Miles West Creative

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Bill Vanderhagen Photography

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Wildlife and nature photography

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Miles West Creative to accomplish?

• Capture the experience of wildlife photography adventures
• Create an evergreen video that can be used across multiple mediums
• Showcase the time and effort that goes into nature photos

SOLUTION

How did you find Miles West Creative?

Referral

Why did you select Miles West Creative over others?

High ratings, Great culture fit, Referred to me, Company values aligned

What was the size of Miles West Creative’s team?

1 Employee

What was your primary form of communication with Miles West Creative?

In-Person Meeting, Email or Messaging App

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

I hired Miles West Creative to document a wildlife photography overnight adventure with the Sandhill Cranes migration in central Nebraska. The goal was to produce a video that showcased the entire process of planning, capturing, and printing wildlife imagery with a distinct focus on making the content evergreen and usable across all channels so that it could be leveraged in a variety of marketing pieces.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Project delivered in a timely fashion
• Captured the entire process of travel, capture, post process and print of my work
• Video was delivered in different formats & usable for different needs

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

It was a collaborative process, and they not only accounted for my thoughts on the project but offered various ideas that polished the final works due to their expertise in telling a cohesive story within a video. Delivered promptly and with quality at the forefront the entire time, with an active line of communication via meetings and email as the project evolved. I continue to use the video as a showcase piece even 18 months later, as it has truly stood the test of time.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

There ability to tell a story from start to finish within a short video when much of what I do entails endless hours of lag time before I capture the images I am after. Miles West took the entire adventure from packing, preparing, planning, plotting, even the long hours of sitting, to the final wall print and showcasing the emotion and drive behind why I continue to do it - day after day. To most it sounds mundane - but the video offered a glimpse into my why and helped others understand it.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Miles West Creative could have done differently?

I was thrilled with the outcome and with the process it took to get there. I would recommend them to anyone and will utilize them again myself

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Marketing Director at Showplace Cabinetry, managing the strategy and direction of our marketing efforts as a national brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Miles West Creative?

Content is king in today's day and age and I knew coming in we needed to take more of an emphasis on getting more photos + video. Most of our photography is extremely dated and hasn't been re-shot in ages. We also have very little video content of homes with our cabinetry in them. Also, we needed updated photos and content from our production floor for website and recruitment needs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We have a shortlist of vendors that we've used and I added Derek to the mix due to my familiarity with him from my previous position. It's not very often you can get a photo + video shooter and editor for the rates he provides, so I knew that if the right projects come up he would be a great fit and work with me on my budgets.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

• Product Launch Content - Photograph new doors of a new stain we developed for Q2 launch.
• Help us come up with ideas and ways we could use those photos for launch creative
• Developed social media and website teaser content videos to launch the product.
• Cabinet Door & Header Studio Photography - Pre-production, lighting, still photography, post-production editing/touch-ups
• The complexity of getting lighting and color right on our photos is extremely important and we couldn't be more pleased with the results we've seen. Even with our glass doors that are known to be extremely hard to photograph.
• Ongoing studio photography as needed for literature and website needs.
• Home Tours - Pre-production, lighting, still photography, video, post-production editing/touch-ups of photos and production of social and website videos
• Ongoing projects as they come up and he provides creative insights and ways we can streamline the process to efficiently get what we need and stay on budget.
• Plant Photography & Recruitment Video - Concepting, pre-production planning, scouting, still photography, video, post-production editing of photography and video.
• Produced a :30 TV spot to use for a media buy for streaming TV.
• Employee Headshots: - Pre-production, lighting, still photography, post-production editing/touch-ups

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We primarily work directly with Derek, the founder of the company. I believe he brings other contractors in when/if needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Subjective Outcomes:

• Our door photos and quality are consistent and improved from our previous photo quality.
• Our dealer network is very complimentary to the increased content we have produced and are able to provide to them.

Statistics:

• Our product launch social media posts are still our top performing posts with 100% more reach than our regular posts
• Home tour videos give us anywhere from 50-100% more reach an engagement than other posts.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Derek feels like an extension of our team. He provides a lot of value add ideas and is always look for ways to be easy to work with and get the job done.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their honesty and transparency are refreshing at a great price point for commercial photo and video content. Our agreement contains 100% buyout, which sometimes isn't always the case but is extremely important for us because whatever content we capture we want to share with our 1,200 dealers across the country.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

At this point, no! As I'm new in my position and learning more about our products, Derek has been a great partner to help us think through new ideas and ways to use content. If anything, I wish I had him on staff so we could more easily utilize the content he gives us even more!