Introducing TugLink.com

We created two videos for the launch of TugLink.com, a new international job networking site.


“Retaining Creo's services was one of the smartest business decisions and best marketing investments for our start-up company. Working with Aaron and Andrew on creation of promo videos for TugLink.com was a pure pleasure. Besides exceeding our expectations artistically, their team demonstrated a very professional approach to project management. The final product was delivered on time and within budget. Communication was always so timely and detailed that it made us feel that we and our video were getting a VIP treatment. Highly recommend Creo to anybody with video production needs.”

—Vadim Nemtsev, President of TugLink.com

crimson & gold

We were interviewed last week for Ferris State University's alumni magazine Crimson & Gold. Andrew and I are both FSU grads, and Andrew is currently teaching a course in 3D animation in LightWave at Ferris. The story is about Creo Productions and The Yesterdog Documentary, and will be included in the upcoming winter issue.

The Yesterdog Documentary

We’ve released The Yesterdog Documentary, an independent, all original documentary uncovering the mysteries of Yesterdog, a widely popular hot dog restaurant nestled in the historically hip, eclectic Eastown district of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Why create a documentary about a hot dog restaurant?

The Yesterdog Documentary utilizes the new media we’re always blogging about. Please visit www.YesterdogDocumentary.com to watch four commercials and an FAQ about the project. Watch the official trailer below.



(You can order the full-length DVD for $15 online or at Yesterdog, including the 25-minute feature documentary and 45 minutes of special features…)

Three Out of Four

The numbers keep on growing for online video viewers:

"Nearly 75% of US internet users watched, on average, 158 minutes of online video in May, and Google sites topped the monthly rankings with both the most unique video streamers and the most videos streamed, according to the comScore Video Metrix report for May 2007."

A Whole New Mind: Meaning

“Meaning has become a central aspect of our work and our lives,” writes Dan Pink. According to Pink, in an age where our basic needs for survival are usually met in abundance, (although this is biased, much of our world still struggles to meet daily needs), people have been freed to search more deeply for meaning in all areas of life.

Meaning is why we started our company, to help people exchange ideas, to create new ways to communicate, to present old things in new ways, to meet the challenges of a changing media landscape.

We recently signed a video contract with an entrepreneur who is seeking great social change through his work. His life aim is to help disadvantaged people break through slim odds to become successful contributors to society. He has chosen something “meaningful” for his life, and we’re excited to help him.

There is nearly endless potential today to communicate meaningful, powerful ideas.

Technology has broken down the barriers of global communication, once limited to television, radio or newspapers and magazines. Today, everyone can have a voice.

However, when that voice carries meaning and purpose, it will be heard.

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This is the seventh blog based on A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink (Riverhead Books).

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

I read the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell while on the beach, and I have to admit, his concepts are still churning in my conscious and subconscious. At least I'm thinking about thinking without thinking.

(Try saying the previous sentence five times fast).

Gladwell is a brilliant storyteller, and uses catchy narrative to illuminate what he calls “thin slicing,” the ability to pull together mounds of information instantly to make quality decisions, rather than mulling over mounds of analytical data.

The benefits of this type of thinking is situational, Gladwell shows, including the often positive outcome of trusting gut instincts, yet revealing the darker side of human snap judgments, often made irrationally with subconscious stereotypes.

Gladwell also pointed out an interesting corporate oddity—a high percentage of CEOs in the United States are extremely tall.

It’s a book far too complicated to break down into neat formulas, and in the end, it settles somewhere in the subconscious, a place, Gladwell says, we should all pay more attention to.

A Whole New Mind (Play)

"Play." In the conceptual age, Pink writes, having a bit of fun is crucial to keeping work and life interesting and balanced. Divided into one part games, one part humor, and one part joyfulness, Pink makes a case for the three dimensions of "Play," including his own personal visit to a "laughter club" in India.

We all need a break. In one hour, I'll be boarding a plane to celebrate a week of "Play" on the beach.


Enjoy your 4th of July holiday!
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This is the sixth blog based on A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink (Riverhead Books).

A Whole New Mind (Empathy)

According to Pink, “Empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s position and to intuit what that person is feeling. It is the ability to stand in others’ shoes, to see with their eyes, and to feel with their hearts….Empathy is a stunning act of imaginative derring-do, the ultimate virtual reality—climbing into another’s mind to experience the world from that person’s perspective.” (159)

Recently, a client approached us about creating a video for a once popular singer who had fallen from fame and was launching a career comeback with a new book and CD. We had to create a plan to tell his story—the X factor was this—we couldn’t use footage of his interview until the conclusion of the video.

Our challenge was to visually connect viewers with the singer’s story. The result?


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This is the fifth blog based on A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink (Riverhead Books).

New Creo Commercial

We celebrated our expansion into new industries by launching a fun, tongue-in-cheek spot about why we started Creo Productions—cubicle life was draining our creativity.

Who knew fluorescent lights, corporate coffee makers and Soduko could make a commercial?

The Real World

The Harvard Business Review has an interesting article entitled “Viral Marketing for the Real World.”

Everyone wants their video to be viral. What’s interesting about this piece is the authors’ suggestion to combine traditional media (TV, online, print advertising) with a viral component, creating a platform that exponentially grows—if the media has enough appeal to justify showing it to friends.

It’s this kind of thinking, to combine what exists and what’s emerging, that will develop today’s most effective communication approaches.