A Live Performance of “Love Jones” at Artwalk

We were the original pioneers of the first Fort Lauderdale artwalk. You know, the one in FATVillage. We established this event because we wanted an outlet where we could show the community what we do when we aren’t working with clients. Every month, we create cool exhibits centered around art, technology, and good friends. Some of the exhibits are designed for the community to participate, like C&I Storm, while others are for their entertainment, like this performance by Sabela.

Most people think we only do client work. But that isn’t the case. Not at all. We are constantly doing our own thing; making cool art to enlightment our generation. There aren’t many agencies creating the type of content we release every week. For instance, we have a series called Dailies, which we release Mon-Fri, that shows exactly what life inside the studio is like. There’s no sugar coating. It’s just us… beautiful, unedited, unscripted Us. If you like this video, you should check it out.

Also, click the button below to see more of Sabela’s work. We created an artist profile that speaks to her many talents.

Have you been to BREW Urban Cafe? Awesome spot, right! If you’ve been there then you know why the locals call it “The Hidden Gem Of Fort Lauderdale.”

Something you may not know is that BREW Urban Cafe is actually a collaboration with C&I Studios called Next Door at C&I.

During the day, Next Door serves gourmet coffee recipes handcrafted by the baristas at BREW. We also just introduced a brand new food menu created by chef Zachary Mein. Word of advice…try the avocado toast. It’s unreal how good it is. Seriously.

After 5 PM the bar Next Door transitions from handcrafted coffees to artisan cocktails modeled after the most iconic authors in modern literature.

There’s a stark difference between day and night at the bar, Next Door. Daytime is bright and productive. The smell of Wells Coffees fills the air. All sorts of young and established professionals, students, entrepreneurs, moms and dads, and local artist lounge about productively as the craftsmen at C&I buzz around shooting original content for their clients.

Nighttime is seductive and whimsical. For the most part, the same people stick around to hang out after happy hour. The main difference is that the local artists lounging during the day take to the stage to treat us to original live music after 9 PM.

A wise man once said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.”

And you know what, we feel the same way, so we created a bar where the most talented local musicians can perform original music live… and where you can listen to it for free. 

Do you remember reading George Orwell’s “1984” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” back in school, during the days of required summer reading? Hopefully, you do. They are extremely important reflections on freedom and society following the nightmares of World War 2.

To this day they teach us the importance of freedom of expression, speech, and access to information. They show us what could transpire should leaders of society ever violate those [our] essential rights.

We always believed they were lessons on how to ward off dystopia not cause it.

Nations like China, which have long been known for their bans on information and “unpatriotic content” have been using censorship as a tool of control for years.

Take the recent ban on Winnie-the-Poo, which went into effect following the circulation of viral internet memes comparing the fictional (honey-gluttonous) bear to President Xi. If you live in China and are found in possession of contraband like this you could face jail time! 

Whereas this new segment of Chinese social media censorship is not shocking in the least, what’s happening elsewhere – and close to home – is seriously alarming.

Last month in Uganda. President Yoweri Museveni passed an unprecedented bill: a tax on users accessing any of 60 social media apps.

Coupled with the social media tax, which was passed without public participation and requires internet users pay 200 Ugandan shillings ($0.05) to access certain apps, is a 1% tax on mobile monetary transactions. The only way Ugandans can pay the social media tax is through an online mobile monetary transaction.

We know it does not sound like a lot of money, but all principles aside, the tax will undoubtedly make it more difficult for low-income and unemployed people to stay connected with friends and family, as well as access important information online.

Already the price for a 1GB mobile broadband plan is 15% of average monthly incomes in Uganda, according to figures from Alliance of Affordable Internet. World Bank figures show that just 22% of the country is online.

With these additional taxes, it is likely that percentage will shrink even further.

This, in effect, labels all social media commentary he disagrees with as opinionated, misinformed rhetoric that is subject to suppression.

At a time when immediate, news-driven platforms like Twitter are essential outlets for civilian coverage on political protests and war, this poses an even greater threat to Uganda’s social liberties.

What’s worse, Uganda isn’t alone.

The Tanzania government recently imposed a $930 annual tax on bloggers who want to publish online.

The Egyptian government passed a law allowing government officials to shut down any social media account with five thousand or more followers, who they believe is spreading false information.

70% of Americans get their news from two sources: Google and Facebook.

On July 31, Politico reported that Facebook was shutting down inauthentic accounts “sought to inflame social and political tension in the United States, and said their activity was similar — in some cases — to the Russian accounts during the 2016 election.”

Most of the accounts removed by Facebook (and other social platforms) were outlets of misinformation, instigating a dialogue that sought to undermine our nation’s political and social values. What they were saying still causes harm and promotes hate with the specific intent to do so.

Take Alex Jone’s Infowars, for instance. His media channels repeatedly violated policies against hate speech and glorifying violence. He was warned multiple times by social platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Spotify ) to end all hate speech that violated their policies, and he refused.

On August 6, Facebook announced they had permanently removed four pages associated with Alex Jone’s media brand, saying, “We believe in giving people a voice, but we also want everyone using Facebook to feel safe. It’s why we have community standards and remove anything that violates them, including hate speech that attacks or dehumanizes others.”

In addition to the removal of Infowars, however, were bans on other accounts — some without any explanation, like the left-leaning Latin American news network Telesur’s English speaking Facebook page, which had no content violations.

While Facebook admitted that it was a mistake, there are fears the incidents are links in a chain of tightening government censorship.

You see, Facebook targeted and eliminated these “divisive” content facilitators with the help of Atlantic Council, on whose board you’ll find names like Henry Kissinger, former CIA chief Michael Hayden, former acting CIA head Michael Morell and former Bush-era homeland security chief Michael Chertoff.

Basically, Zuckerberg gave some government officials control over airing and eliminating nationwide media they considered politically and socially hostile to the US.

The First Amendment only addresses the government’s power to eliminate or suppress forms of expression that breach the peace or promote violence. It says nothing about private companies like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. changing their privacy policies to refuse a user from saying something derogatory or misinformed on their network.

“If a corporation chooses to eliminate an account on their own accord then it is not violating the First Amendment rights laid out by the constitution of the United States. If the government does it then its censorship.”

Wait a darn minute…

Do these rules still apply even when members of the United States government are involved in the decision-making process of which accounts a private corporation deletes?

A stunning poll conducted by Ipsos and reported Tuesday, August 7, by the Daily Beast, suggests that a plurality of Republicans would have no problem trashing the First Amendment altogether.

We repeat, 43% of Republicans just said Trump “should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior.” Of that 43%, 48% believe news is the enemy of the people.

Take a second to think about that…truly think about it.

What are all the “news outlets” you read and watch on a daily basis? . . . Twitter (we mentioned), Facebook, Worpress, Reddit, NPR, even paperback books can be considered a news source. . .  you get where we’re going with this.

There is no distinction between a traditional news outlet and a social information platform anymore. No widely accepted definition of “bad behavior” on social media.  No separation of opinionated rhetoric and fact-based news coverage. And no identifier of who is in charge of mediating all of this information: the government, the president, the corporations, or the people.

When the lines are blurred between corporate and government interference, freedom of expression can be taken advantage of far too easily, as we are seeing happening in Uganda, Egypt, Tanzania and here at home.

You would never think censorship portrayed in “1984” could actually happen. Not in today’s free society, at least. But now that men and women in power are flirting with social media censorship it is hard not to fear the worst.

Today, everything is backward…

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is Strength.”

– George Orwell, 1984.

NOTE

While there are some governments limiting our means of expression, there are others reinstating certain freedoms.

On August 10, Germany lifted their ban on censoring swastikas in video games like Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus,” Call of Duty: Black Ops,” and “South Park: The Stick of Truth.”

The Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (USK) said Thursday that games including banned symbols could now be given a rating in Germany if the use of the symbols is considered “socially adequate.”

That means the symbols must serve an artistic or scientific purpose or be used to represent particular events in history.

All of the articles you will read about him cite his troubled teen-life, numerous setbacks, and near death car crash, yet he describes his journey as “The American Dream.”

Lets speed through his timeline really quick:

Raised in a strict Muslim family with 14 siblings, then moved to gang-controlled Oakland where a world built on rich music culture, disobedience, and drug dealing was quickly emerging. He left home at 12 and never came back.

Fast forward two years, Dphrepaulezz’s father dies. He is shuttled between foster homes. He was then entrenched in a life of small-time delinquency.

At 18 he discovered that Prince was a self-taught musician and so he began teaching himself how to play.

He snuck into Berkeley music classes to get a formal education — and in 1993 found himself being signed to Interscope for a $1m contract by Jimmy Lovine himself.

If you thought the rest was history, you’d be wrong.

Going by the name of Xavier, his debut album The X Factor was released in ‘96. Neither he nor Interscope was happy with the work and so his next few years were spent in musical purgatory — unable to leave his label but unable to excel under them.

A near-fatal car crash left him in a coma for three weeks, broke all four limbs and maimed his hand, ultimately releasing him from his contract… but also his ability to play the guitar.

Going back to the hustle was only natural. Dphrepaulezz transformed his warehouse home into an illegal nightclub that soon attracted a variety of celebrities due to its exclusive vices. He split his time between managing Club Bingo and performing music in a number of Afropunk/negro rock projects.

He moved back to Oakland and began growing medical marijuana to support his newborn child.

To soothe his son one evening, he picked up a guitar for the first time in 5 years. From there he forced his twisted hands to play again. Freshly inspired, he began churning out blues tunes with black roots–Fantastic Negrito was born.

Fantastic Negrito is firmly rooted in both black experience and black music, including blues, R&B and a variety of roots music.

He created this new persona at 45, and landed a spot on NPR’s Tiny Desk Series a year later, exhibiting that success can come at any point life.

“I thought my story was over. But that was when I realized I finally had a story to tell — and it seems to remind people of their own story,” he said in an interview with The Guardian.

It doesn’t seem right to talk about Fantastic Negrito’s music without personal input. The music is so imbued with Dphrepaulezz’s soul and experiences that no thoughtful conversation can be derived without having him in the room, breaking it all down for you. Even the title of his debut album, The Last Days of Oakland, stands as a testament to that.

With themes such as racial inequality, human rights, police brutality, classism, and poverty permeating each song, it is very clear that there’s a lot more going on here (he even threw in a twist on the Lead Belly classic “In the Pines”). Roots music has been edging into the mainstream over the last few years. The Black Keys, Alabama Shakes, Mumford & Sons, and Jack White are all examples of this.

Fantastic Negrito stands apart from all of them.

The authenticity of Dphrepaulezz’s trials and triumphs are painfully relatable. He’s a man of many tastes and talents and this project is a true representation of that.

Creating engaging content is every marketer’s goal. Creating engaging content that doesn’t convert, however, is a big waste of time and valuable assets.

The big reason content falls short on conversions? It fails to reach an audience.

Facebook live video is one of the newest tools for social media marketers.

It is designed to help marketers publish engaging content that caters to, and connects with, more interactive, thoughtful audiences.

Part of the audience’s favorability for Facebook Live Streaming is the chance to interact with their favorite brands in a raw, unfiltered, unscripted setting. Audiences are responding to this authenticity with regular, genuine engagement, which marketers are converting.

When an audience is a part of the conversation in real time they are more emotionally invested in the subject matter. This personal connection to messaging is highly effective. It levels the playing field and in a way humanizes brand messaging by delivering it casually.

These casual business-consumer interactions open consumers up to a whole new spectrum of messaging.

The setting is the most powerful function here.

These conversations happen in a medium that is significantly more relaxed than threads where ads are strategically inserted. This tends to lower the consumers’ apprehensions — their doubt regarding the corporate persona — which positions them to engage in real-time, click to a landing page, purchase online, or subscribe to an emailing list.

For example:

Consider a business with multiple brand extensions. There is the primary identity — the main chunk of what the business produces. This is the industry persona.

Then there is the non-profit brand extension. This motivates the primary identity because the success of the primary directly affects the effectiveness of this extension. This is the philanthropic persona.

There is the culturally centered spin-off of the primary brand. This could be a community forum, a physical place (like a bar or rental space), or a series of regular programming/events. This is the cultural persona.

Finally, there is the merchandising shop. This is a physical space within the business and also an online shop. This is the consumer-centric persona — a way for your audience to attach their identity to your brand via merchandise.

Each brand extension shares certain audiences. Each brand is also comprised of specific subsets of loyal followers that are not as involved in one extension as they may be with another.

One audience subgroup may visit the cultural persona for updates on local events more than they would the philanthropic persona, which has stronger messaging. Furthermore, each audience member may not even follow Facebook pages for each brand extension.

This is a local event hosted by the non-profit, which is associated with, and established by, the primary brand. The cultural brand persona is an information resource for the community, so the “local event” application suites this brand’s guidelines as well. Take this even further and incorporate the merchandising persona into the live broadcast, because of it’s physical presence and connection to the fundraising application.

The messaging is consistent for all brand extensions. They share elements of branding, tone of voice and intent, which allows marketers to broadcast one message on every page. A single live video now has the potential of reaching four target demographics.

That’s not all!

Marketers are in essence introducing and connecting their audience subgroups with one another by connecting multiple brand extensions with one segment of messaging. This ultimately strengthens the overall company culture.

Marketers (in this example) quantify their reach exponentially because Facebook live videos typically experience 3x more engagement than regular video content.

This is an awesome way for marketers to strengthen a brand’s industry authority. Not only does this attract a new audience, but it attracts an audience that is already loyal to a brand that shares similar values.

Say an architecture firm worked in conjunction with a landscape architecture firm on a large-scale design project. Their industries overlap but don’t conflict. Their messaging follows similar guidelines, as do their core values. By collaborating on a live video broadcast they can consolidate loyal viewers and establish greater authority in their industries without compromising each others status.

That’s a big win.

Here are the tips to get started:

• Live content is good if, and only if, it is seen by consumers, so your broadcasting schedule should adhere to your targeted demographic’s schedule. The exception: steaming an event or something you cannot change the time.
• Promote before your broadcast — on all platforms you plan on airing the live video.
• Plan out your live content. You don’t need a script, but you do need an outline to ensure you remain on topic
• Make formatting decisions before filming: I.e., horizontal or vertical (We recommend horizontal videos since they are easier to view on mobile devices).
• Offer context regularly — if people start watching in the middle you want to make sure to reference who you are and what you’re doing or discussing so new viewers aren’t lost.
• Always be responsive — you have live comments and reactions — use them.
• Be likable — do not sell. Engage.
• Give yourself a shoutout and thank people for watching.
• Analyze your results — Facebook has several metrics that you can measure with live videos.

If you can’t invite your peers to appreciate something you made — something you believe is beautiful — then you’re missing out on an invaluable connection.

That’s one of the reasons we helped establish Artwalk 10 years ago.

For a short time, though, it felt like we were losing out. Artwalk seemed detached. It was lacking a certain emotion — a degree of thoughtfulness that has always been trademark to what we do at C&I.

Fashion shows, live hair cutting performances…they’re good entertainment, but they just aren’t exactly who we are. 

If you attended C&I Storm, you may have noticed that the centerpiece was a whirlwind of handwritten notes from our personal journals. Combine that fidelity with the openness of drawing and writing in front of a crowd…well, by the end of the night we had all shed a few layers of apprehension.

The coolest part of the night, though, was that our vulnerability was contagious. While we were changing roles, you all took to the drawing board to share your crafts, your thoughts, and your reflection of the night as it was still forming. It was awesome.

In one night, we had made up for so much lost time. It felt really good. Familiar even. We could tell you all enjoyed it too. 🙂

C&I Storm was just the beginning.

We had to take Artwalk back by storm to continue along this path of making good art and sharing it too.

So, we’ll see you at the next FATVillage Artwalk on July 28. This month Self-Projection will test your imagination and challenge the depth of your interpretation with living, breathing optical illusions created live. 

Facebook is one of the biggest assets in a marketer’s toolbox. If you aren’t using the platform the right way, you’re missing out on their huge interactive market.

Facebook’s social media marketing revolves around storytelling. This is how businesses and brands connect with consumers on a personal level.

Business-consumer relationships created through Facebook are more emotionally charged. These are bonds established by mutual trust and genuine interest. The Facebook algorithm encourages (and, in a way, requires) businesses and consumers to interact with each other in thoughtful ways in order to create this type of relationship.

Facebook is encouraging business-consumer interactions that revolve around authentic, story-driven content.

That is where facebook story ads are making a huge impact on the market.

Their immediate popularity is partly due to the fact that Facebook Story Ads are more artistically focused than standard paid ads. The platform calls for more thoughtful content and when marketers deliver on that their ads become more relevant, reach more people, and show up in Facebook feeds more frequently.

This focus on storytelling marketing is sure to gain more attraction over the years. Already, Instagram announced their newest concept — a video sharing platform comparable to youtube. This will give marketers access to even more potential consumers — roughly 800 million — and will also open the floodgates for a whole new genre of brand marketing via video storytelling.

By capturing the consumer’s attention with artistic content, marketers open consumers up to their messaging. By holding a consumer’s attention long enough, marketers convince those viewers to take action — whether that is a click through to a landing page, a blog, an email subscription or an online purchase is a win by digital marketing standards.

This idea of design-driven content is further reinforced by the fact that 85% of videos are watched without sound. This, therefore, calls for content with text. Copywriting that sells combined with designs that garner attention is valuable messaging for any brand… no matter how established.

You’re going shopping for your first car. You’ve been saving for years. There are two cars in your price range in the car lot. They are the same make and model but have totally different cosmetics. The first car is a deep blue with polished rims and black tint; the second is neon green with red and orange flames painted down the side, and every available inch covered in shiny chrome.

Which car are you most likely to buy?

Just as an overly flashy car is a turn-off for a new car shopper, flashy video content is a turn-off for someone casually viewing cool videos. Never underestimate the consumer’s control, especially considering the new Facebook algorithm. Annoy a consumer and they will make sure you no longer show up in their media stream. Do that and you lose out on a lot of business.

Good storytelling works. Bad storytelling damages. The better your story the more people engage, share and come back for more. If you can drive users on to the next image, the next web page, the next source of branded media then you are using Facebook Ads successfully.

There are many reasons we are a full-service marketing agency, and one of those is because we refuse to limit our storytelling abilities. The more options we have at our disposal — the more creative tools we have to work with — the better the story.

Specifically, regarding Facebook Story Ads, we’ve noticed that shorter video ads and attention-grabbing GIFs are most effective. They’re simple, quick and get the messaging out fast enough to keep pace with the latest trends and conversations.

We know how to stay relevant. Do you?

We shoot original photography because we take pride in our work

Using stock photography for a branding campaign is like using cliff notes. They’re cheap. They’re boring. And they devalue the integrity of the content.

Sure they sum up the message, but the fact that a marketing agency would even want to “sum up” their client’s brand is odd enough. They’re easy substitutes for good work. And easy is bad.

We strongly discourage taking such a shallow approach. Aside from the fact that stock photography is unoriginal… it’s boring. Way too boring for us to have any part in, at least. Stock imagery is just a generic approach to an idea or project.

Creativity will always have a place at C&I Studios

Like Leo Burnet said, “Curiosity about life in all its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.”

Couldn’t have said it any better. It’s true, too. Why would we cut our experiences short by eliminating creative vision?

Short answer: we don’t.

Take our recent branding campaign for Visbiome Vet – High Potency Pet Probiotics. This is a really unique frontier, and Visbiome is essentially pioneering this new industry. They’re disrupting standards on pet health in a really positive way.

We felt their branding campaign should do the same. So, we shot original photography to create a unique brand persona for their new line of pet probiotics. Our approach was designed to distance Visbiome Vet from the competitors, just as their product has.

Why?

In certain industries, it is common practice to use stock imagery. It’s an immediate placeholder, and saves a lot of time, money and resources. But really, it’s a substitute for hard work, and original ideas.

It’s an easy, lazy way of branding a product. We repeat, it’s boring!

The medical industry is one of the more obvious examples of this approach. The pet industry is also devalued by rampant stock imagery.

Visbiome Vet — High Potency Pet Probiotics is a combination of the two industries: pets and medicine.

We had our work cut out for us.

The Challenge

We needed to create original imagery that would be the face of this medical food for quite some time. When your product is lined up with 20 others on a store shelf this is really important.

Our challenge was positioning Visbiome Vet as the more advanced, effective solution to pet health. We needed to position their brand above the competitors in a way that was still approachable to consumers, while highlighting their primary brand standards.

So we did some hunting until we found the right pup. Let’s call him Rex.

Rex was unique. From the pattern of his coat, to his personality, to the color of his eyes. He was also very smart so we were able to take a lot of really unique photos for their new campaign. There was no way the competition could replicate the same feels.

And as it would turn out, they didn’t.

When Visbiome Vet showcased their new brand of pet probiotics at a trade fair that was attended by basically all of their competitors, they were the ONLY business with original imagery.

Every other competitor used stock photography (some even used the same stock photo!). It was a big win for their brand. And pretty funny for our team of professional photographers to witness.

The Results

The trade fair was a big success for Visbiome Vet.

Their original branding showed consumers that their product was, well, unique.

More importantly, it proved they truly cared about their business, and wanted to offer the consumer an experience that the competition couldn’t match.

In today’s age of rapid, cluttered content it is so important to invest in quality work. Your brand should never compromise on stock imagery because there is no way it will properly capture your brand’s intentions.

Check out our portfolio to see how we can elevate your brand with some cool, original photography.