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“Growing up, I was the only one in the house who knew how to program the VCR,” quipped the Franklin Lakes native.
He shot his first video when he was a junior at Don Bosco Prep School in Ramsey.
He shot his first corporate video – the main thrust of the Video Marketing Group – in 1996 for the Center for Food Action.
Along his career path, he did voice-over work for top clients, including The Today Show and DiGiorno Pizza, and he was a cameraman and producer for News 12 New Jersey.
As of April, Riccardi can be found in his 525-square-foot, state-of-the-art Video Marketing Group studio, which he runs in Allendale with his wife, Keri Riccardi, a writer and English instructor at Bergen Community College.
He’s there 60 percent of the time, anyway. Otherwise, he’s filming on location.
The 9-year-old business, which recently closed its Paramus location, is still going strong.
“Video has always been powerful,” Riccardi said. “But before the Internet and social media, getting a video into the hands of someone who could distribute it was more expensive than making the video itself.”
Today, however, a person can shoot a high-definition video on a cell phone, he said, and, within an hour, 23 million people could be viewing it.
So with everyone shooting and uploading, what’s the role of a professional video company?
Citizen videos can get a message across, Riccardi said, given certain minimal standards of quality. But what gets delivered in a professionally produced business video, he explained, is not so much content as confidence in the person featured.
“The key is authenticity,” Riccard said.
Using their skills and tools, videographers create a video that presents a person as approachable, knowledgeable and passionate, he said. In response, Riccardi said, the public will reach out.
He creates different kinds of videos, including the blog-style video in which the subject shares snippets in his field of expertise. Then there are testimonial videos, overview videos, case study videos, hidden camera videos, video news releases and more.
Video Marketing Group also produces “kideos,” which show a child’s age progression during a 10-year span.
What’s the next big thing?
Riccardi said it’s already here — the video website.
Click here for a sample of Riccardi’s work.
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