If there is one thing that Miami’s postproduction community agrees on, it’s that the burgeoning U.S. Hispanic market has been nothing less than a saving grace amidst the economic slump that has shaken the spot industry from New York to Los Angeles.
From the larger postproduction and film-to-tape transfer facilities to the boutique creative editorial and visual effects houses in Miami, there is a sense of optimism based on the business activity experienced in the first few months of 2003. However, the optimism is guarded, given the possibility of war with Iraq looming over the country.
"I am concerned [about the war] like every U.S. citizen," states George O’Neill, VP at Manhattan Transfer-Miami. (Manhattan Transfer-Miami and Broadcast Video Inc., which had several offices in the Miami area, merged last year, retaining the Manhattan Transfer-Miami name.) "We went through some tough times in the last few years with a lot of downsizing, but we came up with a plan to move forward. Today, the Miami advertising market is emerging. It seems we got past the darkest stage, and the first quarter of this year has been terrific. We are going like gangbusters, putting out a lot of high-quality work, and I want it to continue. The Miami agencies have a lot of the Hispanic sector at the very high end, and there is regional work from major retailers. People are looking to generate business; you do that through advertising, and we support the advertiser."
Manhattan Transfer-Miami VP Bob Corti, who has worked at the company since before the merger with Broadcast Video Inc., agrees. "A lot more work is done locally, and we have developed relationships over the last few years to retain that work, when a lot of it could have gone out of town," relates Corti. "Of our local client base, fifty percent is the U.S. Hispanic [market]. We are in a good place due to the fact that the local market is fairly strong, and we have adjusted our size to thrive in this market. With just Miami-based clients and our new structure, we are positioned for growth."
With 95 percent of its work in advertising, Manhattan Transfer-Miami provides production and telecine services to creative editorial, online finishing and visual effects. The company also works on television programming and corporate video communications. "We are about to take on hi-def finishing to accompany our HD telecine, the Sony Vialta," reports O’Neill. "We have three telecine rooms with Rascals and URSA Diamonds. We have Discreet Logic Flame, and we finish in Smoke so we can turn out a turnkey product."
While the company works with all of the local agencies serving the U.S. Hispanic market, it also has customers in South America, Mexico, the Caribbean—but business there has lessened lately due to the economic slowdown. "The work from countries like Venezuela used to be a big chunk of business for us," relates Corti. "When their economy improves, we will get work from them again."
Vincent Hogan, president of Miami’s Cineworks Digital Studios, a film lab and film-to-tape facility, notes that the pending war could put a damper on a market that is just coming out of the slump. A relatively new addition to the Miami post scene, Cineworks was formed three years ago. "A lot of our business has slowed down because we are a ‘location,’ " Hogan says. "People don’t like to fly in times of [possible] war; we have seen that before. Also, price as an issue has become worse and worse. Budgets are going down and competition is very fierce out there. I am competing against L.A. and Canada as much as I am competing in this town.
"We’ve had some good months so far this year," Hogan continues. "While our primary business is film-to-tape transfer and color correction, we have just started a new visual effects division this year called Defrost, which is growing very quickly." Cineworks recently finished a 7-Up spot for BBDO Miami.
Another film lab and film-to-tape transfer facility, Continental Film & Video Lab, Miami and Orlando, Fla., has been working on commercials and feature films for 35 years. With about 25 people between the two facilities, 70 to 85 percent of their work is on commercials. "Since 9/11, the market has changed dramatically, and really from our perspective, it never totally rebounded," says Glenn Newland, senior VP of operations and management at Continental. "Frankly, I anticipate that it will never totally rebound. Our sense of things is that the market has a lot of unknowns right now with the potential for a war and the havoc that it can create in the advertising world, as well as the transportation world—i.e. sending film and crews around."
Newland can’t attest to the growth in local agencies for the U.S. Hispanic market, given the fact that the bulk of Continental’s work is from outside Miami. "There are huge agencies here, but they don’t necessarily work down here," he says. "Most of what we see comes from outside our market. We are sitting at Latin America’s back door so we get a fair amount of our work from Puerto Rico and Latin America. Of the commercial work, about thirty-five to forty percent is coming out of Puerto Rico."
However, Newland notes that over the last few weeks, there has been a sudden burst in production in the Miami area, as well as in Orlando. "We are relatively happy with what we see the market doing right this minute," he says. "We are not naïve enough to believe that we are now locked into this constant ongoing production, but we are encouraged. Also, there are new production companies now, which we like to see, and they seem to be making some inroads. The ebb and flow is not as strong as we’d like it to be, but it’s not drying up either."
Continental’s recent commercial work includes dailies for Federal Express’ "Castaway," directed by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international hungry man out of BBDO New York. The spot debuted during the telecast of Super Bowl XXXVII. Continental also recently finished work on 2 Fast 2 Furious, the sequel to The Fast and the Furious.
Creativity
If companies such as visual effects studio Upstairs, Miami, and JefCo Creative Editorial, Miami, are any indication, then it would appear that the smaller boutique approach is attracting a lot of U.S. Hispanic commercial work. "We are in a unique position to do really high-end effects which are not at high-end prices because we have very little overhead," comments Wally Rodriguez, director of visual effects at Upstairs. "[About] seventy percent of our work is on commercials and most of that is in the domestic Hispanic market."
A studio dedicated to visual effects, broadcast design and creative editorial, Upstairs consists of seven artists, and is equipped with three Flames, three editorial suites with Avid Media Composer and Final Cut Pro, and 3-D animation. Recent projects for the U.S. Hispanic market include campaigns for Pontiac via Accentmarketing, Miami, and Pantene via Wing Latino, New York. Broadcast design endeavors include the launch of cable network Animal Planet, and work for two Venezuelan networks.
"We are very lucky because the domestic Hispanic has had no break at all; it is going very well," notes Rodriguez. "The [general] U.S. domestic market is pretty much dead right now—there is not a lot happening. Also, there has not been a whole lot of shooting going on in town. When the U.S. economy suffers, Latin American countries get hit pretty hard. Everything we bid these days is shot in Argentina; you can get a lot more for the dollar. If there is any kind of war that is protracted, we need to keep an eye, being careful not to make any major investment. But if it’s short, it won’t affect us much."
Jeff Sternberger, co-owner/editor at JefCo, acknowledges that they have not been free from the effects of economic downturn, but working with the U.S. Hispanic market has kept them very busy. "We’ve felt the slowdown like everyone else," relates Sternberger. "We have been lucky enough to stay busy through this time."
Sternberger and co-owner/editor Mike Coe formed JefCo. "We have been editing in this market forever," Sternberger says. "I have been here for twenty years, and Mike has been here for twelve years. We joined forces a little over a year ago and created an editorial boutique."
"We shared a certain amount of clients and found ourselves working close together and collaborating on projects," adds Coe. "It made sense for us to get together. The company consists of the two of us and one producer."
At least 80 percent of JefCo’s commercial work comes from local agencies. Recent spots include "Anthem" for the Volkswagen Beetle Convertible, which was helmed by Steve Beck of bicoastal/ international Believe Media; and "Hop In," also for Volkswagen, directed by Brian Aldrich of bicoastal Coppos Films. Both ads were done via agency Creative On Demand, Miami.
While business has been holding steady for JefCo, there are looming questions over the Iraq issue. "That is the question of the day," says Coe. "With the economy, we’re lucky we haven’t seen a direct effect. Things have slowed down since 9/11, but [the slowdown] had been the case for the last ten to fifteen years. The economy goes up and down. It is still at a stage where it is too early to gauge [anything].
"According to Bush, the war will last only a week and a half," Sternberger adds. "Will that affect advertising, I don’t know. If war affects the economy, then I would have to say yes, it would eventually trickle down to everybody’s business."
