PROJECT PROFILES

Rather than laying out a template of hackneyed, superficial concepts, we go in deep and come back with a crystal-clear understanding of who you are.

From this identity, we help you to formulate your message. This happens well before we turn on the lights or warm up the camera – even before we sit down to write your script. Each project takes on a life of its own. We make the production process a life-enriching experience. Why? Because the quality of this process has a substantially profound effect on the end result. The spirit in which your program is created will show up on the screen.

Here are details on a some of our noteworthy projects.

Brown University Office of Student Life
Education-Awareness-Advocacy Program on Date Rape and Dating Violence.

Date rape is often called Colleges’ Dirty Little Secret. It’s a much bigger problem than most people realize.  23 percent of college women are raped during their college career and 65 percent of these attacks go unreported – that’s according to research by the American Association of University Women.

“What’s hard to talk about is hard to teach about,” says Toby Simon and she should know. As Associate Dean of Student Life at Brown University she’s responsible for the intervention and prevention of campus crimes such as violence, drug abuse and date rape. The issue of date rape became highly controversial at Brown when it was made public that women who had been forced to have sex were naming their assailants on a list displayed on a public ladies’ room wall.

Toby’s work creating a campus sexual assault program at Brown University led her to become a nationally recognized author, speaking and expert on the subject.  Her program: Sexual Assault Prevention Education became a model for colleges around the country.

Combining her expertise on the subject and our strategies for crafting powerful messages, Toby and Mumbleypeg collaborated on the creation of a program to make her work available to a wider audience. The program: When a Kiss is Not Just a Kiss utilizes live drama filmed before an audience of  college freshman.  The story told -  a simple and yet powerful narrative – elicits thinking and dialogue about the issue,  provides the impetus for discussion, awareness and understanding, and offers a direct and effective means of addressing this complex and controversial issue. In the program, an interactive spontaneous dialogue between actors and the audience sparks questions and answers that reveal the truth about the issue of date rape from all perspectives.

“I came to understand just how difficult date rape is to teach about”, said Ken Malloy, producer of the program. “Like many other sensitive subjects, direct information leads to denial and avoidance. By using issue-based drama to get the audience involved in a story, we communicate below the radar of the rational mind that often avoids uncomfortable truths.”

When A Kiss Is Not Just A Kiss quickly gained a reputation for its sensitive, effective approach to the topic, and has since been adopted as an educational tool by hundreds of organizations including rape crisis centers, college health centers, state governments, and has become part of college curriculum dealing with justice and human rights.  In addition, the United States Department of Defense delivers the program to branches of the military including the United States Army, Air Force and Marines.  The program is now a part of international efforts led by the US Armed Forces and the Pentagon to spread vital information about this issue to military based around the world.

The program has won two awards.

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Ann Taylor
Stock Talk – One program in a Series of Corporate Training Videos

With relatively low pay and high turnover rate, the training of store associates has always been challenging for retail businesses. For many years, Mumbleypeg has helped major retailers address these issues, producing approximately 170 videos for clients including Macys, Bloomingdales, Bergdorf Goodman, Polo, Swatch, Lord & Taylor, Brooks Brothers and Tiffany & Co.

One particular challenge faced by women’s clothing retailer Ann Taylor was training and motivating their stockroom associates.  Anyone who knows the retail business will tell you, a well-organized and efficiently run stockroom is integral to the success of the selling floor.

Training videos can be dry – or worse, they can talk down to the audience. How can a corporate training video capture the attention and maintain the interest of twentysomethings who are almost constantly bombarded by loud, intense, high-contrast and quick-cut messages?  Mumbleypeg understood that meeting this challenge meant crafting a presentation whose style would resonate with the sensibilities of this demographic.

Solution: Hire a crew who shoots and produces shows for MTV Networks, and create a program that communicates to that audience; the core messages: teamwork, playing by the rules, accountability, and pride in a job well done is what make being at work cool and fun.

Stock Talk was so successful that Mumbleypeg went on to create a series of over 40 teaching tools for Ann Taylor, including store associate sales and operations training videos and corporate values and practices awareness presentations.

Stock Talk won a Silver Apple with the National Education Media Network in the category of employee motivation.

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The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Fundraising Event Video Roll-in for the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive

The Theatre on Film and Tape Library is probably the most interesting and exciting branch of the almost 100 branches of the New York Public Library.

Located in the middle of one of New York City’s cultural centerpieces: Lincoln Center, TOFT captures and archives all major theatrical productions in New York City.

Their mission: to preserve the best of Broadway for posterity, and make the beauty and wonder of this distinctively American art form available for future generations to enjoy.

As a foundation, ongoing success of the library relies solely upon charitable donations. The keeper of TOFT’s vision, top Broadway producer/director Hal Prince hired Mumbleypeg to write, produce and direct a video presentation to roll-in at a huge, gala fund-raising event attended by over 700 benefactors and supporters of theatre and the arts.

Being charged with this task meant reviewing over 1,000 pieces of video, spanning the history of live performance on film. From a home movie by Thomas Edison to clips from today’s modern musicals, Mumbleypeg created a broad and dynamic presentation that captured the passion, beauty and grandeur of the live Broadway show.

The presentation was preceded by a live performance by Liza Minelli, and described by Mr. Prince as “the turning point of the evening.”  He said with a smile:  “We can’t bring you all to library, so we’re bringing the library to you!” The power of our program matched the power of the event; and now sits as an archived piece alongside the performances it honored.

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Connecticut Public Television
Documentary: “Celebrating the Familiar: The Sculpture of J. Seward Johnson”

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International Paper
Corporate Policy and Sensitivity Awareness Program: “Respect and Dignity in Our Workplace.”

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