A special thanks to Geoff Dawson, Andrew McKinley and the Grey Vancouver team. It was a big idea and we all had a great time bringing it to life. GGRP is very proud of the piece and are so happy it’s received such recognition!

Along with the prestigious Gold Lion at Cannes, the record player won a Gold at The Marketing Awards in Toronto, a Merit at the ONE SHOW in New York, and a silver at the Lotus Awards here in Vancouver.

Congratulations to Grey Vancouver, and to us!

So to all you clients/potential clients out there, if you liked our promo piece, please, for the love of God, reward us with some work! After all, that is why we did it.

June 22nd 2010 – Marketing Mag wrote:

“Grey Vancouver landed Canada’s first Gold Lion of the 57th International Advertising Festival, winning in the Direct competition for its ‘Cardboard Record Player.’

The win was announced at the first awards ceremony of the Festival in Cannes this evening.

The mailer, created for Vancouver audio studio GGRP, was folded over an enclosed vinyl record, which was then turned with a pencil by the recipient to play a recording of the children’s story ‘A town that found its sound’.

‘That was probably the only entry I saw through every stage of judging where there was absolutely no debate or discussion,’ said Brenda McNeilly, vice-president and creative director at Fuse and a juror in the Direct competition. ‘It was almost universally loved as a great idea in its purest form [with] the right message and the right medium, flawlessly executed’.

During the morning press conference where winners’ names were released to the media, McNeilly said the field was a mix of ‘old fashioned’ direct executions (such as the GGRP mailer) and technology-enabled concepts that pushed the envelope.”

We received a merit at the One Show Design in NYC for our cardboard record player, (Best Direct Mail Piece)! Geoff Dawson, Assoc. CD of Grey Vancouver and I went to represent. They put on a great show. The IAC Building was a very cool venue as you can see from the photo.

We were amongst very good company. The Best in Show was amazing – check it out for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfBlUQguvyw

NYC was, of course, choice. I mainly want to talk about the food, but I will refrain. Conveniently, my brother lives in Manhattan, so he was able to take us to some great spots we wouldn’t have known about if we were on our own. He was a great host!

Anyway, good times were had by all.

Our record player ended up on the front page of http://gizmodo.com/ this morning and we’ve been getting a bunch of hits on our website from it. Not sure how it ended up there yet, but good to know the buzz is still on!

Check out this article that highlights our latest direct mail piece.

http://www.marketingmag.ca/english/news/agency/article.jsp?content=20090…

We’d love to hear what you thought of our promo piece!

What is with the preponderance of facial hair on young men these days? I first noticed it on Joaquin Phoenix: the crazy hair, ridiculous shades and something that caused me to coin a new phrase: the homeless beard.

A few months ago on Saturday Night Live I saw a band – I forget the name but it might have been something referring to a German Kaiser or a legume, I have no idea. Anyway, I’m watching them rock out onstage, looking very pleased with themselves, and I just couldn’t shake the idea that something was wrong. Very wrong.

They were all sporting various stages of the homeless beard. Yet clearly they were not homeless. They did not resemble the homeless beards of Vancouver, which sport a kind of futile lushness, a filthy trove of madness that says “Hey, I’m crazy, so you’d better step off. What are you going to do, call the police so they can give me a ticket for jaywalking? Go for it, you self-entitled poser.”

No, these homeless beards are smug, reeking of product and all-too-recent puberty. “Look, mom! I took my mustache to the next level. Check out my homeless beard!” These HBs say to the world: I’m different, I’m an artist, I’m unique – just like all my friends here (who are similarly bearded.)

I have no idea if Joaquin Phoenix’s HB is a publicity stunt or a desperate cry for help. I tend to believe the latter, because he looks like such a knob. Either way, he tires me. I really don’t care if he acts or raps or takes a dump on the sidewalk (that’s actually how you’ll know his homeless beard is the real thing.) Sure, I saw “Walk the Line” and yes, he did a good job. But there are a lot of young, cute, talented celebrities who aren’t super-weird, so I’m much more interested in hearing about them and seeing their movies. Like the Gyllenhaals. I like both Maggie and Jake, although Jake’s eyebrows could use some taming.

I don’t claim to be hip, trust me (witness the use of the word “hip” if you don’t believe me.) But I do know that one of the forefathers of the modern-day homeless beard was Jim Morrison. Remember how hot and yummy he looked before he got all bloated from drugs and alcohol? And we all know how his story ended.

Men: rethink those homeless beards before it’s too late.

I know…how great do we look?! And what fun. A Mad Men theme. Keen to dress up in clothes from the early ‘60’s, (most of us at least), we decided to go all out. We even had names! There I am on the left, Louise Masterson, an independent career girl. In the middle is Susy, playing the role of Monique Bordeaux, a well-travelled socialite who is rumoured to be royalty. Shelley, (on the right), looked perfect as Mrs. Joan Adler — simply, “the doctor’s wife”. Oh, and I almost forgot, that’s Ed Burroughs in the chair….he’s a banker.

The gang at TBWA were fab hosts. The food was delish, the drinks were abundant, and the new digs were tres chic. Thanks for having us TBWA.

And yes, perhaps it was a little too much fun for me, but whateves, I was due. My apologies to all those I professed my love to, and those of you who might have witnessed some of my not-so-sexy dancing. (And yay for me for barfing in my driveway — not at the party.)

Louise Out.

Sound Design: From a uniquely subtle room tone, to the sound of Krakatoa erupting out the driver’s side window of a 1935 Cadillac LaSalle, we can do it all.

Music Production: Original, rips, scoring, beats, etc. Our multifarious music arrangers are in-house, enabling us to produce whatever you need in record time…or immediately, whichever comes first.

Voice Directing: We have experienced voice directors who are very familiar with Vancouver’s diverse talent pool.

Casting: We can put together audition sessions or send you demos of our recommended talent.

Licensed Music and SFX Library: It’s massive. Not only that, we can negotiate the music rights for songs that aren’t already licensed.

Script Writing: Looking for scripts? We have experienced in-house writers who are just competitive enough to battle each other to the death in hopes of winning your approval.

Post Production: From a simple mix of a few elements to the detailed audio post production of your full length program.

Studios: We have an audition suite and two full-service audio studios operating on Pro Tools 7 in Vancouver, and another full-service studio operating on Pro Tools 8 in our Calgary office.

Capabilities include:

• ISDN digital patching
• Skype/phone patch connection
• Audio pre-lay for cartoons
• Source Connect
• 5.1 surround mixes “Home Mix Theatre” designed to AES (Audio Engineering Society) standard for 5.1 mixing

Delivery formats:

• Stereo/Mono
• Dolby ProLogic Surround (4:2:4 Encoded Stereo)
• Dolby ProLogic Surround (5.1 Encoded Stereo)
• Dolby Digital AC3 Surround (True 5.1 Non-Encoded)

VANCOUVER STUDIOS

We’ve been looking into and weighing the pros and cons of Source Elements “Source-Connect” program. The program is used for real-time recording, studio to studio, in different cities, countries and continents via a high-speed Internet connection.

A definite plus is that it’s a Pro Tools plug-in that let’s you record live through your high-speed Internet connection, between studios, virtually anywhere in the world.

Another feature we like is the ability to have integrated instant messaging during the recording that doesn’t disrupt the session.

We also like the fact that we could then offer an option to our clients alongside our existing ISDN service.

One concern we do have is that Source-Connect is an Internet-based connection. That means we’re at the mercy of the connection staying active or dropping. Obviously not a great thing to happen midway through a recording.

Another concern is that the quality of the signal may not measure up to the service that we already provide with EDnet and our Telos “Zephyr” codec.

We currently offer studio-to-studio connections using EDnet’s ISDN-based service. This system works extremely well and consistently delivers excellent quality audio. It uses two ISDN lines that are independent of the Internet, so there are no concern over dropped connections. This service’s quality and reliability have certainly been proven time and again.

As always GGRP welcomes all comments, opinions and advice on this topic.