little surprise. The search engine has rolled out it's "Google Instant" service for US and some European users. As you type, Google now streams search results instantly to the results window below the search bar. This major change to Google's functionality really has to be experienced to be understood.

Google claims it will save 2-5 seconds per search. That doesn't sound like much until you figure how many searches are done every day. Google say it will add up to 11 hours saved every second around the world.

I was lucky enough to be one of the early random testers for Google Instant a couple of days ago. Quite a shock to discover instant search behavior with no warning. Now everybody can enjoy.

There's nothing to turn on to enable the service: it's now the default behavior for Google. Though if you prefer the old-fashioned way you can easily disable it.

Google Instant requires a recent browser version: Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5 for Mac and Internet Explorer v8. It does not work on mobile devices.

Update: Well, that's enough for me. I've turned this feature off as I find it more distracting than useful. And it looks like many other folks are just not enjoying the experience. The worst part is you now can't disable the search suggestions auto drop-down (you could before instant search), so it's still easy to get distracted with unrelated search terms even if you've turned off Google Instant. I'm sorry to see Google pushing quirky functions like this on users. Google seems to be straying from the simple, clean, and quick functionality that originally typified their search experience.