Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Happy Holidays and Bring on 2015!

It has been a fun and successful year here at Vidicom!  To end the year right, we all gathered together in the conference room and had a delightful lunch and exchanged gifts for Secret Santa.  Our newest employee Ryan got a chance to describe the day and a look into 2015.



Hi All!  My name is Ryan and I am the newest employee at Vidicom/Citybuzz!  I came here with a marketing background and a variety of sales and PR experience.  I was happily welcomed to the company by everyone here and has been great learning about the company.  In the past couple weeks I have experienced a variety of SMT's and got to meet some really fun and talented people.   In one week we had both Coach K and the "man of steel" himself....Mr. Dean Kean.  As excepted, (like all of our experts)  they were very professional and passionate about the brands and people they were representing.   It was a pleasure to work with them and we look forward to working with them again soon!

Ipastably Delicious


Our holiday party included sharing memories from the year, our plans for the holidays and new years and of course great food.  Everyone, (especially me) was excited to go home and see their friends and family.  The holidays are especially exciting for me since all my childhood friends come home. From California to New Jersey and literally every state in between (even Arkansas) my friends all make the trip home to celebrate the holidays.  This means we all get together and catch up and share some fun stories.  Overall, it was a great time home and at our holiday party and I hope everyone had a great break!



Looking forward into 2015, the Vidicom team and I are excited for the upcoming tours and working with a variety of clients!  We kick off 2015 with the "Reinvent Yourself In The New Year" tour and are very excited to start the new year with a bang! Speaking of this tour...I am creating some resolutions myself.  My list begins with getting beach body ready, eating healthier and working hard!  Vidicom and I hope everyone had a great holiday and have a safe and happy new year!  Cheers!!

If you would like to see any additional tours in 2015, reach out to one of our incredible sales associates and they will happily send you our calendar!

More to come from your friends at Vidicom!

Friday, December 12, 2014

A Thanksgiving Story from our newest intern: Shanice John


Well folks, another Thanksgiving has passed by and while everyone was either wrestling with the bird or meticulously making pie crusts, I took the easy way out this year! Now it should be noted before I continue that I absolutely, unequivocally stink at making a Turkey dinner! This unfortunate predicament is consequent of my upbringing on the warm tropical island of Trinidad in the Caribbean, where a cooked turkey is not as celebrated as it is here in the USA. I’ve never seem a live turkey matter of fact!   So do understand how overwhelmed I become when my friends or family here in NYC ask to help bake the bird!



This year was no exception!  My younger brother Denzil informed me that he would be home for Thanksgiving, he serves in the United States Marine Corp, and if you know anything about military men you’ll know that they can eat so the pressure was on to prepare a good meal. The turkeys came out in full force and mocked me from their frigid shelves at the local grocery, the cranberries rolled in and the sweet potatoes reminded me of fries rather that pie. The restaurants on our Citybuzz spots started looking like better options. Never has a bird unraveled my sanity like this!



My saving grace came in the form of a SMT at Vidicom! Who knew the secret to my dream turkey was sitting in our production room rehearsing. Yup, it was my first time watching a production rehearsal for one of our Satellite Media Tour’s and though I sat in to learn the ropes (yep, I’m new here at Vidicom) I learned one more piece of vital info… I can buy my turkey cooked! It was pretty simple, ridiculously simple! And since we’re at it, why stop there, I could buy the whole shebang; pie, turkey, stuffing, and even the mashed potatoes!!!

I was getting excited for Thanksgiving; I had an Insta-worthy dinner! My dinner was going to have more selfies that Kim Kardashian! I was quite pleased with my plans until my brother called 5 days before the holiday with one more request: can you make Lasagna? I don’t want Turkey!
And so our family had meat Lasagna and a fresh salad for Thanksgiving, watched Transformers 4 the movie and we were all quite content with ourselves as well as our Thanksgiving holiday. It might sound cliché but it’s not always about what you do for the holidays but rather spending it with the people you care about. 




More to come from your friends at Vidicom!


Thursday, November 20, 2014

Meet the Vidicom Team

A look at the folks that make Vidicom run! 


Christy Ferer is a leading innovator in branded video content and multi-media distribution. After starting her career as an anchor for WPIX New York and covering local news, Ferer became the first network news correspondent to regularly cover fashion runway for NBC’s Today Show. A seasoned news personality with a pioneering vision, Christy started Vidicom in 1982 and spearheaded its growth into the force it is today. She is the author of several lifestyle books, serves as the liaison for 9/11 issues for the Mayor of New York City and serves on several non-profit boards. She is also a former Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  
Scott is a pioneer in the PR services business and is credited with creating Narrative Marketing, “In the Know” TV segments and the first international entertainment news feed. As the former Senior Vice President of MediaLink and Synaptic Digital, Scott has forged direct contractual relationships with numerous corporate clients, including Merrill Lynch, General Motors, Siemens, Allstate and many more. Scott served 13 years at the ABC News Agency, WTN, servicing international broadcasters, ABC affiliates and national programs with live event services.
Sebastian brings 15 years of experience as a TV news and documentary producer for major networks. As a Media Strategist, he helps PR professionals craft and develop effective media campaigns that are seen and heard by millions of consumers.
Pierre joins our team bringing over 20 years of broadcast production experience. Previously, he managed day-to-day broadcast production/field operations and logistics for NBC News division’s camera and audio crews for NBC News shows such as the Today Show, Nightly News, MSNBC and Dateline. His clients included The Weather Channel, Telemundo, Peacock Productions, Thanksgiving Day Parade, Christmas Tree lighting show, Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks, and the Olympics. He’s overseen US presidential elections, the global economic crisis, and foreign conflicts including wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He’s also worked in national and international production at the network level at NBC News and Fox News Channel.
Shirin served as a Director of Finance at a renowned Strategic Communications firm for seven years in Washington D.C. Prior to her exciting world in media, she spent over eight years in a residential educational environment, managing finance and administration. On her down time, she has a passion for catching the latest and greatest acts in performing arts and spends time in the great outdoors with her family. Rest??!! I don’t think so.   
David has 20 years of experience working with PR and media professionals as a media strategist, creating numerous successful broadcast and online media campaigns. Having started his career at ABC News in New York, he has helped broaden awareness of some of the world’s most popular brands and products in industry sectors, including pharmaceutical, finance, automotive, consumer and entertainment.
Charlie manages Vidicom’s marketing and sales operations. When he’s not showing clients The Vidicom Difference, the ruggedly handsome Chico (as he’s known around the office) enjoys conversing with Christy Ferer and sipping a well made negroni. Prior to his tenure at Vidicom, he held positions in the newsroom and in political communications.
A recent college graduate of Merrimack College with a BA in Mass Communication and a minor in Social Psychology, Dana comes to Vidicom from her time at Clear Channel Communications where she was the lead writer and marketing manager. In her spare time she loves hitting the beach and spending time with her Pug Toby.
Editor of broadcast and branded content, Fred is a graduate of CCNY with BFA in Film & Video. In his spare time, Fred is a talented filmmaker and is known for always having a good joke up his sleeve.    

Eva joins the Vidicom team as a Citybuzz Predator. She has worked as a sideline reporter for Verizon FiOS1 Sports, the Sports Director at the FOX affiliate in Binghamton, NY, and as the Video guru at food website The Daily Meal. A lover of all things entertainment, Eva is excited to combine all of her passions into one at Vidicom. When she’s not at work, you can find Eva cheering on the Syracuse Orange or working on her latest DIY project.


Kristin brings a decade of experience across many entertainment verticals including television marketing, public relations and production. She has worked closely with studios, gaming, electronics, import autos and many more brands. Additionally, she is adept at working with clients to understand their specific marketing and PR needs and execute their media campaigns on-air, digitally and out of home.


Andie is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelors in Broadcast Journalism. Prior to her stint at vidicom, she was a reporter and entertainment anchor/producer for KOMU-TV Missouri. She’s also interned at MTV News, Maxim Magazine, and CryBaby Media. When she’s not at work, she’s an avid movie watcher, writer and traveler, and enjoys live music and the beach.

 

Thursday, November 13, 2014

A Birthday Party Fit for a Vidicom King

Vidicom’s Luca Talks About His Birthday Party

Hi Y’all! Luca here. I work on the production team at Vidicom.

When I’m not producing satellite media tours, Now U Know videos, or the variety of compelling Citybuzz branded content we distribute with the rest of my Vidicom homeboys and homegirls, I also like to check out skate parks, pickup basketball games, pheasant hunting, amateur taxidermy, and mild yodeling. Yeah, I guess if I had to narrow it down, those are my hobbies. Well, I’d be lying if I said I also wasn’t on a constant search for the best tasting roasted red pepper aioli to dip sweet potato fries into. But who isn’t these days?

 

I generally like to take my birthday seriously, which is something we all need to understand before I go any further. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I can tell if my year is going to good or bad depending on how my birthday party goes. So for me to say that I put lots of value on cake, goodies, Vidicom, and friends is a literal understatement.




In years past, I’ve celebrated in a variety of ways. To start off, there was the year my cronies and I set out on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico go to swordfish hunting. That was a fun party - especially when my best friend and band mate skeeter caught a 10 ton tuna! I know, bizarre that ol Skeetie caught a tuna on a swordfish trip. But he did catch it, and the sandwiches sure were delicious! We should market the resulting canned tuna product with one of Vidicom’s distribution capabilities!

This year, I’m really going to pull out all of the stops for my party. I want people to really be in awe of Vidicom’s amazing birthday prowess and everything I am capable of in terms of extreme party planning.



I’m going to convert the Vidicom office into a haunted house, and hire actors to play all the spooky parts. You may be thinking to yourself, “Hey Luca! Halloween already passed!” Well, my friend, aren’t you in for a treat?  Because this is going to be a Christmas themed haunted house! Complete with zombie Santa, witch Mrs. Claus, Frankenstein reindeer, a ghost snowman, werewolf elves, and the abominable snowman (he’s spooky enough on his own!)


For treats, we’ll serve a fun spooky take on traditional holiday food! For example, instead of fruitcake, we’ll serve haunted fruitcake! Instead of egg nog, we’ll have exorcists’ nog! We’ll enjoy Dracula’s roast goose, ginger dead cookies, bloody candy canes, and roast beast! All washed down with dead wine! The kitchen in Vidicom’s studio will be bustling

Want to come to this fabulous party? Too bad, you’re not invited.

Ha! Just kidding! Everyone is invited to my birthday party! Just be sure to dress the part! Yup, you guessed it - dress up like a spooky and festive character! Or if you don’t want to spend too much time or money making a costume, simply dress to impress!

Can’t wait to see ya there! The whole Vidicom team is excited to party with you!


Keep up with the Vidicom team here!

Friday, November 7, 2014

An Ode to Winter as Written by Vidicom’s Robby

Vidicom's Robby says let it snow!


How the weather turns, from hopeful spring, to exuberant summer, to cool and contemplative fall, to the frosty winter. Indeed, it is a time of great reflection for us all, as we sit before the great mahogany fireplace. Twiddling our warm thumbs, checking our Vidicom email, and roasting a sausage on a long poker. Little Jeffrey is a bit warm, but that’s okay, he can just unzip his sweater.


One winter that remains especially vivid in my mind is the year Jeffrey first got his shiny new toboggan. Oh, the laughs he had on that vessel! Speeding through the winter midnight air, snow crystals and specks of condensation sprinkled throughout the air. Truly an idyllic wintertime scene, straight out of a painting from an art gallery owned by a man who knew a thing or two about art, you’d better believe it. And I do believe it. In fact, the entire Vidicom team believes it.


Young Jeffrey climbed the vast snowy hill, toboggan in hand. He looked to his left, and stopped dead in his tracks. Rapidly approaching him was a bear. A great, big, furry bear. Not a polar bear, surprisingly, given the frosty landscape and frigid weather. No this was a grizzly, believe it or not. A vast, majestic beast, and it moved with the ease of a thoroughbred coming down the final stretch of the Kentucky Derby. For a moment, Vidicom’s Young Jeff felt fear at the approaching bear. However, it continued running right past him. Young Jeffrey quickly fell asleep.


He could not tell if he had been asleep for days or minutes, his head pounded, his vision was bleary, but it was clear to him that the huddled shapes strewn about the landscape were all bears. It was then that it struck him. Like an approaching train his memories came back full force and with increasing clarity. He did not just bear witness, he was the driving force. Frantically he began searching for another plausible explanation, some way out of this line of thought. But he knew then that there was no escape. He was a mouse in the maze his memories had created and Vidicom’s last hope.

There was only one way to greatness and his mind was quickly leading him there. He was the one who had adorned himself in Vidicom Apparel, he was the one he had eschewed all that the others had brought before him, he was the one who blindly staggered toward the rotary and made that phone call, he was responsible for finishing the Vidicom piece in time and getting it to the client.

Young Jeffrey again climbed the vast snowy hill with the same toboggan in hand. What was in the other hand you are most probably asking yourself? Well, hot cocoa of course! Mercy was it the chilliest of eves, but the cocoa was a perfect reprieve, as was the warm and inviting Vidicom office.. After taking a final sip of the hot bevy, young Jeffrey leaped on the toboggan and slid straight down the hill, gleefully dishing and dashing patches of ice and giggling away into the night.

As young Jeffrey neared the bottom, he noticed something large in the distance and was immediately startled. “Oh my dear lord,” he yelled. The figure didn’t seem to be moving so he decided to slowly approach it. As he inched closer, the figure remained still. Alas, it was only a snowman. Vidicom’s favorite snowman, in fact.


Oh young Jeffrey, what a silly boy! No need to be scared young man. It is only a giant heap of snow with a smile made of coals!

Winter had done it again. It had proved to be a season that was unpredictable. Well isn’t that the truth? One minute you may be at the hearth of your stone fireplace roasting sausage doggies and the next you could encounter an unexpected snowman at the base of a hill.

Let this be a lesson to all of us. Stay alert this winter, who knows what could be ahead!! 


Keep up with the latest Vidicom news!

Friday, October 31, 2014

A Poetic Walk Through The Tumultuous and Creative Mind of Vidicom's Fred

Vidicom's Fred Weaves a Tale

As the leaves turn from green to burnt orange and the air itself is crisp with the coming of fall, I felt a tingling for the outdoors. I felt a tingling for the swaying of the trees under the gentle guidance of the pleasant breeze, for the passing chatter of pedestrians, for the attentive bikers pedaling to destinations far and near. Rusty, a pugnacious Jack Russell terrier whose favorite chew toy is a well-worn Buzz Lightyear plastic figure, was scratching at the inside of the front door. Once again Rusty and I (both Vidicom veterans) were on the same page.



Sauntering along a Central Park path, holding Rusty close with a loose leash, I could see the stars peek through from behind the night’s canopy.  This was one of those endless twilights, no matter how often observed each is as fascinating as the last.

A call came through from a compatriot known for his engaging and rambunctious tales constituting mostly of displays of his humor and vigor. I realized it had been quite a while since I had made his acquaintance and his enthusiasm was always infectious so the decision was easy, as was the decision to work for Vidicom. I traveled by public transportation to a place of quiet social ambience and alcoholic indulgence.

My friend, Arnold, who had recently returned from visiting close family in the rolling foothills of northern Virginia, regaled me with stories of his extended vacation. Oysters, farms, horses, moonshine; every tidbit was as enthralling as the next, much like a day at Vidicom. His merriment sprouted and grew wings and enlivened me as the night drew on outside clanking and resolute.

The days pass slowly yet briskly, always awaiting but already past. The lights were dim and never before had these halls welcomed me. I felt history lying within these walls that sprouted up like proud regal giants. The crowd was all but electric, alive as if an organism unto itself, jumping with anticipation. Eyes wide and inviting, anxious souls shuffled forward, mine included. The bleachers rose up on all sides and the guests filed in. The immensity of such an arena had hardly dawned on me. The greats who had filed past hallowed court.



The first glimpse of entertainment was one unexpected. A guiding light of Vidicom’s history, perhaps a facsimile but even a photograph of a rose evokes certain sensations of aural pleasure. It is of course never quite the same thing. A still treasured legend, or rather his diminished replica, performed the motions just the same. A novelty has its purpose.

Allowing for the reality of modern life, the endearing entertainer asked of his followers to be so kind as to “put away your silly phones” so that perhaps the “heathens” may enjoy the show. Penguins, puppies, and an erupting volcano offered comical backdrops for social media spectacle.  Where to start or perhaps where to end? The actor takes the stage and demolishes it underneath his skill and determination. Thoughts half-formed are fully dissected by his razor sharp insight and Vidicom-caliber talent. The individual vs. the public persona, two forms soaring simultaneously.

Keep up with the Vidicom team here!