"When I launched Raging Artists in November of 2006, I did so with the goal of it being more than a platform for promoting commissioned work," says Hesh Rephun, Founder of the Raging Artists image broadcasting firm and Editor-in-Chief of RagingArtists.com. "I imagined cultivating a community of commercial artists and championing ALL of their work, including their creative experiments. We specialize in what we call Image Broadcasting, which is communicating the personality, the brand, of our clients - and part of that was showcasing their spec work, whether they are directors, dps, editors, vfx artists, or producers."
While the Raging Artists home page has always been open to spec work and other interesting items such as stories from the set, art, even poems, from its clients, the site decided to focus on "Experiments in Advertising" and open it up to the community at large toward the end of last year. To that end, Raging Artists created a Submit your Spec page to simplify the process.
"I've spent many years championing artists in advertising, and I think it's important to provide a forum where the risks they take and the experiments they're proud of can be showcased on an ongoing basis," Rephun says. "Beyond that, showcasing the experimental work draws eyes to our site, which means more exposure for our clients."
Raging Artists is establishing a database of those whose work it posts, and Rephun hopes the site will be a resource to advertisers, agencies and production companies seeking new talent.
"When I started out in the ad biz, I was a rep and the only people who saw your director's spec spot were the people who saw their showreel," recalls Rephun, who has represented some of the most honored production companies and directors in the industry. "Rarely did the actual brand show an interest in specs, or pick up a spec and run it (it happened, just rarely). Now, careers are built on specs, as evidenced by the success of this initiative and all the Group101Spots (now Spotlab) alumni who have been signed to companies; the climate now is such that work created on spec has a good chance of being noticed by the brand - if it has a forum like this one. We're marketing this page as much to brands as to agencies. The possibility of advertisers from Arturo Fuente Cigars to Miller Lite or Reebok picking up one of these specs for the Web is very real."
Rephun has already been approached by one brand about a spec posted on the site. He attributes this interest to the filmmakers' solid grasp of the advertiser's marketing agenda, be it for broadcast or the Web or on a grass-roots level. "They're not just gifted filmmakers, they are savvy when it comes to marketing as well," Rephun concludes, "and they're demonstrating that they will be good collaborators for advertisers and agencies."
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