Tanner Low, of Raymond James Financial Advisors, nominated Nick Ramey as One to Watch in 2021. “When it comes to a citizen who is involved in the community, is heavily involved in growing local business, and is well known amongst charitable circles, I think Nick Ramey is an outstanding nominee,” Low says.
One to Watch in 2021 is an NCM initiative to recognize those making headway in their careers or volunteer efforts. We’re proud to feature Nick Ramey as One to Watch.
Nick Ramey combines his work as a video and media producer with his love for community to give back through Gig Bag.
Nick Ramey is One to Watch
Written by JENNIFER DZIEDZIC
Photographed by SANDY HISER
Nick Ramey, 35, is the executive producer and CEO of Gig Bag Media and a proud resident of Newnan. He and his family moved here in 1998 and, after graduating from Georgia State University in 2007, he went to work in media.
In the first five years of his career, Ramey won two Emmy awards for his work with 11 Alive News in Atlanta. After winning his second Emmy, he served as a commercial producer with Atlanta & Company for WXIA and later with Bluwave Productions.
Large photo: Nick Ramey works on a Gig Bag assignment for one of his local clients, Newnan Utilities.
Inset photo: The onscreen image Ramey works with depicts timber collected since the March tornado. In the righthand corner is one of Ramey's two Emmys.
“After college, I started working for 11 Alive News and did that for eight years or so, working 2 a.m. to noon, Tuesday through Saturday, which was exhausting,” says Ramey. “But I enjoyed it – to be a part of the news world covering breaking news and the Icepocalypse [of January 2014].”
Due to his long commute and lack of sleep, Ramey transferred to the commercial production department and started making commercials, something he never thought he would do but enjoyed a lot.
In 2016, Ramey opened his own production company, first as a drone business, and he made it his full-time business in 2018 as Gig Bag Media.
“Gig Bag does a lot of different things,” says Ramey. “We do mainly any type of video and media production, and that can be from commercials for television and broadcast to social media videos to training videos. We can do everything from animation to drone work. It’s been a fun journey to go from making commercials for smaller companies to moving up and seeing how some of these larger Fortune 500 companies work.”
To keep their finger on the pulse, Gig Bag Media does ample research following trends online, according to Ramey, who says a lot of his work involves chatting with customers to get a feel for their needs by asking questions like: Where does your traffic come from? How are you getting your client base? Where do we need to skew our writing and shooting style to fit?
“Because we’re gonna do it differently for TV versus social media,” he explains.
Ramey’s mom, Kim Ramey, founded and runs the nonprofit Backstreet Community Arts in Newnan. Nick says he’s learned from his mom that running nonprofits is complicated, and he tries to help out when and where he can.
“It is hard to get funding, and video stuff is expensive, but you need video stuff to help get more funding, so it’s this vicious circle,” says Nick. “We always try to help out, volunteer our time and services as much as we can, or at least severely cut costs as much as we can. That’s our way of helping give back to the community in a way that not a lot of people can. We are always excited to help do that.”
Nick’s mom is partial, of course, but she can’t help but appreciate her son’s work, especially since Gig Bag Media has helped her nonprofit, too.
“At the height of the pandemic, Backstreet Arts’ indoor studio was closed to the public, and we were desperately trying to figure out a way to stay in touch with our community,” says Kim. “Gig Bag Media jumped in and helped create a YouTube channel and set up an area in the studio to film with an overhead view so our participants could see our face and our hands. Nick’s easy going personality eased our fears.”
Tanner Low also has worked with Nick on various projects. The first was a project dubbed “Charities in the Spotlight” to bring awareness to all charities in the Newnan-Coweta County area.
Kim Ramey exudes pride in her son's work. Photo by Beth Neely.
“I approached Nick, primarily as I had heard wonderful things about Gig Bag Media,” says Low. “He is one of those highly energetic people who always seems to put other people before himself. The initial video highlighted Backstreet Community Arts and arrangements were made to develop videos for Coweta Force, Elevate Coweta Students, and Southwest Christian Care.” With Nick’s help, Southwest Christian Care was able to host their annual gala in a virtual format.
“Nick’s passion really lies in serving Newnan and Coweta County,” Low adds.
Locally, Ramey has produced commercials and media services for Newnan Utilities, Georgia Bone and Joint, Newnan Cougars Football, The Nixon Centre and other businesses in the Coweta area. He also has done work for Amazon, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Atlanta United.
On being chosen as One to Watch in 2021, Nick Ramey says, “It is an honor, and it’s also very cool.
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