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.

New Social Media Marketing Package from Stage 2 Studios

Now there's a quick and effective way for your organization to get up to speed with social media marketing. Stage 2 is announcing a new social media marketing package so you can start using these crucial social media tools:

• Blog: Setup and custom template design with Google Blogger or WordPress.*
• Facebook Page: Setup, configuration, and logo integration.
• Twitter: Setup, configuration, and custom template design.
• Email Marketing: Setup and custom template design for Constant Contact Email Marketing* or Dada Mail.
• Event Marketing: Setup and custom template design for Constant Contact Event Marketing* or Evite.
• Search Advertising: Setup and configuration for Google AdWords,* optimization of keyword list, and design of three ads.
• Analytics: Setup and configuration of Google Analytics.

The package includes a free consultation with all of the features listed above. The best part is you don't even need to build a new website to take advantage of these services. Call or email us to find out more information and boost your social media profile today!

*Setup and configuration included. Pricing varies for monthly services.