Halloween

[Gary Yelland]

Hi all,

Thought I would share this with you, we are converting the photo studio for halloween.

See Link to the flyer I have dropped locally.

Using spooky wallpaper like this Link
to create a spooky forest, also hired a smoke machine.
Will use gels on low level upward lighting for the horror style.
Also loads of other accessories, have hired costumes for all my family.

Giving a free print to every child photographed.
To give something back to the local community,
have a bit of fun on the night,
and brand awareness locally.

Anyone else doing anything for festive events ?

 

[Asher Kelman]

This is outstanding Gary! I like the inititiative and fun!

Quaint that the usage of "hire" applies to objects such as a "smoke machine". In the USA, to use that verb, "The Smoke Machine" would have to be alive and a person and then we'd have to have all sorts of laws, such as minimum wage, safety standards, smoke-free environment and of course workman's compensation and other insurance!

Your brochure is excellent. Those models with the fangs are fun and suitably horrific!

You might add cotton candy!

I hope you get a great response.

Asher

 

[Gary Yelland]

Wow

Things sound a lot more complicated in the states, in the UK all you need is good insurance and warning signs displayed, and common sense when using these kind of machines.

Cotton candy or 'Candy Floss' as we call it, is a great idea will get some, need to find some blood red colored floss.

Played with the smoke machine yesterday and its amazing, also noticed you can buy them on eBay for a very low price, so going to buy one later for model photography, the difficult bit is to get the output cool enough to lay low on the ground, there are specific machines but are costly.
Found this article to cool the smoke so will have a go at making it today.

See here for the Link

 

[Alain Briot]

Marketing campaigns designed around an important Holliday are a great venue.

You generate interest because you are tying your product to an event that every one is familiar with. The people you are marketing to may not know you, but they know Halloween (in this case) or other Hollidays. You are therefore using the reputation of Halloween towards furthering your own business. It has been done for a long time. Why? Because it works great

 

[Gary Yelland]

Holloween results

Thought you might like to see the results
We had a great time, the kids loved it and were amazed, told all their friends to come round.

Halloween results

Also had loads of good booking for family photography linked to the event.

We will definitely be doing this again next year.
Starts me thinking about a santa's grotto in the studio ?????

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Gary,

Superb! How did you organize to get the parents registered and connected with the pictures. Did you do sales on site or via the web?

Asher

 

[Gary Yelland]

Sales

There are no sales this is just for me giving something back to the community,
So I did a 1000 flyer drop in the area,
The parents were with the children, it was explained to them upfront,
if they didnt want to be on the web then they didnt have their picture taken.

Then for each child I gave a flyer with the web address on,
they just see their picture on the rogues gallery and send me their
address and picture number and I will post them a free 9x6 print for each child.

There was an element of marketing in that the 40 or so local families now know about purefineart,
and many have asked if we do family shoots, which is all good business.
But that was not my main aim, it was more about doing something for the local children, and having lots of fun.

I am fortunate that the business is very healthy, and provides more than I need for my family so we can afford to do these kind of things for free when we fell like it. The satisfaction and feeling you get from this type of activity is far more rewarding than any paid shoot.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Gary,

I like the beautiful way of interacting with the community and giving the children a safe and fun halloween experience!

Asher

 

[Ray West]

Hi Gary,

I had a second look at your linked photos. I think there should be some very happy kids and parents. Some of the group photos, without your generous offer, would be unlikely to have been made. You may well be able to turn around the way folk look at/use pro photography in your locality. Affordable fun ;-)

Best wishes,

Ray