Stories

News, project launches and thoughts from our team.

In Uncertain Times, We’re Here to Help

Hi everyone,

Like all of you, we’re constantly monitoring the news around COVID-19. It has affected many parts of our normal, day-to-day life. Rather than business as usual, it has made us all think about how we can do business differently and how we might be able to help our clients do business differently.
Here at Double Barrel, we’re used to working remotely. Our projects have always been managed through a combination of phone, email, videoconference and online file sharing. So this is a space we know well. And with staff and customers more distant than before, communication is more important than ever. Sharing information with customers and with your staff might seem hard, but we can help.

Maybe your business has always been more of a terrestrial, storefront business and you’re looking to take it online to keep serving your customers. We can work with you on everything from a digital strategy, to designing, activating and maintaining a website that lets you keep doing what you do best.

Live action video shoots are on hold for the time being. But producing animated videos is right in our wheelhouse and can be done from a safe, remote workplace.

Or perhaps you’re finding it hard to get your social media messaging to stand out in a very crowded, news-heavy environment? We can help you build an impactful social media plan and engaging content to keep your products & services on your customers’ radar.

We know what you’re going through. We’re all in this together, navigating uncertain times when it comes to work and life. Reach out. Touch base. We’re only a quick email, phone call or Zoom conference away. And we’re happy to help.

Let’s all look forward to getting back to a more familiar routine. Until then, stay well!

Cheers,

Roz & the team

PROJECT LAUNCH: Premier Tech Home & Garden

This past November, Double Barrel partnered with Premier Tech Home and Garden to bring you ‘From the Garden Shed’ ~ a bite-sized branded content series featuring Canada’s top gardening experts Mark Cullen (‘The New Canadian Garden’), Owen Reeves (Marilyn Denis Show)  & Albert Mondor (Le Tour du Jardin).

This  series of 16 videos cover a vast range of topics ranging from de-weeding and spreading seed, to growing grass, herbs, vegetables and flowers throughout the different seasons. It was fun learning these proven tips and tricks directly from the pros!

Crafting the “From The Garden Shed” series was an homage to the fact that we actually spent 3 days shooting in Mark Cullen’s garden shed! It was such a great experience working with Premier Tech Home & Garden and our amazing cast and crew. We actually filmed all of these in the winter, so that we would be able to showcase them in the coming summer months. Finding the necessary props needed to stage certain scenarios was an interesting challenge, but we were able to pull it off!

Premier Tech Home & Garden had a robust video strategy which was really helpful in orchestrating these shoots. We had each video shot in french and in english and we created 1 minute and 30 second versions for social media. We’re so excited to begin rolling out this content so stay tuned for more in the coming months! We hope these videos are as helpful to you as they were to us!

Taking the Stigma out of Student Mental Health

For parents, talking about mental health with their teens can be a seemingly uphill task. Oftentimes, kids suffer and keep their struggles hidden for far too long – and by the time they finally ask for help, it’s much harder to intervene.

Many parents aren’t aware that help exists within the school system, that trained professionals are waiting and willing to lend a hand if they’re given the opportunity.

The Halton District School Board is one of these school boards – progressive in their approach to student mental health. When they came to us with the important task of creating a video that would raise awareness amongst parents of the mental health services that they offer to students in the district – it was a challenge that we took very seriously.

“Mental health and well-being is everyone’s responsibility and requires a whole-school and community approach,” says David Euale, Director of Education for the Halton District School Board. “We know positive mental health and student achievement are closely connected. We hope this video helps to create awareness of mental health issues and an environment that supports our students to succeed.”

Written and directed by Tyler Tekatch, stunningly shot by Christoph Benfey, crafted in the edit suite by Vanessa Crosbie Ramsay and sound mixed by the lads at Hive Studios – this is a piece that we are exceedingly proud of.

“This project was compelling to me because it was a chance to collaborate with drama students from the HDSB, all of whom were eager to participate, and to work with a school board that wanted to open up the conversation about mental health,” says director Tyler Tekatch. “The stigma regarding mental health is something that our society as a whole needs to break down, and the HDSB is taking the necessary steps to do that in their schools.”

Marnie Denton, Manager of Communication for the HDSB, had this to say about working with us ~ “Double Barrel Studios found a creative way to present the topic of Mental Health awareness for us. They took all our information and distilled it down to the essential points that needed to be communicated. From our first meeting to the final edits it was a pleasure to work with their team.”