What's more, we argued, multimedia was essentially more of the same. Not, perhaps, a particularly radical take - but certainly one that's been vindicated over recent years.
Making the most of multimedia
It moves! It talks! It communicates!
When the talkies came out, many said it was a gimmick. And colour movies, of course, were just a passing fad. With hindsight, of course, it's easy to see why the cynics came unstuck. Movie-technology was moving ahead not for its own sake, but in a logical progression - towards communication the way people communicate.
Through movement and through sound.
And that, however seemingly banal, lies at the very core of the power of multimedia: because it communicates the way we do, it can communicate more, more effectively, to more people.
But does it sell?
Yes. And it educates. And it trains. And it persuades, inspires, even entertains.
Take one of our clients, a major oil company. They're producing a CD. For the technological thrill of it? No. Because it will:
Help employees develop a keener understanding of the product
Gives the sales-force a powerful presentational tool
Provide a comprehensive database, for numerous applications
.....and all this from information that would otherwise be lying pretty much idle.
Mix 'n match - 'n use
Most businesses have vast amounts of information in various formats. If they could get it to the right people at the right time in the right combinations, it could really be working hard. But they can't. So it sits gathering dust.
Multimedia changes all that. Everything and anything is grist to the multimedia mill: a tv commercial, presentation slides, brochures, exhibition panels, whatever. Select the best, leave the rest. Multimedia lets you forget the dross and blend the pick of your existing informational resources into a combination geared precisely toward achieving a specific objective.
And when your objective changes, so can your combination. Nothing is wasted. And your intellectual assets are put to work instead of going into retirement.
What makes it work?
Good multimedia is much like any other form of communication done well. It's about deciding who you're talking to and what message you want them to receive, then applying a bit of clear thinking and a bit of technical knowhow.
At Precedent, we believe there are half a dozen fundamentals:
Content - choosing the right combination of raw materials for the job - text, film, animation, music and speech
Design - linking the disparate elements together to form a seamless, coherent and visually-dynamic whole
Navigability - there's no point being there if you can't find your way around - a good presentation should let you go back, skip forward, repeat, digress
Versatility - what started as a training tool can be adapted to a sales role, then further amended to become an informational mail-out
Adaptability - technically speaking: deliver by CD, by ISDN, via the Net, in an information kiosk; download to floppy, print, make slides
Editability - Use it, amend it, use it for something else. Ad infinitum.
Over to you...
Good multimedia is your multimedia. You don't want to be locked into software your people can't use or long-term third party relationships, like it or not.
That's why we've produced Impressions: multimedia that puts you in control. We design a flexible multimedia environment, on software that suits you, with easy editability built in. We store a 'library' of raw media you specify: still and moving images, print and sound. Then you simply drag and drop whichever elements you need for any given occasion into a presentation for that occasion. Once the basic system has been created, you control its future development to exactly the degree that suits you.
No other form of communication has ever put such power, such flexibility and such versatility at your fingertips.
Call us
If you'd like more information on what multimedia could do for your company, please call:
[Contact info]
Precedent - digital solutions for marketers
Precedent was formed in 1992 to bring the power of digital technology to marketers and communicators. The company combines marketing, design and programming expertise. We work in the UK, the US and throughout Europe, with clients including BOC, Sedgwick, Sun Alliance, ICL, PPP, Stolt, Hartwell and United Distillers. We work on Corporate Identity control systems, training and sales presentation tools and shrink-wrapped software. Since 1993, the company has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hoskins Associates.
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