When you think of video production, you probably imagine Hollywood or Times Square. It’s only natural to see Los Angeles and New York City as go-to video production hubs. L.A.’s where I got my start in video production. Over nine years of working as production assistant to production manager to producer. It’s where I learned the ropes. But I found my community in Colorado. It’s smaller and more niche and why I’ve fallen in love with the family-feel of local production. I hope you will too. 

Why You Should Shoot Your Next Video Locally

Heinrich’s clients span the country, but we’re based in Denver. If we’re able to shoot and edit your video here, we can save you time and money, two things marketing executives never have enough of. The in-person interaction of being on location and even side-by-side with an editor in the edit bay cannot be replicated virtually.  

We can also take a hybrid approach to save on time or costs. For example, we could work with a crew who is local to your business, fly out for the shoot and then complete the post-production here in Colorado. This helps us maximize your dollars by keeping the heart of the production local. We adapt based on your needs and what’s best for your project.  

Why You Should Consider Colorado for Your Next Video Production

As I said earlier, Colorado’s video production community is like a family. It’s collaborative and generous, full of camaraderie you won’t find in larger production hubs where individuals and production companies can come across as cutthroat. In Colorado, we realize that there’s plenty of work to go around and someone else’s success isn’t our failure. The talent here is top notch and full of people who came from larger hub cities like me. We’ve only continued to enhance our skills and capabilities, and we’re helping each other to do that. 

Because Colorado is such a beautiful state, we have so many shooting potentials, whether in nature or in the cities. Our climate means we can shoot in all four seasons, which opens even more creative avenues for storytelling. Our square state means exponential possibility for your video’s visuals.   

Last, Colorado sits practically in the exact middle between four production hubs: L.A. on the West Coast to New York on the East Coast; Vancouver in the north and Louisiana in the south. That’s why so much talent has moved here and why we have state-of-the-art studios for green-screen production and animation. 

Colorado-based Production Partners We Love

Our creative team has dreamed up just about every kind of video that can possibly be made whether it’s two- or three-dimensional animation or a documentary-style profile and everything in between. We collaborate with local production partners to bring our ideas to life. Here are some of the local talents we work with and why we love them. 

Best Practices for Local Video Production

First, having a working knowledge of video production is critical. Inside major hubs, video production is just part of that city’s culture—people just know more, even those who don’t directly work in the video industry. Outside those hubs, however, the working knowledge is much lower, and that’s OK. That’s what your agency is for. When you get into video projects for the first time, there’s a steep learning curve. There’s so much that goes into making even a 15-second video: storyboards, talent, music, locations, heavy machinery, multiple crews. There’s a lot to be mindful of—it’s not as simple as using your phone—which is why having the right agency partner is so important. As the director of video production, it’s my job to ensure clients know how video works, and video production is like a four-dimensional puzzle in space and time. 

Next, do what’s right for your specific video project. At Heinrich that means doing what’s in the best interest of our clients and the creative approach. Every video is different. Maybe that means filming on a smartphone. The cameras and capabilities get better all the time. Still, a great video producer will take it to the next level and make sure the subject is mic’d properly to capture the best sound. Maybe we’re shooting something original or creating animated illustrations with recorded audio. We always come back to what’s best for the client and the work. 

Something that’s easy to overlook is safety, but it’s essential. Video production can be a dangerous job— there’s heavy machinery, electricity, cords everywhere, long hours, back-to-back days—it’s all too easy to get hurt when people get sleepy or hot or an accident happens. Producers keep everyone safe, well fed and rested. It’s a key part of setting up the production right from the start. 

Heinrich’s Approach

We believe in supporting our local talent and economy. It’s why we continue to advocate for state film tax incentives to both support our local production companies and freelance filmmakers and spur economic activity. Film production doesn’t just support the film industry, it supports caterers, drivers, construction, you name it. These film projects can generate millions of dollars in revenue for the state and create jobs too. We’ve lost out on major projects to neighboring states like Arizona, Utah and Wyoming because our incentives as so small. That’s why I’ve picketed at the state capitol and why I’ll continue to keep this goal close to my heart. 

We’re also a kind and collaborative partner to our clients and our production vendors. For example, I worked in video production as a freelancer, so I understand where our freelancers come from. Our agency treats people with fairness and kindness while keeping our clients’ best interests in mind. Another example of our kindness in action was during the pandemic, which suddenly halted a majority local video production. We signed the Creator Alliance, a statewide initiative to keep agency and brand video production local. It meant a lot to the community and to me personally. 

See It to Believe It

This reel gives you a quick round up of our projects overall in healthcare, finance, retail, government and more. We have so many amazing video projects I could talk about, so I’ll just mention a few of my recent favorites and give you a deeper dive.  

Humana Alliance Partnership 

We worked with Humana and our production partner Lumenati to feature the stories of three members: Linda, Georgette and Margo. We pulled back the curtain on the production at the beginning of the video, which added an extra layer of intimacy with the viewer. You see the crew adjusting mics and helping the members get settled. Then we get to know these women and how Humana and their agents helped connect them to doctors who really understand, listen and care for them as people—not just as patients.  

Kroger holiday gift card spots 

I love how fun these holiday spots are with their word play and animations. Our creative director, Rob McPhee, creates the majority of the visuals and illustrations himself. “Smokin’ hot” with a smoker grill for Father’s Day. With heart-shaped drones and hot air balloons, love is literally in the air for Valentine’s Day. Steaming cups of cocoa, coffee, cider and the notorious pumpkin spice latte make fall feel cozy. 

Wyoming Governor’s Council on Impaired Driving (GCID) 

Our creative team came up a campaign for the Wyoming GCID this summer built around double meanings of familiar phrases often associated with drinking and drugs like One for the Road, Killer Combo and Bottoms Up. The ads feature three-dimensional animation by Friends of Mine that puts the viewer in the driver’s seat to show the natural consequences of driving impaired—blurred vision, swerving on the road, red and blue flashing police lights, a rollover crash. We designed this show-don’t-tell approach for the strong-willed, independent thinkers of Wyoming instead of finger wagging them.  

Whether you’re trying to tell individual stories, spread some cheer or save lives, we’ll help you craft a video that packs a punch creatively and commercially. We don’t just make cool videos; we make videos that advance your goals and objectives. Because we’re born for business. 

What was old has a way of becoming new again. The oldest form of mass media communication—audio—continues to resurge through music streaming and podcasting. More on-demand audio content than ever before also means more advertising opportunities for brands to be in audiences’ ears and on their minds. 

Why Audio is Having a Moment

The rise of technology has breathed new life into audio. Better, less expensive recording equipment has democratized the broadcasting experience. What used to take full-fledged production teams now can be done in a living room. On the audience side, smartphones mean virtually endless content options for any type of music or podcast on demand, on the go and for free. The ultimate time hack, audio makes it possible for audiences to do two things at once: exercise and listen, do chores and listen, drive and listen. 

So many options mean there’s something for everyone, whether you’re into history, economics, wellness or dating podcasts or jazz, Afro futurism, folktronica or musical theater. That competitive landscape for audiences’ attention demands higher quality content that stands out.  

The overall experience of streaming music and podcasts is better too. Gone are the days of 5-minute radio ad breaks. With only one or two ads per break now, they aren’t so painful, which means audiences listen. And because they’re more relevant to the content and/or the audience, the audience is more likely to listen as I’ll explain next. 

Why Audio Advertising Works

Today’s audio occurs mostly through headphones whether audiences are listening at home or on the go. That’s just about as intimate an experience as you can have with advertising: the sound isn’t just in your ears, it’s in your head. This intimacy makes it feel less like mass communication and more like one-to-one communication. It’s highly personal, like the message is only for you and you alone. That kind of emotional connection packs a powerful punch.  

Let’s talk numbers next.  

Like other digital media channels, streaming apps and podcasts offer advertisers multiple targeting options from demographics and geographies to language targeting, consumer behaviors and mindsets and lookalike and predictive audiences. The rich first-party data of in-app listening enables advertisers to layer campaigns with relevance. If cookies ever go away, this first-party data will become increasingly important. With audio advertising, you have a chance to get the right message in front of the right audience effectively at a low cost. 

How to Make Your Audio Ads Stand Out

Knowing your audience is king in advertising, whether you’re creating video or audio spots. If you can’t appeal to your audience, you can’t get your message across. Because audio is an especially intimate medium, it’s vital to make those ads personal (for example, referencing local landmarks or cultural events.)  

But don’t think audio is sound only. Many apps offer the option of display banners or full video interstitials that run when a user interacts with their device. Compelling visuals can help tell your brand story while capturing the eyes and imaginations of your listeners. An immersive brand experience can also help you differentiate your brand from other audio advertisers. 

Finally, get creative with how you tell audio stories. You don’t always need a host to read a spot or to hire a voice actor. For example, Heinrich worked with the Wyoming Department of Transportation and the Wyoming Governor’s Council on Impaired Driving for a summer 2023 campaign to end impaired driving called One for the Road. The campaign turns common drinking phrases on their head to show the perils of driving while impaired. 

Rather than lecture listeners about drinking and driving dangers, our creative team put listeners directly into a real-life story told through sound effects: a bartender’s last call, the clinking of glasses, a key fob unlocking a car, the engine’s turnover, radio playing country music and, finally, a crash. With hardly any words, we conveyed the negative, natural consequences of impaired driving. And it worked. The ads garnered 1.5 million completed listens, that’s the number of times the ad played from start to finish, not just a partial play. That campaign was born for business—in this case, the business of changing minds and saving lives. It shows the power of rethinking a legacy medium for today’s technologies and audiences. 

Marketing efforts are more scrutinized today than ever. There are also more channels than ever before. There’s a paradox at play: more risk, but more opportunity too. Brands need to know how to build the right strategy to meet consumers in the right places at the right times to move the needle. To do that as effectively and efficiently as possible, brands need an agency partner with omnichannel expertise.

What Omnichannel Marketing is and Why it Matters to Your Brand

Omnichannel marketing makes the best use of all available channels to connect with consumers on their journeys. It combines traditional and digital marketing into a holistic approach based on consumer needs and business objectives. It examines which channels are best at different points in the consumer journey for an integrated campaign. With an integrated campaign, each channel and consumer touchpoint reinforce the others so you can maximize your efforts, budget and results.

Today’s channel landscape is constantly changing, especially on the digital side. There’s always a new platform to join or features to explore. Brands can’t take a one-size-fits-all or check-the-box approach to channels. Each campaign needs to start with the consumer journey, data and business objectives. Once you have these outlined, you can build a custom omnichannel strategy that elevates your brand and your products or services.

Why Brands Need Agencies with Omnichannel Expertise

As the marketing channel ecosystem continues to fragment, it can be tempting to piecemeal campaigns across different channel-specific agencies. However, that can create a fragmented, inconsistent consumer experience with different agencies working in silos or even at cross purposes. The best way to maintain brand and messaging consistency is with a single agency who has deep omnichannel knowledge and proven results.

With a holistic plan under a single agency, brands get a global view of their efforts and are better positioned to connect the dots on their campaign and customer data. They can better optimize the entire plan instead of just its legs. Rather than start from a channel point of view, brands can start from the consumer’s point of view to create an overarching strategy. It’s about giving consumers what they need and want, which creates better relationships, while achieving business objectives.

What to Look for in an Omnichannel Agency Partner

It goes without saying that an omnichannel agency partner needs to be an expert in both traditional and digital channels. They need to have the diversity of expertise and experience to pull the campaign off. Here’s what to look for.

Data Expertise and Insights

Without insights or cohesive narrative, data is just a bunch of numbers. Brands have more data than ever at their fingertips, yet most don’t know how to unlock the narratives buried inside it, whether that’s demographic, financial or engagement data. Your omnichannel agency partner should be able to examine all the data you have and provide even more context and understanding with third-party data-service providers. They should be able to humanize the data to uncover consumer mindsets and behavior patterns. How do they feel? What makes them tick? How do they shop? Brands need an agency partner who can help them think through their data and bring an outside perspective to it too.

Rooted in Strategy

It’s easy to just start making and deploying things. With an omnichannel approach, you first need to step back to move forward. Omnichannel agencies should be experts at marrying consumer needs with business goals. They should take deep, ongoing dives into the industry category, business model, specific brand and consumers. From here, they can develop a solid strategic framework that ties everything together. This level of deep understanding is like a tree’s taproot. The campaign strategy becomes the tree trunk, and the channels the branches. Without deep roots, the whole tree crashes to the ground.

Measurement, Attribution, Evaluation and Testing Capabilities

Omnichannel agency partners must be able to prove their effectiveness. They need to know how they will measure the plan’s objectives and which metrics are the best to do so. They need to be able to successfully attribute increases in reach and revenue to their efforts. They need to know not only what’s working or not but why and how to optimize moving forward. They need to be able to effectively test which elements of a plan work best.

Born for Business in Theory and Practice

It’s one thing to talk about omnichannel strategy and another to execute it. At Heinrich, we do both. We’re passionate students of our clients’ businesses and dedicated to building relationships that last. We take the time to dig in to understand our clients, their goals and their consumers’ needs. We have the processes and tools to bring everything together, from strategy to execution, deployment to evaluation. We lead our clients with an eye toward the future. At Heinrich, we don’t just do work that’s creative; we do work that gets results. That’s why we’re born for business—your business.

#marketingstrategy #marketingagency

Traditional marketers might feel like digital is devouring everything. Maybe you’re a direct-mail marketer with your elbows out, “Digital has no business in the mailbox.”

But at Heinrich, we realize it’s not either traditional or digital—it’s a both/and. A hybrid approach can help you take the best of both realms to achieve your objectives more efficiently and effectively, even when it comes to your control package. Here’s how.

The QR Code Comeback

QR codes, once dead in many a marketer’s eyes, have not only been revived, but they’ve also taken over previously analog spaces and places. QR codes are how many restaurants share their menus, PowerPoint presenters promote their websites and social media profiles and even how drag queens earn Venmo tips.

According to eMarketer, the number of U.S. smartphone users scanning QR codes will increase to 99.5 million in 2025. It isn’t just younger smartphone users who have taken to scanning, older consumers have too; 44% of U.S. consumers aged 45–64 and 31% aged 65 and older report using marketing QR codes.

Three Reasons Why You Should Test QR Codes on Your Direct-Mail Control Package

Reason 1: Access to data

Data, as the technologists say, is the new oil. The companies who understand how to collect and leverage their data will be better positioned to capture more market share today and especially tomorrow.

While direct mail can be a great way to stand out in someone’s mind and mailbox, measurement and attribution can be difficult, especially if your call to action requires more friction or legwork on behalf of your audience like filling out a form and mailing it back. Adding a QR code for a call to action can help you better track audience actions and make it faster and easier for them to complete that call to action.

Reason 2: Increased Personalization

You can take your QR code a step further by creating a customized code and personalized URL for every recipient. Here’s an example using our President, George Eddy.

  1. George receives Heinrich’s direct-mail piece.
  2. He scans the custom QR code, which takes him to Heinrich.com/GeorgeEddy.
  3. He’s greeted with a personalized message, “Hey there, George!”
  4. The form fill is pre-populated with his contact information and asks him to correct and/or complete any incorrect or missing information.

Of course, you’ll need to thoroughly vet your mailing list ahead of time to find any duplicate names. You wouldn’t want to mix up two John Smiths.

Moving from a handwritten form fill to a digital form fill also alleviates work and reduces costs for your business. No longer will your staff waste precious time deciphering illegible handwriting. You can transition your data-entry employees to more meaningful work.

Reason 3: Retargeting opportunities

Using a direct-mail-to-web strategy gives you more chances to increase your direct mail campaign’s effectiveness. You can continue to retarget your direct-mail audience online via online ads and/or emails. Your media budget will dictate the number of touches.

  1. You match the physical addresses on your direct-mail list (your owned or purchased mailing list) to people-based digital identifiers such as LiveRamp or RampIDs.
  2. Devices tied to those digital IDs receive paid digital media such as display or video ads.
  3. These ads can then drive your audience to a standard landing page with an online form.

When you combine traditional and digital marketing, you’re cooking your direct-mail campaign with gas. You’ll gain the first-party data you need to make smarter business decisions, and you’ll make it easier for your audience to engage with you and you’ll be able to increase the efficacy of your marketing. In sum, integrated marketing plans that combine online and offline tactics do better than siloed efforts.

Heinrich is born for business—and your direct-mail campaign. That’s how we were able to beat our control package for a credit card offer 12 times with one test boosting Gross Revenue Retention by 24% through an estimated 1,400 incremental accounts. Let’s talk to see how we can beat your direct-mail control package again and again.


Naysayers have been saying it for years: direct mail is dead. The truth shows that direct-mail advertising is more robust than ever thanks to creative and technological advancements. That’s why an agency’s print department is a microcosm for wider agency trends as I’ll explain below. 

Trend #1: Start with Strategy

Strategy should drive all campaigns and tactics. In direct mail, strategy helps us know who to target when and how with the best formats and creative applications. Here are four examples: 

  1. Credit cards: Put an image of the credit card (personalized with the recipient’s name) on the package to help them imagine what it will be like to have the card in their hands. 
  1. Business recipients respond better to a letter package than a postcard or self-mailer. 
  1. Consumers during the holidays love invitation-style envelopes with stamps. 
  1. Mail that feels more emotional and tactile drives the urge to open it: 
  1. Handwritten fonts that look more personal 
  1. Soft-touch envelopes with a velvety feel 
  1. Gloss UV coatings that shine and catch the light 
  1. Embossed papers add sophistication and texture 
  1. Perforations make it easy—and irresistible—to open 

Trend #2: Data-Driven Plans and Results  

It’s no secret that data dictates marketing dollars. What may not be as intuitive is that data drives direct mail too.  

Today, direct mail campaigns are more microtargeted which means they’re more effective. We can tailor campaigns to highly local geographies or to extremely limited audiences based on past consumer behavior. For example, we can pinpoint the 50 people in a 5-mile radius who bought a boat in the past month and target them with products and services for their new boat. This kind of hyper-personalized, hyperlocal targeting means you’re spending your direct mail dollars more wisely so you can get better results. 

Direct mail holds the top position among channels for average return on investment (ROI) at 43% according to the most recent Response Rate Report from the Association of National Advertisers. Almost three-quarters of marketers agree that direct mail offers the best ROI. Proof-points like these explain why direct mail should have a place in every major campaign. 

Trend #3: What’s Old is New Again 

Overflowing mailboxes used to be a daily occurrence nationwide in the not-too-distant past. Now our email inboxes and social feeds overflow. To stand out, businesses increasingly turn to direct mail regardless of their audience demographics. Here’s why: 

As one of the oldest marketing channels, print too often gets overlooked in favor of digital channels. But much of innovation involves seeing the past with fresh eyes. The brands and agencies who know how to re-imagine direct mail and use it effectively as an anchor channel see higher results. 

Trend #4: Technological Innovation and Integration

Technology accelerates productivity and creativity. What used to take weeks in direct mail, now takes days. Digital proofs, more efficient production and new capabilities mean we have more opportunities than ever before to stand out in the mailbox with less time and money. 

Developing fully integrated campaigns that use both print and digital drive better results. In a survey commissioned by the U.S. Post Office, 60% of marketing respondents said combining digital and direct mail increases ROI. Don’t just take the marketers’ word for it: 56% of consumers tried a new business in the last six months because they got mail about it. 

With Informed Delivery and interactive calls to action like QR codes, the lines between the physical and digital worlds continue to blur—which works. Here are the stats that prove Informed Delivery pays off: 

Trend #5: A Can-do Attitude 

As business needs and consumer habits evolve, so have Heinrich’s print department and our skills. When we were founded, we focused primarily on direct mail for financial services, completing 18-million-piece runs with 30+ different versions. Now we also work in verticals like healthcare and multi-family real estate, which require different deliverables. For healthcare, we create fulfillment packages like sales enablement kits for insurance agents to host events-in-a-box. We develop high-end collateral pieces to woo and awe potential renters in multi-family real estate. 

We’re yes people who are solutions oriented and always looking for faster, more cost-effective ways to produce the ideas our creative department dreams up. We experiment, we test, we learn—and we know that what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. As such, we stay up on cutting-edge trends and technologies. 

Whether we’re making pop-up coupons for Macy’s inspired by their iconic parade, delivering human resource-department kits for a Kroger’s check cashing campaign or sending salt lamps to Medicare insurance agents to enhance provider affinity while improving personal well-being, we always champion innovation and impact. Because we’re born for business, which means we’re driven by results.