The following are some of the most famous sound recordings ever made.

P.T. Barnum recording

In 1890, P.T. Barnum became the first person to make a recording for the purposes of advertising, recording a piece to promote his circus using Thomas Edison’s “Recording Machine”. It wasn’t long after Barnum’s famous and groundbreaking audio production that radio advertising would revolutionise the marketing and advertising industries.

Jonestown massacre recording

One of the most horrific and famous of all audio visual recordings in history is that of the Jonestown massacre/mass suicide that took place in Guyana on November 18, 1978. Jim Jones, founder of the People’s Temple, ordered his followers to kill a visiting congressman and then poison themselves by taking cyanide, and in the recording Jones can be heard directing people to kill their children. Over 900 people died of either self-inflicted or forced poisoning, as well as many, like Jones, who died of gunshot wounds.

JFK inaugural address

On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy became President of the United States, and the speech he gave at his inauguration remains one of the most famous sound recordings in history. While a lot of people saw JFK deliver his speech live on American television, many more tuned in via radio to hear the inspirational speech, including the now famous line: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Martin Luther King “I have a dream” speech

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King gave one of the most famous speeches in history, which has been referred to simply as his “I have a dream” speech ever since. King delivered his speech to a crowd of hundreds of thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The speech came at a time of high tension in the United States and at the height of the civil rights movement, and his 17-minute speech quickly became one of the most famous sound recordings in history.

Moon landing recording

The arrival of the first man on the moon on July 20, 1969, remains easily one of the biggest moments in human history, and the brief sound recording consists of two of the most famous short sentences ever recorded. The quote: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” is still one of the most famous of all time.

Apollo 13 disaster recording

The sound recording of this tragic event became one of the most famous in history after the crew of 13 astronauts perished when their space shuttle Apollo 13 broke up shortly after take off on April 13, 1970. Following a huge media build-up to the event, and a big media focus on the astronauts themselves, the world watched and listened in horror as the famous words “Houston… we have a problem” came across the airwaves and the Apollo 13 exploded live on television screens around the world.

Number stations

Ever since World War I, these mysterious recordings have been turning up, and they are widely believed to be some kind of military based code. The recordings are of a voice, usually female, reading out a series of numbers, which at times appear to be random, and at other times well organised patterns. These famous sound recordings are some of the more mysterious ever made.

The Most Famous Sound Recordings in History is a post from: Sydney AV Articles

Good marketing is all about finding the right way to get to your customers, wherever they may be. The following are some of the latest ideas for effective business marketing in 2012.

Start a Facebook business Page

Having a Facebook Page for your business is becoming more common, and this trend is expected to really take off in 2012. With so many people now on Facebook, smart businesses are starting to take advantage of social media to stay connected and build their customer bases at the same time.

Tell your story

With so many products and services on the market these days, customers want to know more about their products and who makes them before being willing to part with their hard-earned cash. A good story can really strengthen a brand — Lance Armstrong and his brand is a fabulous example — so add a little depth and meaning to your business brand, and tell everyone all about who you are and where you come from.

Joint ventures for events

Going in on a project with another business has become a smart way to reach out to new clients, as well as make pulling off a big project that much easier. The best thing about joint ventures is that you can save a fortune on event production costs, and if you pick your business partner well, you may even score some credit just by associating with them.

Loyalty programs

While loyalty programs are not new, they are becoming more enticing in 2012, with businesses offering increasing rewards to loyal customers in order to keep them coming back.

Jump on the bandwagon

Businesses are getting involved in more public celebrations these days, and expect to see businesses celebrating everything from Mardi Gras to Halloween with fervour like never before. These events have all the hype built up already, so jumping on the bandwagon can mean a small investment for often significant reward.

Quick Response codes

To make life easy for all those smartphone users out there, displaying a coded QR graphic will allow your customers to get to your important business information with ease, as scanning the QR code will direct them straight to your website.

As green as possible

Green marketing will continue to hold its place front and centre in 2012, so make sure your business is using recycled paper for those posters and promotional flyers.

YouTube

Just when it seemed like YouTube couldn’t get any more popular, businesses have started utilising it even more, cleverly making use of audio visual services to better promote and market their business.

Application software

Developing application software has become a fantastic way to market almost anything, with everyone from businesses to music festivals starting to embrace this new user-friendly system.

Being generous

There is no better quality to be known for than being generous, and businesses are starting to realise that it is a smart investment to spend money on a community party or to sponsor the local footy team. The more generous you are seen to be, the better it will be for your business.

When it comes to marketing in 2012, the more creative you are, the more success you are bound to have, because as always, the number one challenge in marketing will continue to be finding the perfect way to stand out.

Top 10 New Marketing Ideas for 2012 is a post from: Sydney AV Articles

One of the best things about having a TV is that, once in a while, you get to see something truly special. From sport to politics, some of the defining moments of human history have been televised live around the world thanks to some impressive audio visual equipment and video production. The following are some of the most watched events in human history.

2011 Super Bowl

An estimated 111 million Americans watched last year’s Super Bowl, and if you include the international viewing audience, the figure is closer to 163 million.

FIFA World Cup 2006 Final

This much-hyped match between Italy and France was the scene of Zinedine Zidane’s infamous headbutt, and was watched by an estimated 751 million people.

UEFA Champion’s League 2009 Final

Football drew a massive crowd once again, with the UEFA final pulling an audience of 206 million people, showing yet again just how popular ‘the world game’ has become.

John F Kennedy’s Funeral 1963

This emotional moment in American history attracted a viewing audience of around 180 million people at a time when far fewer people owned television sets.

Apollo 11 Moon Landing 1969

An estimated 600 million people watched this huge moment in human history, with men, women and children across the western world glued to their TVs as this incredible mission unfolded live in front of them.

The Wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana 1981

Considered to be a fairytale wedding for the ages, approximately 750 million people watched as Diana, a commoner, married into the British Royal Family.

The Funeral of Princess Diana 1997

A stunned world was glued to their televisions as an estimated 2 billion watched the funeral of ‘the people’s princess’.

Ronald Reagan’s Inauguration 1981

Just over 41 million Americans tuned in to watch the inauguration of a Hollywood star. This remains the most watched Presidential inauguration in US history.

Beijing Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony 2008

An estimated 1 billion people watched this spectacular opening ceremony at the specially built ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium in Beijing.

Chilean Miner Rescue 2010

Few could believe the drama that was unfolding before their eyes as the struggle to free miners trapped underground in Chile stretched on for weeks. By the time the last of the miners finally made it to the surface, they had all become global celebrities, with around 1 billion having watched their rescue.

2010 Super Bowl

This epic tussle between New Orleans and Indianapolis was watched by just over 106 million people, which at the time was an NFL record.

Michael Jackson’s Memorial Service 2011

This sombre event proved to be the second most watched funeral service ever, attracting a viewing audience of roughly 1.5 billion people. Only Princess Di’s funeral attracted a larger viewing audience.

President Obama’s Inauguration 2009

Approximately 38 million Americans watched the inauguration of the first black President of the United States of America.

The Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William 2011

While these nuptials drew nothing like the hype of Charles and Diana back in the day, an estimated 24 million people were still interested enough to tune in.

The Most Watched Events in History is a post from: Sydney AV Articles

Audio visual equipment is not cheap if you are buying it new, and if you are buying it used, there is a good chance that it is already outdated technology. Rather than trying to keep up with all the latest innovations by buying each one as they come out, save yourself the time and money and just rent instead. Almost as soon as a new model of anything hits the market there will usually be a rental version available, so before you make a big investment, take your time and check it out; perhaps you can live without it if you just rent it once in a while instead. The following looks at some of the ways hiring your A/V equipment can save you money.

Occasional use

If you only need audio or video equipment once in a while, it is hard to justify outlaying a whole heap of cash to buy your own gear. Rentals provide an affordable way to have all of the necessary equipment when you want and need it, without having to commit to a large investment, as well as having to store, maintain and secure it yourself.

Use the latest and try it all

Some rental companies update their equipment constantly, so you may be able to get some of the most up-to-date gear on a per-hour or per-day basis. This allows you to be using gear of much higher quality than what you may have been able to afford to buy, providing you with a fantastic opportunity to play around with all the latest in audio visual technology. So if a crazy piece of technology has just been made available, rent it for a couple of days and see what it’s all about — you may decide you need to buy one for yourself, but either way at least try it out before making any big decisions.

When you are renting your equipment, you can try out something different each time you hold an event, so if you do decide down the track that you are ready to buy your own gear, you will know exactly what you want to get. This will save you buying gear that isn’t suitable and then losing money on its resale value before you try out something else.

Keep it safe

Unless you have a way to keep your audio visual equipment safe, you are better off not having it, as if it gets stolen you will be out of pocket a significant amount of money. By renting your equipment you will just need to keep an eye on it for a day or two at most, then return it to the shop to be kept for you until you next need gear.

You don’t have to own audio visual equipment to be able to put on an awesome event; you just need to be able to use it. So unless you have mountains of money or a magical friend who just happens to have all the A/V gear you want to use, save yourself some money and when you need it, rent it!

Saving Money By Hiring Audio Visual Equipment is a post from: Sydney AV Articles

There’s nothing better than putting on a successful event, whether it’s a $50-a-head dinner or a shoestring MS fundraiser. The most important part of any event is to keep to your budget as best as you can, so follow these tips to ensure your big event doesn’t blow out.

Plan meticulously

The more meticulously you plan, the easier it will be to stay on budget, so take your time coming up with your budget and try to foresee any possible expenses you’ll need to have covered. There’s nothing worse than running a tight budget only to have a large bill emerge you hadn’t thought of, so don’t forget items like sound hire, projector hire, car rentals and so forth.

Round up

When making your budget, round up what you think each item will cost, as this will allow you to either get the higher quality version, which is sometimes nice, or to have yourself covered if you end up needing more than you thought you would. Having a little extra padding here and there in your budget will help provide your overall budget with a little more protection, and ensure your project doesn’t head off course quite as quickly.

Be prepared to do a lot yourself

If you’re organising an event, the more skills you have the better, because if something goes wrong, you might be able to help improvise a solution rather than have to pay your way out of every problematic situation.

Have clear goals

When you’re in the planning stages of any event, it’s important to set clear goals for what you hope to achieve. This will make it easier to stay focused when you’re tempted with fancy and unnecessary items throughout the course of the event. You don’t always need to spend a lot of money to put on an event, so just stick to your plan, don’t panic, and do what you set out to do.

Keep it simple

The simpler your event is, the easier it’ll be to accurately calculate costs and budget. Fancy events can often fall flat because people expect their props to make the event awesome on their own, so keeping it simple and focusing on putting on a quality event is your best chance of success.

Stay organised

Your meticulous planning will only be of help to you if you then stay organised for the duration of the event. If elements of the event are left unattended, they can quickly start leaking money, so make sure every part of your master plan is being watched and is falling nicely into place.

The ability to stay on budget can be the difference between being able to put on regular events and not. If you’ve received any sort of financial backing for the event, you may also need to be able to show a full accounting of your monies, so learn how to make and stick to a simple event budget.

Tips for Keeping an Event on Budget is a post from: Sydney AV Articles

Sydney is a fantastic city, and there’s nothing like being here when something is happening, as there’s no better place in the world to party. As usual, 2012 will see more incredible Sydney events, with the following some of the big highlights.

The Sydney Mardi Gras Festival

One of the world’s largest street festivals, the Sydney Mardi Gras Festival is a highlight of the calendar every year in Sydney, and this year will take place between February 12 and March 4. Kicked off by the famous Dykes on Bikes contingent, the Mardi Gras hits its peak with a huge parade of tens of thousands through the streets of inner city Sydney, often drawing a crowd of hundreds of thousands of spectators. If you haven’t been to Mardi Gras in Sydney, you really should go.

New Year’s Eve

As always, Sydney Harbour will draw a massive crowd for the bringing in of the New Year, with a huge fireworks display at the harbour that can draw well over a million people. There’s no more beautiful harbour in the world, and with the spectacular Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House in the picture, there’s no better spot for a massive display of pyrotechnics and audio visual >lighting.

Australia Day

January 26 always sees an explosion of celebration throughout Australia, with family barbecues and sporting matches among hundreds of events in any city. Sydney is the place to be as it hosts the Big Day Out on Australia Day, widely considered one of Australia’s best live music events every year. You’re also a good chance of a cricket match taking place at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Australia Day, and the entire CBD becomes a party area from around 10am until late into the night.

City to Surf

If you’re someone who likes to run, or just want something fun to do and think you can at least walk a long way, this great event will be held again on August 12 and involves a 14km course that begins in the CBD and ends on iconic Bondi Beach. Always full of colour and with a field of thousands, this ‘fun run’ is an excellent excuse to start training for something.

Sydney Film Festival

Always full of incredible examples of local, national and international video production, in 2012 the Sydney Film Festival will go from June 8 until June 19, and will show an average of two dozen films each day. If you like film and have been looking for an excuse for a break, treat yourself and head to Sydney to enjoy one of the world’s oldest and most respected film festivals.

Sydney to Hobart Start

The start of this race is one of the most fantastic maritime spectacles you could ever see, and if you’re lucky enough to be able to get out on one of the spectator boats, you’ll never forget it. Otherwise, it can just be fun to watch it from Clovelly of any other vantage points along Sydney’s coast, as long as you see it before the bigger boats head further out to sea. The most exciting part is right at the start, so the closer you are to the start, the more likely you are to get to see some interesting battles.

Biggest Events on Sydney’s 2012 Calendar is a post from: Sydney AV Articles

A great product launch can catapult your sales to the top of the market. In today’s business environment, a multifaceted approach to product launches is standard practice. This quick, step-by-step guide provides some practical insights for executing a high-impact product launch, whether you’re completely new to product launches, or are already familiar with the process.

1. Activate Different Marketing Channels

Once you’ve identified your target market, it’s important to activate different market channels to maximise your reach. For example, many businesses use a combination of web, email, traditional advertising, direct marketing, SMS, or personal letters to reach their buyers. Your marketing strategy can be enhanced with the use of video and good audio visual production techniques.

Some marketing channels to consider include:

• Online Retail Sites. Whether you build your own online retail site or connect with other established sites to sell your goods or services, online retail is a marketing and sales channel that can’t be ignored.
• Email Marketing. Cost effective and easy to executive, email marketing can be enormously effective if you already have an established customer list.
• Search Engine Optimisation. As a corollary to retail sales, SEO should probably form a key part of your product launch campaign to maximise exposure. SEO can start months before the product is brought to market to build momentum and interest.

2. Use Pre-Launch Previews

For most products and services, pre-launch previews are well worth the effort. They build anticipation and interest, and can help extend the product life cycle while generating quick returns for businesses once the launch dates comes around.

Providing samples, hosting a preview event, or creating a viral video – these are all excellent ideas for a pre-launch preview. If you’re hosting an event or making a video for wide distribution, you can sustain interest by using corporate audio visual techniques to make a professional looking video to encouraging sharing.

3. Sell Your Unique Value Proposition

No matter which medium you use to connect with customers, the key thing is to remember to consistently sell you unique value proposition.

Professional marketers are trained to do this, but no one knows your product better than you do. Focus your launch campaign around your product’s unique qualities and how these qualities will make a difference to your market.

4. Seek to Influence Buyers throughout the Entire Buying Process

Maintaining interest and influence throughout the whole buying process allows you to convert more leads into sales results and even encourage sales across different product lines.

Design your product launch strategy to generate optimal marketing results at every stage. This can involve anything from selling the unique value proposition of the product, to building trust, product cost, delivery, and building loyalty.

5. Test Your Marketing Approach

Many businesses test their marketing approach before bring the product or service to the market. You may want to test everything from the product itself to the marketing strategy. Some organisations choose to do their own research; others hire professional marketers to conduct focus groups or online research tests.

6. Review and Adjust Your Strategy

You should continuously review and adjust your strategy throughout the product launch process, and be ready to adjust your strategy if necessary.

How to Execute Your Product Launch like a Marketing Professional is a post from: Sydney AV Articles

Viral marketing can be one of the most effective ways to generate leads and reach thousands or even millions of people. Along with using professional corporate audio visual equipment to enhance the quality of your marketing video, these three secrets from the most successful video marketing campaigns may inspire you to create the next video marketing sensation.

Blendtec: ‘Will It Blend?’

Many people will have heard of Blendtec’s ‘Will It Blend?’ video campaigns, which have been running since 2006. The campaign consists of a series of infomercials (now totalling over 109) that tested the power of the company’s blenders to blend different items.

It has been reported that founder Tom Dickson accidentally stumbled on this marketing strategy when attempting to blend a box of matches. The videos use distinct retro music graphics to create a unique tone. Some of the items that were blended include cell phones, gold balls, credit cards, McDonald’s meals, and whole cans of soft drinks.

Since its inception, the series have accumulated around 169 million views on YouTube alone. The most popular video has been the iPhone segment, which attracted around 10 million viewers alone.

Strategy: Do a completely new take on the product demonstration video by doing the unexpected with your product.

Unilever: ‘Evolution’

Unilver’s ‘Evolution’ is reported to have brought in an estimated $150 million worth of exposure for the company. The video, which was created as a part of its Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, involved a time lapse sequence of a model being given a makeover. The model’s photograph was later photoshopped until it was beyond recognition, and then shown on a large billboard.

Along with its commercial success, the video brought critical acclaim, winning a selection of prestigious industry awards. There is no mention of Dove products during any stage of the video, and the larger campaign used a subtle and indirect approach to highlight social issues while boosting and building brand awareness.

Subsequent videos were quickly released, including a behind the scenes look at the making of ‘Evolution’.

Strategy: Create interest by leveraging the visual medium and highlighting a social issue. Create a series of videos to build upon existing interest and to sustain attention. Use advanced audio visual production effects to create original and unique videos.

Old Spice: ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’

Old Spice’s ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ ads began running in early 2010, attracting more viewers than President Obama’s victory speech. The ads incorporated exaggerated humour and fast and unexpected changes, with a key character who spoke directly to the camera.

Using an approach similar to the Blendtec series, the Old Spice videos were relatively simple and short, and in all videos the key character used a consistent tone and posture when addressing the camera.

Further, like the Dove Campaign for Beauty, the Old Spice ads were released in a series to build on interest. The team behind the ads did not stop there: they also used Facebook and Twitter to create a responsive video strategy that involved the central character taking questions submitted on social media and making replies via short videos.

Strategy: Use humour, rapid and unexpected changes, and a distinctly novel approach to highlight a product message.

3 Secrets of the Most Successful Video Marketing Campaigns is a post from: Sydney AV Articles

With the explosion of different devices and services such as smartphones and 4G, many businesses are turning to effective yet low-cost technology tools to capture traffic and convert customers. Creating online videos with quality audio visual production techniques, blogging, and using apps that make your site smartphone friendly are three of the top low-cost technology tools to raise your product and brand profile.

1. Online Video Streaming

Using online video streaming doesn’t necessarily require extensive or complicated corporate audio visual production work, though you may find professional input beneficial for formal corporate videos, event recording, or producing other special purpose videos. The strength of online video streaming is its ability to very rapidly capture attention, much more so than copy or even images.

Video allows businesses to express, share, or instruct customers in a more creative and personal way. It allows you to associate a face or voice with the brand. And with the current technology, it’s not difficult to put together an informal and engaging video quickly.

• Start with a script. Plan your video first and aim to provide value with quality content.
• Engage and entertain. Be direct and genuine. Avoid using a direct selling message as this can turn viewers away. Share know-how, entertain, and surprise.
• End with a call to action. While direct selling messages are best left out, don’t forget that your videos are still created for marketing purposes. This means you should end with a call to action, which can be as subtle as reminding users who you or your business is and how to contact you.

2. Maintain a Blog

Blogging is a low-cost and high-return technology tool that’s often underused by businesses. Yet, consider the broad impact that a blog article can have. It may be shared on social media sites, raise your SEO rankings, establish trust, help build your brand image by putting forward a more personalised voice, and much more. Videos can be incorporated into blog posts to enhance interest.

Blogging shows its best results over time.

• Expertise. Use your blog to share your expertise and establish your business as an industry leader.
• Consistency. Built brand image by always being consistent.
• Topical subjects. Blogging on topical subjects can help grow traffic to your site.
• Solve problems. Add value by solving your target market’s problems. A short, concise article is better than one that doesn’t provide real value to readers. Value generate repeat traffic as well as trust.
• Guest blog and cross link. You may find it rewarding to connect with partners by guest blogging on each other’s sites and cross linking your articles.

3. Apps to Make Your Site Mobile Friendly

Trends show that more consumers are accessing sites from their smartphones to access information before making a purchase decision or to purchase online. There are various applications and software programs which can be used to make your site mobile friendly.

Some large companies, such as banking institutions and auction websites, have developed their own apps to better support smartphone access. Whether it’s making your site accessible to mobiles or developing your own app, allowing users to access your site from their phones is vital for encourage sharing and facilitating effective online marketing.

3 Low-Cost Technology Tools for Marketing Your Business is a post from: Sydney AV Articles

Streaming videos online are an effective way to capture interest and create new leads. Tens of thousands of videos are uploaded to the internet every week, and billions of videos are viewed every day. While there’s no certain formula to get a video go viral – to have it viewed hundreds of thousands or even millions of times – there are ways to boost viewing numbers. Great audio visual production techniques will help, as will the following tips.

1. Content: Create an Informative or Entertaining Video

Content is one of the most important factors in boosting the popularity of your video. Videos with great content are videos that seed themselves. They’re shared on social media, on community forums, or emailed between friends and colleagues. Have a look through YouTube and other video sites for ideas.

Make a video that will entertain, inform, or instruct in some way. This usually means avoiding making outright ads unless it’s highly novel or entertaining. For entertaining videos, bring surprise, novelty, and aim to amaze and thrill.

2. Watch the Length

Short videos under between 15 – 30 seconds and under 5 minutes are best. Instructional videos may need to be longer, but entertaining videos should be fairly short. YouTube accepts long videos, but, as you’re competing for the attention of viewers (over 20 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute), keep it short and sweet.

Break the video up into sections and make use of different corporate audio visual techniques such as graphics, different camera angles, music, and lighting.

3. Post Your Videos on Your Company’s Blog

If you don’t tell people about it, it’s harder for them to find it. Post the video on your company site, blog, or other appropriate sections on your website. Add a direct link to the video on your landing if it’s a special video and you think it’ll have broad appeal.

4. Generate Interest on Social Media

Your business’s social media pages are another wonderful way to direct viewers to your videos. Social media pages have a special significance for boosting views since they’re one of the key means by which happy viewers will share interesting links.

Most social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, have recognised this fact and built it into their pages, allowing users to quickly embed and share videos.

Other than social media, try including a link to your video in your business’s e-newsletters and sharing it on industry forums. Ask blogs in similar industries to include a link to your videos on their blog or act as a guest blogger on their site and share your video.

5. Optimising Titles and Thumbnails

Optimise your video title to encourage viewers to click through on links. Choose a title that’s catchy, interesting, and immediately engaging. Do a bit of research to see the kinds of titles that interest you.

If you’re sharing the video across social media sites and blogs, effective thumbnail images can also make a significant amount of difference. Two rules of thumb for choosing thumbnails is to make sure the thumbnail image is very clear to imply good video quality and to include a face or a person in the video.

6. Make a Series of Similar Videos

Making a series of similar videos can further grow your viewership. Clearly define the underlying theme and make sure it has popular appeal. For example, if you sell garden products, you can produce a series on growing vegetables, another on growing summer fruit, and other on setting up your garden.

6 Tips for Getting Your Videos to Go Viral is a post from: Sydney AV Articles