June 10th, 2004

Scotts Valley, CA - Two new television spots are currently being seen on Northern California stations thanks to the work of Los Gatos-based ad agency, Barnestorming. Creative Director, Jim Barnes, tapped Tam Communications to execute the two :30 ads for his client Meriwest Credit Union. Meriwest, formerly IBM’s credit union, is spreading the word that you don’t have to be an IBM employee to be a credit union member.

Barnes worked closely with Tam’s Executive Producer/Director, Tam Fraser on the commercials with Susan O’Connor Fraser producing. The first spot, “You Can Join”, was shot on film and featured local actors as both Meriwest employees and customers. Critical to the execution of Barnes’ vision was to portray a wide variety of people to reinforce the diversity of who can now be a credit union member. O’Connor Fraser worked with Associate Producer Steve Enzer to set up the day-long casting session where dozens of potential extras were seen. Roles of a professional dog groomer, a florist, a telecommuter, a businessman, a jogger, and a young couple were all filled in addition to Meriwest staffers.

The production day brought cast and crew to the San Mateo branch of Meriwest and then several other locations, which had been scouted and secured by the Tam team. The crew for the film shoot included Assistant Cameraman, Jan Sluchak; Gaffer, Andy Olsen; Grip, Jess Ortega; and Make-up Artist, Rose Hill.

While Tam Fraser supervised the film-to-tape transfer at Monaco in San Francisco, final details were being put in place for production of the second of the two spots. “Do You Wazoo?” would launch a few weeks after the first spot, and would be a memorable and humorous look at how other banks can ‘charge up the wazoo’ for services that Meriwest offers for free. The spot features local actor Patrick Brady leading the staff of a fictitious bank in a corporate team-building exercise as they all charge up the Wazoo River. This second spot, also shot and directed by Fraser, originated on video tape in one day of production at Saratoga Springs.

Fraser edited both commercials in one of Tam’s two Avid editing suites.

Tam Communications is a leading digital media company, servicing corporate and entertainment clients by combining technical, creative, and communications expertise in the realms of video, interactive multimedia, and web. The company's expanding spectrum of original entertainment programming—developed for broadcast, cable, syndication, and other venues—airs worldwide. Tam Communications is a privately held company located in Scotts Valley, CA. Please visit our web site at www.tamcom.com.