Rutgers University Foundation
Big Ideas Film Series Proposal

Todd and Team, 

On behalf of Heavy Content Studios, Inc. (heavy), I am pleased to present the Rutgers University Foundation (RUF) with our response to the Big Ideas Video Project RFP.

heavy is a branded content and marketing firm that focuses on creating work that always carries weight, no matter the size or shape. The company is led by two principal executives – Greg Ash and Konstantinos Psimaris. Even though heavy is a relatively young company, having launched in March of 2019, the team has collectively more than 40 years of experience in strategic branding and marketing within the higher education sector. If selected, heavy will deploy our highly skilled team of content creators to efficiently execute on Rutgers’ vision for Big Ideas. Through close collaboration, we will serve as an extension of your internal team, ensuring that we’re lockstep with your processes, brand guidelines, and goals. 

During our collective careers, the heavy team has worked with countless higher education institutions across the country to develop compelling narratives through visual storytelling. With years of hands-on experience producing high-quality video and photography, we have acquired the skill sets to create striking, impactful content that is versatile across digital and traditional channels. The heavy team has worked on set and off in functions that span every aspect of production. We are agile, reliable, and self-sufficient. All work is done completely in-house and we own most equipment used during production sessions so that we can pass cost savings on to you. 

Whatever the equipment, subject matter, or composition, our goal is to showcase your students, faculty, alumni, and friends honestly and in their natural state – never posed or staged. Of course, we will always strive to connect the imagery to the tone of Rutgers overarching brand and all of its uniquely identifying qualities. 

We are extremely confident in our ability to serve the needs of Rutgers for this assignment. In light of the current public health crisis, heavy has steadfastly stood by its clients to assist and support them in any way possible through this time. As a result, our team has engineered innovative solutions that can be deployed during periods of restricted access, including live streaming and remote content development. Our team is excited for the opportunity to formally submit our proposal and eagerly await to hear about the next steps. 

We are heavy. Work that carries weight. 

Respectfully, 

Greg Ash
President, heavy

2. Executive summary

Enclosed in the following proposal you’ll find an approach we believe is worthy of this amazing assignment. In our project plan we plan on a rolling delivery in a series of batches delivering by the end of January. Of those deliverables we have included in our plan we have taken into account announcement and content assimilation beyond the event itself. In our experience the bulk of the expense on a project like this is in the production itself and allows for more deliverables to be included while in post. We understand the request to include both interviews and animation in this assignment. In addition to our agency reels, we have included two recent projects the provide different styles and tones of visual effects to represent a range of opportunities for you to consider. Although we don’t believe either of them to be completely right for this assignment, with your guidance we will certainly strike the perfect chord.

Deliverables:

  • 2-3:00 Longform Films (6) Renders (4)
  • :15-30 Event Teaser Cutdown (1)
  • :15-30 Big Idea Social Cutdowns (6-8)
  • Event Graphics Package Templates (3)
  • High-resolution Still Photos
    (more detail below)

Delivery: January 29 (more detail below)
Budget: $90-92,000 (all included, more detail below)

3. Company background, capacity, and capabilities

heavy is a collective group of experienced marketing and branding veterans that create emotional, gripping, and heart-stopping work that is worth every second of your audience’s attention. Our team has built brand campaigns, admission executions, and advancement efforts for public higher-ed institutions (e.g. University of Florida, UCLA, University of Virginia), private and faith-based colleges and universities (e.g. Notre Dame, Providence, Seattle University, Fordham University), and helped power-five and mid-major collegiate athletic conferences establish a new voice (e.g. Athletic-10, MAC-10, Big10).

No matter the assignment, we focus on developing a compelling narrative with authentic and striking visuals that are strategically positioned for your audience.

All work within the scope of this RFP will be performed by heavy’s in-house team. As a full-service agency, we provide the following services:

  • Branding and marketing strategy
  • Brand execution
  • Graphic design
  • Strategic messaging and copywriting
  • Content strategy and development
  • Film and audio production
  • Animation and visual effects
  • Media buying and ad placement
  • UX/UI design and website development
  • Digital marketing, including but not limited to:
    • SEO/SEM/PPC
    • Social media
    • Email marketing and automation
    • Reporting and analytics
  • Experiential marketing
  • Public relations
  • Influencer marketing

Current employees:

  • 12 Full-time
  • 4 Part-time

Current higher education clients include:

  • Rutgers University Foundation
  • University at Buffalo
  • UW-Madison
  • Southeastern Community College

Primary point of contact:
Greg Ash, President
gash@heavydoesit.com
(757) 672-6921

Good. Together.

We believe in doing good within our community as well as within yours. As part of every engagement, we ask our clients to select a non-profit, small business or an organization they support within their own community, one that could benefit from our services. We take 10% of your total billings and provide that back to the selected partner in pro bono services with their branding, marketing, or advertising. It’s our belief that giving back moves us all forward, together.

4. Portfolio samples: broadcast reel

Throughout our 40 years of experience we have had the opportunity to work with clients of all shapes and sizes, each with unique challenges and goals. As you’ll see in the example below, we can capture the right sound bites and visuals to ensure each narrative is one of a kind.

4. Portfolio samples: animation reel

Below we’ve included our animation and visual effects reel. Depending on the style and tone, animation can drastically impact the look and the feel of an assignment. As you will see in the reel below, our team of animators have a diverse range of styles that can fit perfectly to what your team needs.

4. Portfolio samples: "Beyond the Lights" title sequence

Recently we worked with HBO on a new documentary series profiling celebrities and their philanthropic interests. The series has six episodes similar to the proposed number of Big Ideas in this series. Adding main title sequences and subtle visual effects can completely transform the level of quality of the series.

Portfolio samples: University of Cincinnati "Next Lives Here"

With the unprecedented challenge of recruiting new students in the midst of a global pandemic, the University of Cincinnati aimed to ramp up their strategy for recruitment. UC’s current mission—Next Lives Here—is a call to action for the impact of their institution, to empower students, to impact the world in a positive way. UC students aren’t waiting for next to happen; they are working, solving, and breaking through every day to make next happen right now, for the good of all.

4. Portfolio samples: previous projects for Rutgers

During the spring of 2019, we had the privilege of working closely with the communications team at the foundation to produce some of our favorite pieces to date. Hopefully these will bring back some fond memories.

5. Capacity for the project

Since day one, we have made a commitment to adding diverse team members to each and every project. We believe representing and including as many different perspectives makes ourselves better and our work. Based on the needs listed, we have selected the following team to guide your journey along the way. As we are a fully staffed team we don’t anticipate needing any additional subcontractors at this time.

Gregory Ash President & Principal

Gregory specializes in building brands across industries (e.g. Nike, Google, Johnson & Johnson, AAA, Ferrari) with specific expertise in all aspects of higher education including admissions, fundraising and advancement, online program development, reputation management, and collegiate athletics (e.g. UCLA, University of Florida, Rutgers, Temple, Notre Dame, Duke). Prior to founding heavy, Greg served as the Chief Creative Officer at 160over90 for over a decade, helping them establish their presence in Los Angeles, Florida, and Columbus.

Konstantinos Psimaris Executive Creative Director & Principal

Konstantinos was born in Athens, Greece and raised in Philadelphia where he attended Tyler School of Art. Before founding heavy, KP served as Executive Creative Director at 160over90 where he built an award-winning portfolio across top-shelf brands (e.g. Nike, Under Armour, University of Florida, University of Oregon, University of Virginia, Gore, Arizona Coyotes, The Philadelphia Eagles).

Tasha McGahee-Shangvi, Project Manager

Tasha specializes in project and people management, with expertise in global live entertainment production. Her experience as a Tour Manager in a fast-paced environment gives her a unique aerial view of long-term planning, optimization, and managing remote teams, as well as an arsenal of skills she brings to all of her work. Tasha considers the job of making art and creative happen one of the joys of her life.


Christopher Lee, Animator

Shane Skoda, Project Manager

Elliot LeBeouf, Creative Director of Copy

William Denhem, Editor

6. Project plan

We begin each project with following a simple tried and true process that has informed decades of great results. This will sound familiar as we took this path during our last assignments together.

Project Kickoff: Oct. 12

  • Introduce all team members
  • Discuss the project plan in full detail
  • Set expectations for time investment for RUF team members
  • Establish clear communication channels and project management plan

Discovery & Concept Development: Oct. 12- Nov. 2

  • Concept development and Director’s treatment
  • Pre-interviews and Casting
  • Story arc development
  • Schedule and location list development

Pre production: Nov. 2-6

  • Final schedule approval
  • Final list approval
  • Location scout and tech scout

Filming: Nov. 9-14 (Tentatively 5-6 days)

  • 2-3 days New Brunswick campus
  • 1-2 days Camden campus
  • 1-2 days Newark campus

Post production: Nov. 16-Jan 29 (7-8 weeks)

  • Event Teaser / Rough cut 1 (batch A): Dec. 3
  • Event Teaser /Rough cut 1 (batch B): Dec. 17
  • Rough cut 2 (batch A): Dec. 17
  • Rough cut 2 (batch B): Dec. 17
  • Cutdowns and final delivery: Jan. 15

7. References

We are more than happy to provide contact information for any of the references listed below. We ask out of respect for our clients that you coordinate with Shane Skoda (sskoda@heavydoesit.com) prior to reaching out.

UW-Madison:

As part of the rebranding effort for the Division of Continuing Studies we developed a series of narrative-driven interviews of students from all walks of life.

University at Buffalo:

To support the “Boldly Buffalo” campaign we worked closely with the advancement team to create a series of long form webisodes that celebrated cause-based fundraising priorities.

Southeastern Community College:
To support SCC as they celebrated their centennial, we developed a new brand and film campaign to promote enrollment and a fundraising campaign.

 

8. Legal and confidentiality statements

We acknowledge and agree to the following:

  • A “work for hire” relationship with Rutgers University
  • Rutgers University has full ownership of all intellectual property and materials associated with and produced during the course of video production
  • A guarantee of confidentiality surrounding the process and all discussions held in conjunction with it
  • Our own full liability insurance coverage
  • Willingness to participate and develop appropriate precautions to operate safely in the mist the global pandemic

 

9. Cost proposal and invoicing

As a team of experienced outsiders, we are confident that we will be able to get under the hood and understand what makes Rutgers Big Ideas stand out in the higher education and the philanthropic landscape. The outlined approach will provide a level of quality and polish these innovative initiatives and this university deserve. Below we have listed the deliverables we believe are necessary to accomplish such a goal. Please note that in addition to the deliverables included in the RFP we have added several others to support a long life of understanding and assimilation as these rollout in the RUF community.

Thank you

Thank you in advance for your consideration. As mentioned above, this sounds like a dynamic and exciting project. We hope we can continue to make great work together this fall. 

Sincerely,

Greg Ash