100% source of daily fun!
$22.99 + HST

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About the Music Soup DVD

Enjoy a hearty helping of Jen Gould LIVE in concert at Arts Court. This DVD is a bowlful of fun for your little ones, ages 2 to 8.

Sing along with the Juno Award winning artist as she performs on stage, laugh along with the animated vignettes, dance along with the music videos and learn musical basics with the interactive video game based on the teaching principles of Music for Young Children .

Music Soup: Jen Gould Live at Arts Court will entertain and enrich

– 100% source of daily fun!

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this DVD goes to support Arts Court, Ottawa’s Centre for the Performing, Visual, Literary and Media Arts.

To find out more about Jen Gould and listen to samples of her music visit jengouldmusic.ca

Ingredients:

Gina Meena
Yummy In My Tummy
B-B-B-Bath Time (animated by Hotcakes New Media)
Monster In My Closet
Three Little Pigs
Cow Kicked Nelly (animated by Hotcakes New Media)
Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Bonny Boone
Fry a Hot Dog (animated by Hotcakes New Media)
Cat Came Back
Noise
Everyone is Good at Something
Googali Eyes
The Lemonade Song (animated by Hotcakes New Media)
You And Me
Tiny Little Bubbles (animated by Hotcakes New Media)
Shake Your Hands

Special Feature:

Smarty Pants Interactive Musical Game (animated and created by Hotcakes New Media)

Bonus Videos:

Monster In My Closet
I Love My Rooster (animated by Hotcakes New Media)

One of the issues I deal with on a daily basis these days is having to defend myself as a creative company. When I set out to create Hotcakes New Media, I made a conscious choice not to label myself as a marketing firm, or an ad agency. I don’t operate a production house, a design studio, or a web firm. I am a creative company, and I am quite clear in the services I provide. Yet somehow, I find myself unable to use “creative” as a label for my business, and I am constantly pigeon-holed into a different category. That makes advertising my services next to impossible.

For example, I’ve been attempting to add Hotcakes New Media to some link directories, to help spread the word about our website. I fill in the URL, and a little bio about what we do, and then I am presented with a drop-down menu to categorize my “type” of business; Marketing? SEO? Design? Video? Which category do I choose? Each of those choices brings with it a certain set of expectations, which could potentially not be met if one was expecting something we are not. The value my company brings is in the creative blend of all these services. Although we do design, we are more than a design company, because we offer creative services that extend beyond just design. Same goes for video. And SEO. And any other pre-defined category I might be forced to label myself with.

Just a few days ago, after providing a quote to a potential client about some creative website improvements I was recommending, the client sent me a predefined “list” of SEO tactics and services SEO companies provide, asking me if my quote included all those services. I had to remind the client that we are a creative company, and although we do take care of 90% of what was on that list, our value was in providing that along with the proposed design services; Our work is about the creative blend of these two elements. It’s all fine and dandy to “follow all the rules” and write perfectly semantic html markup, but if the site looks horrendous in the process, you aren’t retaining the people who visit the site. Likewise, if your site looks fantastic, but has no SEO elements, no one will ever see it. The creative part is finding the right balance between the two.

So I sit here, wondering if there’s a place for creative companies in the current marketplace, and wondering why there are no categories that accurately describe what we do. Surely there must be other creative companies out there. Do other companies face the same problems?

Are you faced with the same problem? Let us know in the comments or on twitter @hotcakesottawa .

Andy Morris – Creative Director
Hotcakes New Media

I’ve recently been contacted about a large contract I am pursuing for Hotcakes New Media. The contract is fairly extensive, and requires branding, video, photography, graphic design, print, web, programming, and custom Artez design for a large non-profit organization. Because of the size of this contract, and the money involved, I’ve been tasked with writing a full proposal to send to the client. Since all other Hotcakes New Media contracts have been under $5000, I hadn’t written any such proposals yet. As I found out, the most difficult part of writing the proposal was deciding how to approach it.

The reason for this is simple: We are not a marketing firm. We are not an ad agency. We are a creative company.

This may seem insignificant to most people, but it has a huge impact on how we conduct our business, and what people should expect from engaging our services. There are a number generic templates ad agencies and marketing firms use to build marketing proposals. They all include the “science” of marketing: SWOT analysis, target audience, focus markets. While we do take all those things into consideration when coming up with creative campaigns, they are not the core focus of our strategy. Our philosophy is simple: We make cool things people want to be a part of. When you follow that approach, you don’t have to worry about other factors. There’s no age limit on liking cool things. And no amount of science will magically get people to be engaged by your campaign.

For our creative proposals, the focus had to move away from the science and focus on the art. We are, after all, artists first and foremost. Our proposal had to reflect that fact, yet show prospective clients that we have the skills to get the job done. The format I created for teh proposal is as follows:

Background
This section describes where the client is currently, where they want to be, and what they are looking for us to do.

Scope
This is the longest part of the proposal. It covers in detail what we intend to do to get the client where they want to be. It does not pitch a specific concept or idea. That comes later in the process. Instead, it details our recommendations on how to approach various aspects of the project. For example, it might talk about how we recommend a website based on WordPress to allow two-way conversations with the public, and why we thing that is relevant for this particular project. Or it might explain the type of video we are proposing, and how we recommend distributing it. For larger projects, there may be several sub-sections for each specific task we will be recommending.

Schedule
As you can imagine, this is simply our recommended production schedule. If no specific dates have been confirmed with the client, this can be detailed as “week 1 to week 4″ or “day 22 to day 64″. It should encompass every sub-section from the scope, but not be too detailed as to not have the freedom to shuffle things around based on the final creative spec.

Team
This section is not always present in other types of proposals, but is important in the creative proposal. It contains vital information about who will be working on the project, with short bios, and tasks assigned. This helps the client understand where the expertise is coming from, and helps provide insight into our creative backgrounds.

Budget
This section is a fairly straight forward budget proposal. Because the final creative spec has not been set at this point, this is more of a budgetary overview so the client knows where we are focusing our production efforts. That way, the client has the option to say “spend less on the video and put the money into improving the website”. The budget also details what each section includes, for example, the web design section might say “includes all graphic design, setup and installation of required web applications, all html and css, SEO and speed optimizations”. This is vague enough to allow for the funds to be allocated as needed within each section, but provides a detailed enough quote so the client is aware of all the costs. It should also include a contingency of approximately 10% of the budget.

Supporting Information
The supporting information includes links to articles we may have referenced, examples of similar campaigns we are drawing inspiration from, and a portfolio of works to reinforce our ability to successfully complete the project.

As you can see, there are no charts, no intense analysis, and no marketing speak. We make it clear we are not providing a marketing campaign. The client is free to consult with a marketing firm for additional help if they so desire, but the emphasis of our proposal identifies that the proposed campaign should be honest and accessible to everyone.

As of this writing, the creative proposal has been sent to the client, and is awaiting feedback.

Andy Morris
Creative Mastermind – Hotcakes New Media