Fluid Images and TAPS partner up

Fluid Images, headed by Sisters residents Rick Johnson and Mike Gough, recently won a first-place Drake Award for a video production done for TAPS of Sisters (Think AgainParentS).

The Drake Award recognizes talent and achievement in the advertising/marketing industry in the preceding year.

The award is sponsored by the Ad Federation of Central Oregon which is “a nonprofit organization of advertising, marketing and public relations professionals who are dedicated to upholding high ethical standards for advertising in Central Oregon by supporting educational opportunities that promote the value and functions of advertising and by assisting in the promotion of socially responsible community service projects.”

Fluid Images, a local video production company that produces corporate image pieces, public service announcements, music videos and short films, won first place against entries from all media, including radio, websites, and televisioncommercials.

The video, featuring student actors from Sweet Home High School and Sisters, now automatically advances to the regional competition.

This was a first-time Drake Competition entry for Gough and Johnson, who entered the video because of the reactions of people who saw it.

“People are just blown away,” said Johnson. “As a public service announcement, the video goes to a good cause.”

“Credit for this production and its award also needs to go to Reuben Anderson, a Sisters High School graduate, for the special effects, and to Slater Dixon, another SHS graduate, for editing the piece,” Gough said.

TAPS, a Sisters organization whose membership includes the Community Action Team of Sisters (CATS), SOAR, Kiwanis, Juvenile Justice, Deschutes County Prevention Office and the Forest Service, contacted Fluid Images about doing a video that highlighted the dangers of teen alcohol consumption.

“We gave them an idea, and they just ran with it,” said Deschutes County Prevention Office representative Marsha Robinson.

“They were incredible,” she said.

So far the award-winning video has been shown at a few venues in the county, with Channel 21 showing it in their underage drinking series. It has also been presented as an introduction to TAPS.