CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
When Rudy & Tammi started the business in September of 2011, a meer 5 weeks before their wedding, in an effort to now…well, die… they shot anything for anyone for nearly any amount of money. But developing over time, they continued to see shortcomings with creative, messaging, and strategy. The company has changed from a “point and shoot” video/photo studio into the creative agency we are today.
Through strategic partnerships and smart hiring, they have assembled a team of fervent creatives, grounded in the reality that all ideas deserve some light, not just the safe ones. Sometimes it’s in those “Okay…So what if” moments that the best idea find their way and it’s in those brutal and candid auditing questions where the real course is set.
THE NEW ERA
SAFE SCHMAFE
We value being a little unsafe. Not in a scary or physically in danger sort of the sense, but in the uncharted waters sense. Especially in creative. Too much of creative today is canned, refined, focus group tested, white noise. There is a place for all things, but if we look back at the most impactful projects of ours and the marketing field in general, it’s often the unsafe and nearly unwise that stands the test of time.
It wasn’t the safest idea for Windows Plus to pull the trigger on our “4th Little Pig” concept we pitched. There were safer ways to tell their story, but they chose the idea that garnered them more than 4 million views on Youtube alone.
It wasn’t the safest idea for Fischer Homes to have the focus on their custom home builder campaign to be on the life lived within versus the home itself. There were safer ways to tell the Fischer story, but they chose the idea that plants deep seeds inside viewers head and has them humming all day long to a Franke Valle classic.
And it wasn’t the safest idea to have Cincinnati Reds starting second baseman Matt McClain laying on his belly, sliding in the dirt, and delivering lines. There were safer ways to tell the Sharefax story, but they chose the idea had people at the virtual water cooler saying, “Did you see that Sharefax commercial?”
OUR PROCESS
Starting with the problem, we go deep into creative with our clients, having them (and us) step back and ascertain the real issues, the real goals, and the real needs. Paying no attention to ego, we develop strategies and deliverables with our clients in order to serve the mission first, believing the best idea for the mission wins no matter where it comes from.
Shepherding the campaign and idea, we set our sails for the end goal and never look away. We are never afraid to challenge our clients, but only in partnership never in opposition.
Through intentional conversations, we discover, develop, and execute the project from the first “Thanks for hopping on this call” to the champagne toast. (its happened.
SHAKEY ROCKS
It wasn’t the safest idea to start a business the way HCCo started. No business plan, no real goal other than pay rent, no money. Just pure cliff jumping without a parachute hoping to land on your feet. In fact, it was probably a REALLY unsafe thing to do. But 15 years later, it’s turning out pretty good.
Being built on such uneven ground from the jump while simultaneously seeing how good things can go when you just keep taking steps forward, how could we in good conscience not push ourselves and our partners to feel a little shaky from the start too? How could we not want to take a step forward on the stone that looks a bit shaky? How could we not ask our clients “What if…”?
Not to take a step in the wrong direction, but to truly understand where the next step is.