“MY CORPORATE HAT”

Yes… whenever an opportunity presents itself…I proudly wear another creative “hat.”

For over twenty years, I have enjoyed writing corporate videos, speeches, sales meeting materials, advertising, and print copy for a wide array of Fortune 500 clients.

I’m also a speech coach, creative director, and idea man. I like to be the guy they call when they’re looking for something with a twist.

Some of the good people for whom I have worked include Navistar, Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals, Kraft, Diet Rite, Wyeth Ayerst, Maytag, Duracell, Keebler, Panasonic, and G. Heileman Brewing.

Some of the fine production companies with whom I have collaborated include Williams Gerard Productions, FLIRT Communications, One Smooth Stone, Sourceline, Concentrix, AVID Productions, and Motivation Media.

At the core of what I offer is story. Narrative. Drama. I can take corporate messages and apply the same principles I use on a novel… or a movie… or a play. The key is capturing the imagination… and telling the client’s story.

Let me show you what I mean.

The following brief samples give you an idea of what I’m talking about. These moments on stage or on screen – in a sales meeting, a trade show, or a corporate lobby – show the intersection between story and commerce.

You’ll also see a sample of proposal writing, which I often do in collaboration with media producers and event planners.

– Jay Bonansinga

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EXCERPT 1: PROMOTIONAL VIDEO FOR KRAFT

(MUSIC: SENSUAL, SMOKEY SAXOPHONE THEME…)

A deserted street, a lone DETECTIVE appears in a cloud of steam from a manhole, as ethereal as a ghost. He walks toward the camera in slow motion…

VOICE-OVER: Name’s Marlowe… and in case you’re wondering, I’m a professional snoop. But nothing I’d ever seen before– and I mean nothing– could’ve prepared me for the Case of the Perfect Pasta.

Marlowe passes the camera, then approaches a streetlamp, which casts long shadows. He pauses thoughtfully, lights a cigarette.

VOICE-OVER: It all started in the convenience section. For years the competitors kept a cozy little club at the corner of pork and beans. On any given day you’d find all the regulars there. Microwaveable buckets with bad attitudes and stale tastes…

Marlowe turns and walks toward:

A GROCERY STORE in the background. This is no ordinary store. It’s like a supermarket envisioned by Edward Hopper.

VOICE-OVER: See…that’s where I came in. A few months ago, the big cheeses at Kraft got me on the horn and gave me a job offer I couldn’t refuse. The assignment– track down the needs for a new product. A new product that was gonna move faster than a Las Vegas wedding.

Marlowe goes inside the store.

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EXCERPT 2: MEETING PROPOSAL FOR A HIGH-FASHION SUNGLASSES FIRM:

The lights go down.

Out of the darkness, a single video monitor, up-stage, flickers to life. A low droning chord is heard, rising… and a single image fades up on screen of ancient calligraphy, scrolling, forming the words: “What man devised that he might see.”

Now other monitors flicker to life, showing the history of sunglasses in sixty-seconds, moving faster and faster as it develops: Thirteenth Century China, smoke is used to tint quartz lenses for judges in courtrooms, designed to hide their expressions… inventors in the 1800s develop blue and green-tinted lenses to correct vision… in 1930 the U.S. Airforce develops aviator sunglasses to block high altitude glare… and on and on and on.

Soon the sights and sounds of this historical retrospective are gathering steam, filling all the monitors now, surrounding the audience, moving into modern times. The 1960s. The founding of Exottica… and now the images are coming fast and furious, moving toward recent years. We see the Exottica house brands building, the new markets, building, building, the entire hall now pulsing with light, the years flying by… until suddenly, without warning, something wonderful happens.

BANG!

All at once the entire hall is filled with white-hot light, and the live rock band is revealed, and the music kicks into a new, modern, techno-driven theme, and a series of brilliant searchlights strike the center thrust. And on cue, almost magically, an upstage curtain drops and VOILA!

Beautiful, sophisticated, sexy fashion models emerge, one at a time, and strut down the center thrust!
They’re wearing the latest styles of designer sunglasses, all the new products and acquisitions, and our voice-of-God narrator ties it all together for a new day of programs and break-out sessions:

NARRATOR:

Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on the future of Exottica – our ever-optimizing portfolio of the latest and greatest in the sun segment and beyond.