Mercury News

MERCURY MULTIMEDIA, INC OPENS FILM AND VIDEO PRODUCTION OFFICE IN ST. LOUIS

Filmmakers Bring a New Approach to Video Production Combining Creative and Marketing Expertise

ST. LOUIS - July 7, 2005 - Mercury Multimedia, Inc., an award-winning video and multimedia production company, today announced the opening of its state-of-the-art production studio in St. Louis. Bringing filmmaking and editing expertise from San Francisco and Hollywood, Mercury Multimedia has already begun producing video and films in St. Louis, offering a unique business approach.

“Mercury Multimedia helped us produce an educational video series on a realistic budget and is now helping market and sell the DVDs,” said Richard Federer, founder of Cathedral Concerts, a non-profit organization that promotes the annual sacred music concerts of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. “They were the only local production company that also had the deep marketing expertise that we needed.”

With the Cathedral as both a backdrop and centerpiece of the videos, Mercury Multimedia filmed a live performance and several lecturers for the three-part educational series on sacred music by classical composers Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.

St. Louis is also the new location for Mercury's production of a weekly television show about movies. cinemattractions, which boasts former local television personality Victoria Recano as an executive producer, features movie clips and trailers of the latest home video and DVD releases. The show is currently airing in several cities across the U.S. with plans to add the St. Louis market to its lineup this fall.

In addition to television programming, Mercury Multimedia develops corporate and broadcast videos. The company has received numerous awards, including an Aegis award for Mercury's own marketing video and a League of American Communications Professionals (LACP) editing award for a video about EarthLink's sponsorship of an Eco-Challenge team. Recent projects from Mercury's San Francisco office include a video news release (VNR) on the restoration of Yosemite Lower Falls and a marketing video for the Skip Barber Driving School.

"We challenged Mercury Multimedia to create a dynamic video under tight deadline and budget constraints," said Andrew Torres, Manager Consumer Marketing for Skip Barber Racing School. "They met all the challenges of working with cars, instructors and students in motion to capture the essence of the program. They met all their deliverables and were a pleasure to work with."

Landis Communications, a mid-sized PR agency in San Francisco, hired Mercury to produce a video to submit for a new business account with Cold Stone Creamery, and the RFP video succeeded in helping win the business with a return-on-investment of over thirty times the cost of the video.

“We believe the prosperous market of St. Louis will benefit from an integrated video marketing approach, which is an essential element of our production process,” said Chris Lawing, president of Mercury Multimedia and film and broadcast editor for such projects as Showtime's The Settlement, Monsters Inc, and TechTV News.

Mercury Multimedia comes to St. Louis with plans to bring not only a business, but a creative mecca to the city by creating ongoing film production opportunities for the community.