Movement Detroit Electronic Music Festival is the largest of it’s kind, drawing over 85,000 fans from around the world annually on Memorial Day Weekend. Paxahau produces the event and secures the largest electronic music acts in the world to perform (such as Moby, pictured left). In 2009 I directed a marketing video for Paxahau aimed at garnering festival sponsors. The project was a success, further solidifying relationships with Red Bull, Vitamin Water, Ford, and a variety of others. Paxahau decided to continue our relationship in 2010 when they requested a 3 part documentary series focused on the past decade of the festival, from it’s birth to present day. I wrote, produced, directed and edited the series (titled Detroit Techno and The Electronic Music Festival : Retrospective 2000-2010) which was released over 3 consecutive days during the week prior to the 2010 festival. It spread virally via social media websites and was instrumental in building momentum and anticipation among fans for the 2010 festival (which was the most successful festival to date).
PROJECTS
GEAR RENTAL (coming soon)
AME Vertical specializes in creating innovative ways to make the most of your vertical space. CEO David Easterbrook, in the spirit of his company’s innovative ethos, developed The Dispenser: a stylish, awe inducing tower that not only serves as a place to easily stack and display automobiles, but also as a monumental advertisement for any car dealership that places one in their lot. To quote the product website: “Auto Dealers across the globe are constantly searching for "the edge" that will set them apart from the pack. They're seeking the one marketing element that will draw customers in and command the attention of every eye that passes their dealership. The Dispenser provides that marketing edge, and so much more.” AME Vertical is one of the many client relationships I spearheaded while co-running my former marketing agency. Mr. Easterbrook approached us with a simple phone call, requesting a web marketing video and website. I wrote and directed the video, then conceived the functionality and layout of the website. During my working relationship with David Easterbrook, I also learned of an extraordinary story - how he turned the heart wrenching tragedy of his teenage daughter Ashley’s death by a drunk driver into a means of motivation and inspiration. Mr. Easterbrook built a foundation in Ashley’s honor focused on drunk driving education and reform. I had nothing to do with the forming of the foundation or its website, however I can’t very well speak of my working relationship with Mr. Easterbrook without providing a link to the foundation’s website. CLICK HERE to get involved.
American Expedition Vehicles (AEV) is the leading Jeep aftermarket innovator and supplier in the world. They’ve won multiple SEMA awards and continue to push the limitations of Jeep modification. When AEV co-owners Michael Chetcuti and Dave Harriton were summoned to speak at the Society of Automotive Engineers Conference, they approached me to produce, direct, edit and author an interactive presentation DVD focused on AEV’s innovations. The presentation was a hit at the conference, and was re-purposed as a viral video titled AEV: Extreme Lifestyle Customized for marketing the AEV brand on the web. The company continues to reign as the champion of aftermarket Jeep innovation and exploration. If you’ve been reading about the earlier relationships listed on this page, you’ll already be aware of how Michael Chetcuti and I met. This project is another example of how our business relationship thrived - and also demonstrates how past projects can be repurposed for a variety of formats. Much of our previous project video footage was repurposed for this video.
Hansons is one of the top ten largest home improvement companies in the country, which is pretty impressive since they only operate in Michigan and Ohio. They provide windows, siding, roofing, gutter guards, and insulation. Brian Elias, president of the company, learned early in his career that face to face marketing is one of the most powerful ways to reach customers, so he puts himself front and center when delivering marketing messages. I met Brian years ago when pitching him on producing product videos to place on his website. The project was a success, and spawned a reciprocal relationship wherein I’d provide countless marketing tools for Brian, and Brian would became a business mentor and friend. Brian honestly is a marketing genius, and one of the hardest working men I’ve ever met. After producing the web product videos, I headed up the Hansons Sing-a-Jing contest while at the marketing agency I co-founded (see my bio). To learn a bit more about the contest, and why it was an integrated marketing grand slam, CLICK HERE. Since the beginning of my relationship with Hansons, I’ve written, directed, and edited over 100 TV commercials for them executed on a very limited budget; produced multiple web videos; re-wrote, designed, and implemented a comprehensive laptop sales presentation for use during in-home estimates, executed in powerpoint and featuring customer video testimonials; and served for a short time as their Marketing Director before leaving to pursue other creative ventures.
The POH Riley Foundation was formed to ensure everyone - regardless of age, race, sex or financial status - has access to state-of-the-art health care services. The foundation carries out its mission at the POH Regional Medical Center, one of Southeastern Michigan’s most revered medical institutions. One of the foundation’s programs, Sister & Sister, provides thousands of free mammograms to women who can’t afford health coverage. Every year, the Sister & Sister Program hosts an annual “Fashion and Beauty Extravaganza” fundraiser featuring an inspirational fashion show with clothes modeled solely by breast cancer survivors. In 2007, I wrote, directed and edited a short 4 minute documentary for the foundation which featured breast cancer survivors, titled Sister to Sister. The piece was shown at the Fashion and Beauty Extravaganza to raise awareness. The POH Riley Foundation continued our relationship by hiring my former agency to build their website, for which I wrote most of the copy. The short documentary was repurposed for web distribution and now serves as the flagship video for the Sister & Sister program. My conversations with these strong, amazing women still affect me in a dramatic way to this day. The positivity radiating from these remarkable human beings really can’t be captured with words.
Critical Bill, a Detroit based urban rock powerhouse, “gets” the music biz. Because of their work ethic and business prowess, they’ve gained a national following, been signed to Westbound Records (George Clinton, Funkadelics, Ohio Players), opened for numerous national acts (Buckcherry, Candlebox, DMX, Drowning Pool, Uncle Kracker, Puddle of Mudd, Powerman 5000, Sponge, Saliva, Head PE, Tech N9ne), and toured the country successfully countless times. The band approached me to produce, direct, edit and author a live DVD back in 2006. The Larger Than Live DVD featured custom menus and bonus features. After selling more than 10,000 copies, the DVD helped the band secure their record deal and book a tour with Tech N9ne. The band continued our relationship by approaching me to direct and edit a “raunchy” music video for the lead single off their album Downtown the World. The My Suicide (Girl) music video spread virally to the Suicide Girls myspace page and gained over 90,000 views on youtube. The casting call for the video was done solely online, and over 200 people showed up for the video shoot, for free. Then in 2010, the band approached me to direct and edit the lead single off their album Underground Kingdom titled Beam Me Up. With the understanding that marketing is vital to the longevity of any business venture regardless of the budget, the Critical Bill “brand” continues to gain notoriety today.
Nadir is a prolific Detroit musician who writes soulful funk songs laced with relevant political social commentary. On top of that, he’s a genuinely good soul. He approached me to produce, direct and edit a music video for the crunked out remix of his single Slave. Despite a limited budget and turnaround time, our working relationship resulted in a music video that gained national attention. Nadir continues to use the video to market his message via multiple distribution outlets.
Paula Tutman is an Emmy Award winning on air news reporter for the NBC Detroit Affiliate TV Station (WDIV). For more than two decades, Paula’s tenacious reporting brought some of the hardest hitting news stories to viewers across the nation. In 2008, Paula completed her first novel, titled Deadline. The novel is based on real events; when Paula was a reporter in Baltimore, Maryland, a killer actually stalked her...by continuing to kill with the hopes that he would meet Paula as she reported on his crimes. Deadline follows the journey of fictional reporter PS Garrett as she copes with a similar situation. During the marketing launch for the book, I interviewed Paula and edited a short promotional web video marketing the book online. The video is featured on the book’s website and continues to garner interest for the novel online today.
Kohndo is a Paris, France based hip hop artist who understands that hip hop was born to serve as an expression of an ignored culture, a celebration of this culture’s versatility, a monument to this culture’s creativity, and a statement of this culture’s strength. He embraces those themes with every song he produces. In 2005 Greenstone Records, Kohndo’s label, approached me to direct and edit 5 music videos shot in Detroit - to supplement his upcoming album which featured Detroit artists Slum Village and Dwele. Shot over two 20 hour days during 20 degrees of Detroit winter, these videos provided Kohndo not only with relevant marketing materials, but an homage to the city that inspired a few slices of his songwriting.
I was blessed with the rare opportunity to interview hockey legend Steve Yzerman and his former Detroit Red Wings teammate Doug Brown when Universal Sports Marketing hired my former agency to capture video of the men discussing the current state of Russia. Portions of the interviews were incorporated into Russia’s bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. The campaign was a success, and Russia will be hosting the 2014 event in Sochi. Click below to watch a short montage I’ve edited of some interview highlights. If you’re a hockey fan, hearing Yzerman and Brown recount their experiences in Russia is quite fascinating.
I first met Michael Chetcuti (Chet), CEO of Quality MetalCraft (QMC), while in New York working on a long form documentary centered on Camilo Pardo. The experience would kick off a long term business relationship and friendship, spawning some of my favorite projects to date. One project in particular focused on QMC’s role in the stainless steel fabrication for the Motor City Casino in Detroit (pictured left). The building is one of the largest architectural installments of stainless steel in North America and was designed by famed auto designer Chip Foose. Chet approached me to to direct & edit the pitch video that helped land QMC the Casino fabrication account, then continued the relationship by hiring me to direct and edit a short film documenting the Casino Build. Chet and QMC use the short film to promote their architectural fabrication via the web. The relationship continued to flourish with a few more projects, focused on QMC’s other manufacturing services. Every project with Chet centered around the same goal: create new client relationships for QMC. The longevity of the business relationship is a testament to our success in this endeavor.
Camilo Pardo is the Andy Warhol of Automotive Design. When he’s not designing super cars like the 2005 Ford GT (pictured left) he’s producing some of the most sought after fine art in the world. Camilo also “dabbles” in fashion and furniture design. Michael Chetcuti (aka Chet) is the CEO of Quality MetalCraft, one of the leading prototype and low volume production automotive suppliers in the world. He also co-owns American Expedition Vehicles, the most cutting edge Jeep aftermarket supplier in the universe. These two remarkable men joined forces to produce Merkury HG, a limited line of stainless steel aluminum furniture that will blow your mind. The duo approached me to produce, direct, and edit a short documentary highlighting what designers and manufacturers do when they step away from the automobile. The film, titled Beyond the Road, debuted at the Autoweek Design Forum and was the centerpiece of Camilo and Chet’s presentation. The duo continue to use the film to promote their design prowess at various exhibitions and online via social media.
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[ Jason M. Schultz ]