wow this is the most tiring thread i have ever read alot not editing much  i am on my way to haiti to shoot disaster relief  seems to be a good mkt now days 

Freddy:

"... Here are some samples from Avid Marketing: ..."

But these are all on Youtube.  Why not on the front page or at least another easy-to-get-to location on the Avid website?  Your potential customers are really supposed to search Youtube, and other non-Avid sites,  looking for information about your products?

Hi Randall,

Randall L Rike:

Why not on the front page

The problem is that Avid Has quite a lot of products ~523 and they all want to be on the homepage. I agree that the homepage is a bit difficult to navigate.

(Do fill in the web-browsing surveys if you get one while clicking around www.avid.com)

To make it a bit easier I have personally created a webpage called www.freddylinks.com where I have a PDF with links to 100's of videos and links to the most relevant informaition (in my opinion).

I'm working on a new document at the moment (almost done). The new version has the 5.5 info and a couple of hundred updated and new links! (it's wopping 50 pages now).. Hmm.. I probably need to shrink it down.

/ Freddy

 

 

 

camoscato:

Sunny In Philadelphia

….Enterprise !

camoscato:

Lost

….Enterprise !

camoscato:

Mad Men

….Enterprise !

camoscato:

The Ellen Show

…..Enterprise !

camoscato:

The Amazing Race?

…..Enterprise !

MJ

Freddy:

"... To make it a bit easier I have personally created a webpage called www.freddylinks.com ..."

Freddy, your links & info are known throughout the industry.  They are really appreciated.  Meanwhile, if Avid can't showcase Media Composer on the front page, then what about one level down, on the Media Composer page?  If not the front page, then this is where some vignettes could go explaining how Media Composer "actually" helps people do thier job.  Not catch-phrases, not Marketing jargon, but real issues & real solutions.

http://www.avid.com/US/products/media-composer?intcmp=AV-HP-S2

 

Randall L Rike:

If not the front page, then this is where some vignettes could go explaining how Media Composer "actually" helps people do thier job.

….Give this man a big raise ! Way to go Randall. It's not about the Oscars, it's about a solid NLE product that actually helps folks do their job !! Right on brother !

Mark Job

Mark Job:

Enterprise !

Yep and what is wrong with that?

I see it as ... if all those shows can be cut efficiently at that sort of quality level on Avids (weekly) then there is an excellent chance Avid is a system capable of efficiently editing (almost) everything I need to edit and thereby earn my living. 

I also know Avid is capable of much more than I had need of in 20 years experience with it.  So Enterprise or not those sorts of show are exactly what I would be displaying to persuade Editors to look more closely at my NLE.

AFTER generating the initial interest I would, as Randall suggests, make information readily available to make it easy for converts, (and longtime users now going in different directions) to quickly get up to speed with the essential functions THEIR workflow requires.

AndrewAction:

Yep and what is wrong with that?

….Oh nothing at all. I think you have to have this as well, but it can't be the sum total of all the advertising focus. There is a tendency for folks who may not be at the enterprise level to think, well maybe MC is too sophisticated for our needs as a small to mid size post operation ? Perhaps we should be looking at some other solution ? I can confirm to you all that this is exactly what I used to think about Avid Media Composer before I ever investigated further and eventually made my first Avid purchase of Xpress Pro. I was using a realtime drag and drop solution for over 11 years before I came to Avid, and I used to occasionally go on their website and see only the top Hollywood studios were using this NLE at the enterprise level and concluded it must cost a fortune and I would have to purchase huge and expensive computer systems just to install and use it.

**I can also confirm another impression which comes from watching the Avid testimonial videos and advertisements on the Avid website. One does get the solid impression that anything Avid is really, Expensive, Pricey, TCO Heavy and inflexible

This impression does scream out at one. Also, there is very, very little information given about finishing with Avid MC. The only impression one can possibly come away with, if one is not familiar with MC is that it can only be used for editing - not for finishing.

ADDENDUM: Avid always shows how if you want to finish the sound edit and mix, then you need to have a sound editor and purchase yet another very expensive Pro Tools Workstation, and set that up. For enterprise operations one can certainly understand the requirements for isolated Picture & Sound editing suites, but in boutique to mid size operations, your workflow must be much more simplified to being able to edit and finish at the same workstation, then walk out of the suite with a burned Blu-ray Master Disc in hand, or web video file uploaded and posted online for the client. Dual audio & video workflows are simply not native to the boutique to mid size post landscape.

Mark Job

Hi Mark,

Mark Job:

camoscato:

Sunny In Philadelphia

….Enterprise !

camoscato:

Lost

….Enterprise !

camoscato:

Mad Men

….Enterprise !

camoscato:

The Ellen Show

…..Enterprise !

camoscato:

The Amazing Race?

…..Enterprise !

If you read that post again, you'll see I was responding to Jeroen, who said:

 

jveekeres:

I don't think it would harm if Avid used other productions like documentaries and reality shows as marketing outings. Thousands of TV shows out there from for example mythbusters to BBC horizon, America's next top model, American idols, Top Gear etc...  etc.. etc...

So, not directed at you.

 

AndrewAction:

I see it as ... if all those shows can be cut efficiently at that sort of quality level on Avids (weekly) then there is an excellent chance Avid is a system capable of efficiently editing (almost) everything I need to edit and thereby earn my living. 

That's what I think, too, but apparently Mark doesn't see it that way.

 

Mark Job:

There is a tendency for folks who may not be at the enterprise level to think, well maybe MC is too sophisticated for our needs as a small to mid size post operation ? Perhaps we should be looking at some other solution ? I can confirm to you all that this is exactly what I used to think about Avid Media Composer before I ever investigated further and eventually made my first Avid purchase of Xpress Pro.

I would disagree that people who aren't editing major feature films and television have a tendency to think Media Composer is too sophisticated for them.  Based on the posts of all the Liquid converts we've had recently, I'd say they generally come away from MC marketing efforts thinking MC is too expensive for them, and may be more than they need.  

When they're looking at Vegas or Premeire or FCP it's not because they think they're too stupid to use MC, but rather that they think they'll get more for their money with the other packages, and they're not necessarily wrong in that thinking.  Someone who doesn't need to cut film, or need multicam, or need to connect multiple machines to shared storage may not need to spend the money on MC when Vegas is so much cheaper.

 

 

ciao,
Carl 

 

(I put the wrong qoute it should have said:)

camoscato:

 It's not that I think they shouldn't do what you guys want; I think they're doing it.

 

Carl,

Thx for pointing out that Avid is already doing what we ask... I should visit the customer succes page more often.

camoscato:

 All of that is marketing, and not all of it is touting Hollywood or large broadcast operations.

Avid has always been drunk on Hollywood and the large markets.  It's why they have lost the majority of the total editing market to FCP and now PP.

Just one look at the Avid home page tells the story on Avid's scizophrenia as a company.  Rolling pictures of audio products, like that is Avid's main product and its legacy.  MC5.5 right next to something called Avid Studio for the home editor.  Oh, and a picture of a some audio card.  Go ahead and click on the products tab at the bottom.  One would expect to see categories of products, led by MC, DS, Unity, then ProTools, ISIS, etc.  Nope...a complete mess.  Lets see, MC in the Film Editing category?  Film editing?  Really?  Nope, not there.  Thats where the Euphonix surfaces are.  Aah yes, all the way down the bottom, right above Video Editing: Home is Video Editing and Finishing.  Please.  Click on the products link on this page...ah, pictures...but at the top is a carry-bag....it goes on and on.  Many of us were on a con-call a year ago and let Avid know about our thoughts about the web site and it has done nothing but get more confused.  I think this "bring everything under the Avid umbrella" could have been a mistake.  Avid's marketing has been terrible for a very long time now.  MHO.

 

sw

 

It's why they have lost the majority of the total editing market to FCP and now PP.

You really see that as THE cause for that?

Job ter Burg:

You really see that as THE cause for that?

The result of this (and being the only game in town for a while) led to a certain corporate arrogance that prevented Avid from seeing real competition at its heels and kept Avid in a legacy product line, confusing upgrade policy, and outdated price structure for almost too long.  I think what we see is scrambling and confusion to define what the "brand" of Avid actually is (anyone here care to answer that?  What is the Avid "brand"?).  Certainly a visit to the web site does not clarify that definition.

Short answer to your question:  yes, this is one reason.  I should have stated that more clearly.

Hi Scott,

switthaus:

I think this "bring everything under the Avid umbrella" could have been a mistake.

I think you may be on to something there.  Didn't someone from Avid say on this thread that they have 500+ products now when you include everything that "Avid" does?  Madness.

ciao,
Carl 

Well, something we can all agree on. On one side of the Homepage the mega bucks line of goods, an inch or so away, Avid Studio, sold as a "Hollywood Tools" solution in one shrink wrap for $169.