Yup. You read that right. We do work for other agencies.
When I first started with this agency in 2008, the agency world was a different beast. Competition was fierce. Collaboration was rare. The marketing world of 2019 has forced us all to either grow in-house capabilities or partner with third-party providers. If inviting a partner firm to the party means that you’re able to achieve more toward the client’s goals, do it.
That’s what Debora Palmer, long-time sales manager at local TV stations in Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas, believed when she called on Storm Cloud to handle video production for her new client at Blue Sky Marketing, High Winds Casino. High Winds had recently experienced sweeping changes (including the reopening of a major route and new leadership), and they were ready to renew their image to the market. Blue Sky Marketing entered the scene to facilitate this change, and having worked with Storm Cloud on video projects for her other clients, she knew that we could provide the level of production quality that was needed.
When we work with Blue Sky, Debora is our client. She’s the boss. It’s much like a client relationship where an internal Director of Marketing is present. There are always internal approval processes and levels of input, but our ability to plug-in to Blue Sky’s services is a win-win-win.
There are a few takeaways from this example. First, the ability to collaborate with other agencies has given our business the ability to connect with more clients and projects, and it’s given our agency clients the ability to offer our services as an extension of their business. Second, if your business is facing a limitation, seek out a third-party who can plug-in seamlessly to your business. Yes, it takes a lot of time and effort to find the right providers. Yes, there’s a trust-building process. Yes, it’s a process of trial and error. However, you have to be willing to experiment in order to improve. Finally, check out this cool video we were able to do for High Winds Casino through Blue Sky Marketing!
About the Project:
Debora had the promotion details, VO script and rough ideas for visuals already ready, so we were able to focus on video execution. Luckily, High Winds already had the drone footage (used for the intro and outro) on-file, and we were able to color-correct, speed-ramp and add effects to make these shots blend with the rest of our footage. Footage from inside the casino, lounge, and restaurant was filmed using our DJI Ronin MX and a jib/crane carrying a Canon 5D Mk IV (4k running Cinestyle). After grabbing a few key shots, we collected a lot of footage moving through the casino floor to use as background/environmental elements in the video (knowing that graphics would need to be animated on top of the footage).
After color-correcting, stabilizing and clipping all of our favorite shots, we cut the VO (that’s the voice of one of my many personalities on that spot), found some music that matched the vibe we wanted to project, rough-cut all of those together, and handed it off to our motion-graphics magician, Shane. From simple text animations to subtle accent animations and fully-customized “logo reveal” animation, these graphic treatments took an already-exciting video to the next level.
We sent the spot to Debora. Debora sent the spot to High Winds, then she called to report that her client said “HOLY CRAP!” after watching our first draft. We’ll call that one a winner!
