TurnHere Produces Video Around the Globe

TurnHere's wide network of filmmakers makes shooting on location a reality anywhere in the world.  Our filmmakers produce video in Italy, China, Kenya, French Polynesia and more.  By using local filmmakers TurnHere eliminates travel costs while bringing a local, insider perspective to video production by highlighting little-known facts about a travel destination in the final production.

This format has worked to great effect for our customers in the travel industry who have the difficult task of promoting the unique attributes of far flung properties to potential customers who are bombarded with marketing clamoring for their travel dollar.  TurnHere travel videos stand out from the noise and highlight not only the hotel or destination; but really dive in to the attributes that make the destination such an attractive place to visit.

Concierge.com used TurnHere's filmmaker network to produce video in the Amalfi Coast, Barcelona and Rio De Janeiro.  InterContinental Hotels used TurnHere's video production services for more than 200 of the company's properties around the world. 

Here's CondeNet's Richard Glosser talking about the concierge.com video initiative as they rolled it out last summer:

YELLOWPAGES.com Taps TurnHere to Produce Online Video for Local Businesses

We officially announced our partnership with YELLOWPAGES.com today to produce online video for their local business owner-customers as part of the company's Premium Video Profile package.  YELLOWPAGES.com customers will now have the opportunity to include video in their online listings.  We're extremely excited about the relationship which extends our reach in to the local market on the heels of our Citysearch and Superpages.com partnerships announced last year. 

Our diverse, global filmmaker base allows us to provide video to local businesses no matter where they may be.  And our production model allows our partners to offer video to their clients at price points that fit their advertising budgets.

From the release:

“TurnHere has established a strong foothold in the directory and local markets,” said John McWeeny, senior vice president, business development, TurnHere. “We continue to see rising industry demand as small merchants embrace online video as a platform to attract new customers and drive business growth.”

Local business customers see the benefits as well:

Benjamin Weiss, owner of Chez Ben/Fahrenheit Bar & Bistro in Providence, RI, recently shot a video with TurnHere and understands how it can help him attract new customers. “As a local merchant, I am always looking for cost-effective ways to broaden awareness and tell the story behind the bistro,” he said. “TurnHere really captured the spirit and essence of our business and enabled our online listing to come to life.”

You can read the full release here.

For more coverage of the release check out the articles on Mashable, ClickZ, MediaPost and the Kelsey Group blog.

Williams-Sonoma Launches New Site Full of TurnHere Video

Williams-Sonoma launched their new Web site today at williams-sonoma.com.  The new site features a bunch of new functionality including video produced by TurnHere.  More than 100 TurnHere-created videos have been loaded to the new site featuring products, how-to demonstrations and brand profiles. 

In this video, a Williams-Sonoma host shows viewers how to make Classic Roast Chicken in their Stainless Steel Roaster.  It's a great demonstration of how video can provide valuable content to viewers while delivering strong product benefits messaging without being intrusive.

Other videos on the site feature the top brands carried by Williams-Sonoma.  This video about Shun cutlery takes us to Japan where the knives are made.  The CEO of Shun talks about the heritage of the company and how Japanese sword-making played heavily in to the creation of the Shun cutlery line.  The video is truly engaging and demonstrates the true craftsmanship that goes in to the Shun line.  A message that is difficult to deliver effectively in another medium.

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson of The Wire Talks About Grace After Midnight

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, one of the stars of the hit TV-show "The Wire" released a memoir titled "Grace After Midnight" detailing her rise out of the rough urban neighborhoods of Baltimore to television stardom.  "Snoop" chronicles her upbringing in rough neighborhoods, her struggle as an undersized "runt" and the culture of drugs and violence that seemingly condemned her life to more of the same.  Watch the video as she returns to the streets of her youth to talk about "Grace After Midnight."

TurnHere Launches New Embeddable Player

TurnHere launched a new embeddable video player for our client videos that allow viewers to embed the videos in their Web pages, blogs and social network profile pages.  The new player is an extension of TurnHere's turn-key distribution platform that delivers client video to high-traffic video sites and search properties such as Google, YouTube, AOL, Veoh, Yahoo! and more.

TurnHere client InterContinental Hotels is using the player to its distribution partners to embed the videos in their Web pages extending the reach of the popular videos. Sites such as Travelocity carry the videos to provide their audience with insider-information about popular tourist destinations.  To see the Chicago InterContinental Hotel video at Travelocity, click the "videos" tab at the top of the page and then choose InterContinental Chicago from the right-hand menu. 

Each InterContinental Hotel video takes viewers on a behind-the-scenes insider-tour of the destinations around the property. 

In addition to the embeddable player, the TurnHere distribution platform includes partnerships with top video sites, search engines, vertical-content distribution sites and embeddable widgets. 

Personality Hotels Finds Success with TurnHere Video

Personality Hotels energetic president and CEO Yvonne Lembi-Detert believes that online video is an important key to the success of the San Francisco boutique hotel properties.  That's the focus of the company's latest press release titled "Staying Ahead of the Pack: Personality Hotels Launches Innovative Online Video."

Lembi-Detert approached TurnHere about creating a unique video profile of five of the company's signature properties in downtown San Francisco after turning down alternatives such as virtual tours and slide shows.

The impact of the video tour has been tangible:

“We’re always seeking out fresh & innovative ways to increase our customer base, and creating an online video has been an excellent vehicle to engage, educate, and entertain current and prospective customers,” says Lembi-Detert. “In fact, I’ve had many guests introduce themselves and tell me they feel as if they know me personally from the video.”

This authentic, engaging experience is what TurnHere strives for in each video we create.  Lembi-Detert's personality shines through and web-site visitors get a glimpse of what it is like to stay and dine at these unique destination hotels.

From the press release:

In less than four minutes, potential guests are able to learn about Personality Hotels and get an inside peek into each of the properties, all the while getting to know the president and CEO on a more personal level. Personality Hotels’ video can be viewed on the company’s homepage at http://www.personalityhotels.com/html/video-preview.html. The video has also been optimized for Google searches and is syndicated on YouTube, as well as numerous video portals across the Web.

The well-appointed hotels, the infectious personality of Lembi-Detert and the authentic style of the video make for a winning combination.  Visitors now get a chance to see the properties from the inside; guided personally by the owner.  We can't think of a better way to choose a new place to stay.

Video Works for About.com

Video for the web is quickly becoming an oft-identified "hot trend" for 2008 by many of the brightest commentators on the web; and we couldn't agree more.  As the quest for consumer attention rises those that focus on innovative, engaging ways to deliver content will win.  TurnHere's signature video style is focused on attracting attention by being relevant, engaging and useful to the consumer. 

About.com has added video throughout their guide site as an important part of their content strategy to continue delivering highly-relevant content to their audience.  Beet.tv's Andy Plesser caught up with About.com's Sr. VP of Content, Michael Daecher to discuss the information portal's strategy and success when it comes to internet video (some of which are produced by TurnHere).

About.com now has over 2,000 videos in its network with a focus on health, food and parenting.  You can watch Andy's interview here.