BX Films

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the creative director at AppLovin. It’s a mobile gaming company that not only produces games but also has an app network platform for developers to monetize their games.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BX Studios?

We hired BX Films to produce videos and photography for our website and for collateral to tell our story.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BX Films worked with our in-house teams to further define our persona. Their team found, defined, and created the right physical spaces for each persona, mapped them to the appropriate devices for that user, and told a silent story. The video will play on a loop on our site featuring a plethora of people who play mobile games. Their team created a robust set of videos that they're editing now. They also provided a photography set. Their team photographed our personas and managed a separate shoot of our executive leaders for our website to highlight our leadership.

How did you come to work with BX Films?

I was clear about what I wanted from a partner. I needed them to be a full production studio because we don’t have the time to pull together each crew member necessary to bring this project to life. I found them on Clutch, read their reviews, looked at their website and portfolio, and then interviewed them in person. Their work style matched ours and showed that they could produce the content that we wanted. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in November 2019 and produced the majority of the shoot in December. We’re wrapping up post-production now, but BX Films’ work is ongoing. We weren’t able to finish in December due to scheduling issues with some of our executive leadership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Since we’re still in post-production, we haven’t published the work externally. However, the leadership photos have been shared amongst the team and they’re happy with them. The team was also happy with the shoot itself, which was pleasant, relaxing, and special. BX Films' work is by far the best quality work that our company has produced. We’re excited to use them publicly on our page as well as for press.

How did BX Films perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re always on time. We communicate through Slack, which is how our internal team communicates. Their team’s almost an extension of our team because they’re able to communicate with us on the fly at different times. They allow us to have an ongoing, continued conversation to avoid any gaps in the project. Communication with them has been amazing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their personality was a game-changer. They felt like an extension of our team. Their team’s approachable and collaborative, bringing ideas to the table up front. They were eager to come our way to meet us within a day’s notice. Even with last-minute scheduling changes on our end, they’ve been able to meet by rearranging their schedules. We have a cool, creative, and trustworthy partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Insight into the process’s milestones ahead of time would be helpful. I trust that we will get tasks done with BX Films, but it would be helpful for me to be able to layout the next few weeks with key milestones to the people that I report to.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Before we started looking we did our homework. We spent time thinking about what we wanted aesthetically. Being able to provide examples to their team helped BX Films become partners from the moment we met them rather than having them take a longer time to ramp up. Sit down with your team and decide who's going to be the stakeholders and approvers so that it doesn’t derail the process later on. Know the project and the project’s deliverables so that everybody understands what’s going to come out of the budget and what’s going to come out of the time invested in the project. We knew that our expertise only went so far, so we laid a foundation and gave creative freedom to BX Films to take the content to the level that it needed to be. They’re looking for a creative partnership rather than acting as just a production studio.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing for a private equity firm based in San Francisco.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BX Films?

We were looking to create a video primarily for recruiting purposes. We wanted to show undergrad students, a core constituent, what it's like to work here. The best way to bring that to life was through video.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was a collaborative process with BX Films. They were creatively involved throughout. On our side, we brought the context, relaying what people who are looking into the private equity or finance industry want to know and hear about.

What is the team composition?

We worked primarily with Ben (Executive Producer, BX Films), Beau (Producer, BX Films), and Myles (Art Director, BX Films). There was a crew that came in to shoot the video during the week of filming.

How did you come to work with BX Films?

We interviewed a couple of other production companies. The big difference for us was that the team at BX Films was really excited about the story we were trying to tell and branch into an unfamiliar industry.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with BX Films in May 2019. The video was shot and completed in July 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Internally, our team was happy with the outcome of the project. We had done similar videos in the past, and this one was much higher quality. Bringing in a team made a big difference.

When we brought in candidates during recruiting season, there was a noticeable difference. Candidates were excited and already knew about us before the interview process. They’ve had a positive impression on us.

How did BX Films perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, their team was awesome. The team at BX Films is organized, collaborative, and flexible. With video production, there are a lot of pieces and people involved. We really appreciated that they were willing to work with everyone’s schedules by getting different teams to participate. They were well-organized throughout the entire process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I haven’t worked with other videographers in the past, but we liked their team’s learning mindset. We also appreciated that it didn’t feel like a “one size fits all” type of project.

The team at BX Films was engaged throughout the process, remaining eager to learn about our industry and potential viewers. Overall, their team was a fun group of people to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, it was a delightful experience working with them. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking to do this type of project. We would certainly use them again in the future as well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set expectations upfront to ensure that you know what you’re looking for in an agency or team. I think it helps to provide a robust creative brief to their team ahead of time. We documented a lot of information that we wanted them to know before starting the video, and I think it went a long way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former head of digital marketing at Libratone, a Danish audio startup. We’ve received funding of $150 million and strive to become a top-five audio brand in the next five years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BX Films?

We launched traditional paid media ads and got some decent ROIs. However, we were buying such a large volume of ads that it became difficult to scale. We were doing direct-to-consumer marketing and investing 50% of our margins in traditional marketing channels. We relied on our stores to drive awareness and demand and ultimately sell the product. Instead, we decided to invest that 50% margin in digital marketing. We wanted to build our digital brand and grow our user base.

Our team at Google recommended a new ad unit that was just coming out in beta. They ensured us that it would enable us to scale. We needed to create two video ads, specifically for this new ad unit. We approached BX Films with the challenge of creating 30–40-second video ads for two products: headphones and wifi-enabled speakers. Within the first five seconds, we needed to show that our brand was a value product. We wanted the videos to have an infomercial style and captivate viewers so that they’d watch the full videos and then click to buy the products.

The headphones are noise canceling. What sets them apart is their touch screen interface, which allows users to skip, play, or pause songs. People associate noise-canceling headphones with certain brands, so we wanted to create a target demo that was a little bit different from traditional ads. We did market research and found that people not only use noise-canceling headphones for travel, but many were using them in open offices, a demographic that coincides with our consumer base. In the video ad, the headphones needed to be front and center the whole time so that even if people watched it with the sound off, they’d know exactly what was happening.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BX Films created two product videos for us. They provided us with a couple of options to choose from and then delivered a turnkey production service. The team did live-action videos with actors and actresses.

What is the team composition?

We worked very closely with four people. We had a main point of contact, a director, a logistics coordinator, and a writer. There were quite a few people that were on-site the day of the shoot as well.

How did you come to work with BX Films?

One of the members of BX Films reached out with an unsolicited email. The CEO of my former company kept in touch with them. We actually went and looked at other agencies first, and then the CEO suggested giving them a shot.

One of the reasons we chose BX Films was because their storyboards were much more creative than the other agencies we looked at. While none of the agencies, including BX Films, knew our product extremely well at the time they were pitching us, BX Films had the creativity that a lot of the other agencies lacked, and we latched onto that. Trying to teach them how to position the product the right way was simple, but the creative side is something our team didn’t have.

How much have you invested in them?

My company spent $92,900 on the two videos.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on this project from September–November 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We absolutely crushed every YouTube metric that the YouTube team gave us. This was because of good digital marketing and targeting, but also because the videos were so highly engaging. We doubled our view-through rate and more than tripled the product’s sell-through. Organic and direct traffic increased a lot. The clickthrough metrics were all about one-and-a-half times where Google had projected they would be. To this day, Google uses this project as a case study for the Google TrueView for action, or YouTube for Performance, team.

Everyone loved the headphones video; it was comical but also very product-focused, which was the type of ad that this product needed. I didn’t have to read anything or hear the video; I knew that it was an ad for headphones. I think a lot of advertisers miss that when they’re creating videos. Their videos may be cool, slick, and stylish, but they don’t include product features and attributes that are so key to the sales funnel. BX Films did a very good job of grasping that for us.

This ad unit was in beta at the time, and no one had really worked with it. We were one of the first beta testers of it, which created a challenge for BX Films. Nonetheless, they met every one of our goals.  

How did BX Films perform from a project management standpoint?

BX Films was great. They had a very collaborative team and absolutely knocked the creativity side of things out of the park. Our job as the client was to inform them of product features and how they needed to be positioned. They took that information and ran with it, creating an awesome video.

We had a pretty compressed timeline for the level of production that we were doing. BX Films met the deadline and even gave us the video earlier than the requested date.

What did you find most impressive about them?

BX Films is a safe bet. They have a wide breadth of videos in their product portfolio, which is one of the reasons we chose them. Their cost was within the ballpark of normal, and what we ended up paying came out to be pretty close to their projection of the final cost.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. I think they did a good job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We have referred them and recommended them to other businesses that we interact with. The only challenge with BX Films is the level and style of video that they typically do is a higher production value video.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Producer at an advertising agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire BX Films?

We brought in BX for a crazy fast, super lean TV shoot for our client - NorCal Toyota. The concept was no easy task, but BX agreed to join us on our nutty project and timeline. We worked with them to scout locations that worked with our very specific specs, hire talent for our very specific need, and prep and shoot for our 2 spots in 2 languages in 1 day ask.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to get enough footage to make 2 really tricky spots work in post, and for our clients’ business. BX helped us not only accomplish that but excel at it.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

BX reached out for an informal meeting awhile before we were able to find a project to work with them on. They're a hungry, driven group who helps create the impossible; which is becoming increasingly more needed in the advertising business.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail.

Once we selected BX, they started working with us to sort out the budget, the timeline, the needs, and how we could get to the finish line. Due to budget, their main goal was to location scout and ensure all of the proper parties, visual propping, and equipment/crew were in play on shoot day.

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

BX was very good about being available for calls and recapping their work into decks and/or emails as needed. Beau and Ben managed and produced the job with excellent instinct and drive, with the rest of their team and hired crew showing up to work just as fantastically as the two of them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The client and teams were extremely pleased with the quality of work that came from our "run and gun" shoot. We got extremely quality work on a timeline and budget that frankly should not have allowed it. But the BX team worked a miracle for us, like they always do, being the great partners they are.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Given the project limitations, email and phone calls were our main project status points. Both sides created and managed decks to track the individual needs and pieces of the greater picture, and we each remained available to each other to keep the train moving.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The BX team has a passion for the work that they do. They have a pride in what their team can bring to a job, and work to not only service, but support and strengthen the clients and teams they work with. They're hungry to prove what they can do, and they can and will continue to do great things.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Clear estimation in an AICP format would be helpful for future projects. Producers need to understand where each dollar is going on production and though I knew we got a great deal for the work, I never really understood where cuts or favors were made and given. The total cost of what we got for our clients was never too clear and moving forward that will be a request for clarity on budget.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at Trov, an insurance technology company in the San Francisco-Bay Area. I’m the director of global communications and public relations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BX Films?

Primarily, we’ve been a B2C operator that created apps that helped people protect laptops and expensive devices. Part of our growth has led to more B2B opportunities, like applying insurance in smart ways for emerging technology: cars, scooters, and mobility companies.

We wanted to pivot our marketing and showcase how the same type of technology that was in our B2C products is now in our B2B offerings. BX Films was one of the providers we brought on to create our new marketing collateral.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we thought about marketing levers we could pull, we thought one of the most educational ways to showcase how our technology works was a video. We wanted to communicate to our customers how we help with risk and reducing premiums, even though our technology is more in the background of their lives.

They were a full-service firm: storyboarding, scriptwriting, shooting on location, picking actors, inserting visual effects. They were also very collaborative in sitting down and identifying what we were solving for, how to target customers, and what our main messages were.

Most interesting was the time they spent on what I thought most firms would consider little details but actually ended up being very important, like the accent of the voice-over artist and the style of music. Everything was done with so much care, and they always provided us with a large number of options.

What is the team composition?

I worked with three main people. My point of contact was the main producer. The team was very involved, so I never felt they were juggling us. We felt like we were getting all the attention we deserved.

How did you come to work with BX Films?

We knew about them through one of their employees. The decision was made upon meeting their team and seeing their grasp of our challenge and our idea of the solution. They hit it on the head from start in what we were looking for. Moreover, they could articulate their approach and style, and we could tell it aligned with what we were looking for.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began very late 2018, and the project was delivered in Q1 of 2019. The whole process took less than a few months. It was quite a quick turnaround.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The final video was one minute and a half-long, by choice. The idea was that it should be a quick, but not too in-depth explanation of our technology. It was perceived very well internally, which was an important marker of success for us. Folks on our engineering, product, and sales teams said the video captured our essence and the message we were trying to convey.

We’ve used the video in sales decks, our website, and in meetings with prospects and clients. It went a long way to helping us close early conversations and move people into the next stage.

How did BX Films perform from a project management standpoint?

Any holdups were on us. We started the process and had a few priorities that took over. From the concept and storyboarding to shooting, they scouted and laid everything out very quickly. They were always pushing us and making us stay on deadline. I think they were very efficient, especially considering how unprepared we were. We didn’t expect an agency to necessarily handle project management this well, but they did.  

They were incredibly responsive. Primarily, communication was over email. I don’t know if they used a Trello board or something like that, but email and Google Docs were enough for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really care about their craft, and that was very evident in the work they did for us. They’re talented storytellers and care about the medium they work in. This comes out in how they talked about the project. That kind of passion was reassuring.

More specifically, their visual effects were very impressive. Though visual effects were part of the scope, they went above and beyond. We had a very positive experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. I’d actually argue that we as a client could have been better. Video production is a new thing for us, and they helped to explain the different things we could do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s not specific to them, but, generally, it’s very important to go into the project knowing what you want. It takes quite a while to do, but it’s important to have a clear vision and understanding of what you’re attempting.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior brand marketing manager at a cloud networking company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BX Films?

We hired them to create high-quality recruitment and brand marketing videos. We’re owned by a worldwide IT company, but we don’t have access to their large marketing budget, so each initiative must be worthwhile.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BX Films created three recruiting videos and three more which were part of a significantly sized brand campaign. The core of the project was developing, producing, filming, and then editing the videos for our company.

We already had ideas in mind for the videos, but they initially helped with the storylines and finetuned our scripts to prepare them for the screen. Their team got the talent and location ready, then filmed and edited the videos.

What is the team composition?

I acted as a supervising producer for the overall project.

How did you come to work with BX Films?

A friend of mine freelanced with BX Films. We spoke to probably three companies for the first recruiting videos, and BX Films seemed the most professional and easy to work with. We had a productive relationship with BX Films, so we continue to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between $250,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with BX Films in July 2017. We’ve been working with them on and off since then, and we’re currently engaging them for another project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Internally, we checked with senior stakeholders and employees to see if they liked the videos, and also whether it resonated with the target audience. Their reactions have generally been very positive across the board. Some of our more brand-focused videos have had good engagement metrics so far.

How did BX Films perform from a project management standpoint?

They thrive in chaos, which is always good for a video production company. Clients often have a hard time getting their ducks in a row, whether that’s agreeing on some of the creative or timelines. However, BX Films did a good job not only scoping the project but also being flexible with the timeline and amendable to any changes. They were very clear about what was needed of everyone and then, on shoot days, they were very regimented and ran that process well. They were also generous with the number of editing rounds that they gave us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What’s great about BX Films is that they’re flexible with whatever your company needs. You get the bare minimum with some companies, or they’re inflexible and only offer one service, without the production reliability that you want. BX Films has been a great partner throughout all of our video projects. You can rely on their team to produce great content. With BX Films, it wasn’t just about getting the project done; it was about ensuring that the end product is high-quality and helpful to your goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

My company had a really positive experience working with their team, so there’s not much they could improve on. They could broaden their services and get into more ancillary aspects of video production, but that’s a suggestion and not a criticism.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You have to be trusting, open-minded, and easy to work with. If you do all of those things, then they’re always going to be right there with you. You can’t be rigid on certain things, because there will be times in the project when you can’t cast a particular person or you have to change the content because it’s too expensive to film. That’s the nature of the business, but BX Films has creative ways to work around those obstacles, so listen to them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Sr Director of Corporate Marketing at Quotient, a media and promotions company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire BX Films?

We hired BX Films to create a short video ad for our Coupons.com brand, to be used across several platforms

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We evaluated several providers and were impressed with their portfolio as well as their engagement and ideas in intro calls.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We hired BX films to write, direct and edit the short ad with different variations in length.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The result was excellent. High attention to quality and detail.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Great communication throughout the process. They were invested in making sure the script and production came out exactly as we expected them to be.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their quality of work along with the relationship we had throughout several months of collaboration.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

None.