David Boring, T.J. Glines, Tiffany Ferreira and Julie Orona outside the new Film at 11th, located at the intersection of 11th and Needham streets in Modesto.
MODESTO — The video division at Never Boring Design Associates is ready for its closeup. The company is showcasing the service by giving it a standalone location at 11th Street and Needham Street near downtown Modesto.
Called Film at 11th, the department produces videos for training, advertising, documentary and other marketing purposes. Boring’s son started the video production department in 2009. It worked out of Never Boring’s sign shop at College and Needham until it outgrew the space and moved to the new location last November.
“I feel like it’s been a really well-kept secret,” said David Boring, partner and creative director of Never Boring Design Associates.
Boring’s son moved to Michigan to start a family, so a year and a half ago, Never Boring needed to find someone to oversee its film efforts. The solution came to the company when Bay Area director and editor T.J. Glines dropped off his resume at Never Boring’s office in downtown Modesto. For Boring, hiring someone with San Francisco-caliber experience who was also familiar with the Central Valley was the best of both worlds.
“He’d done national-level work in San Francisco but was from here. It was wonderful,” said Boring.
“I worked for a startup in San Francisco called SideReel. We produced all our own original content. It was a TV entertainment site.” Glines said. “As far as environment, [Never Boring] has a very startup culture, so I fit right in.”
Glines works with production specialist Tiffany Ferreira on video projects for clients, including Prime Shine Car Wash and Save Mart Supermarkets. No two projects are the same. The key is to tailor videos to the customer’s needs, Glines said, even if it means steering them toward a less expensive project.
“I know plenty of other companies where it’s ‘You need a seven-minute video? Perfect! All right,'” Glines said. “But with us, we try to see, ‘What’s the audience? I’m not sure if you need this.'”
As an example, Glines cited a corporate video he produced recently for a dinner for Save Mart’s leadership team. The video would open the event, and Save Mart wanted to use it to build up enthusiasm. At first, the company asked for a five-minute video. Glines explained to them why he thought 90 seconds was all they needed.
“I said, ‘If this is your opening, you don’t want a five to seven. You want something that’s a minute, minute-30.’ I knew their audience. I knew their demographic that was going to be in there,” he said. “And after the video played, I got a couple of text messages that were like, ‘A minute 30 worked perfect!’ You’re right. Couldn’t imagine a five-minute video. Good call.’
Boring said your company doesn’t need to be as big as Save Mart to benefit or even afford well-produced videos.
“I remember when we used to talk about business cards that if nobody sees your business, at least have your business card be great,” Boring said. “[Using video] you can create a vibe for their company and their brand. You can really put it out there in a way that starts the process moving. It does it more than anything else.”
Many of the videos Never Boring produces are called “virals,” which refers to the casual style or format of the video. They’re meant to be posted online and then, it’s hoped, shared in order to create brand awareness for a business. Boring believes it’s the way his company will promote many small businesses in the near future.
“When you’re talking about local, smaller Valley accounts, a lot of them need to be more resourceful with their advertising and marketing dollars,” Boring said. “Viral video’s really where we see their future. And just doing it yourself doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to get done right.”
Boring’s company has come a long way since he started it after being laid off from his sign job in 1983. He and partner Julie Orona have built it into one of the area’s largest advertising agencies. It handles marketing accounts, makes signs, publishes magazines and places media buys for local companies.
With the addition of Film at 11th, the company now has four offices — three in Modesto and one in the Waterfront Warehouse in Stockton.
Boring said his company prides itself on having an army of 30 employees who are responsible as well as creative and know how to manage accounts so details don’t fall through the cracks.
“I once asked Jerry Warden [of Warden’s Office Products] about the secret of his success,” Boring remembered. “He said it’s ‘doing what you say you’re going to do.'”
The next step for Never Boring is to go after accounts in Sacramento and the East Bay Area.
“Over the years we’ve built this large agency now that can compete with Fresno and Sacramento agencies. We’re reaching that point where we’re the size of them and in some cases bigger. And we’ve got a lot of firepower,” Boring said. “We feel like that’s our next horizon is doing more national work.”
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