Ahead of Market

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and operator of Carvao Events. I’m also the event coordinator.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ahead of Market?

I needed someone to shoot an advertisement video for my personal business.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ahead of Market did three videos in total. One for my company and two for the company I work for.

For my personal project, the team came out, shot the video, and edited it. They even did the music for it. Initially, they got really in-depth and interviewed us to get an idea of our vision. They took that information and came back with what they had in mind. Together, we came up with the idea for the style of the video. We wanted to tell the story of what happens when we cater an event. Additionally, we hired them to do the photography.

They did the same thing for the other projects. They brought their team to do a commercial for the company. It was a promotional video for Instagram, but it was also going to be played at different hotels.

What is the team composition?

We had three people on the team for the first couple of times. For the last project, there were two people, but we know there are more people on their team.

How did you come to work with Ahead of Market?

We went with them because we saw a video they did for someone else. They did an excellent job, so we knew we wanted to use them for our promotional videos and got their contact information.

How much have you invested in them?

I spent around $2,000 on the project for my company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in October 2020, and our last project was in July 2022.

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

They did an excellent job; it was exactly what we were looking for. We used their video on our website and to promote our business on The Wedding Wire and Knot.com. The video is the reason why we’ve generated weddings this year. Moreover, we get anywhere from 1–3 inquiries for weddings a week and up to 10. We’d book more weddings, but I have a full-time job, so we’re very selective. 

Overall, Ahead of Market was able to get our vision right but turn it into something that made sense. If we’d done it exactly how we wanted to, it wouldn’t have come out as nicely. They were very professional in the way they approached the video production.

How did Ahead of Market perform from a project management standpoint?

They were highly punctual; they showed up on time, and everything was done earlier than the deadline. Also, they were very personable and easy to work with.

We usually communicated through phone and Zoom calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were a one-stop shop. They could do everything from marketing analysis to social media, coding, music, and more. We have yet to run into something that they can’t do. Everything was of high quality and very professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything, but if I had to pick something, it’d be to bring in an extra pair of hands. However, it was never an issue. 

Additionally, they could get out there more and promote themselves a little more. In fact, just prompting themselves would be good because most of their promotion has been through word of mouth.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about what your business is. They’re great at their jobs, but you need a clear vision of what you are looking for. If you have that, they can make it come to life, whether it’s a website or a video.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the VP of Marketing for Abstrakt. We provide real-time call coaching software to sales teams, insurance agencies, recruiting firms, and contact centers.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ahead of Market, and what were your goals?

We hired Ahead of Market to help us create a new product demo video. Our current video was not good, very pieced together, and was missing the key elements that we wanted to convey in a new video.

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

They were recommended by StartupAZ and a couple of other companies. After I had a call with Patrik, he was awesome and absolutely understood the direction I wanted to go with the video. Then I met Patrik & Ash in person to review what needs to be done before the shoot, they were both very thorough and had great ideas!

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail, including the project steps and all stages of production.

Everything was well put together from the proposal to the video shoot to the final production. They are truly amazing and create this unique feel for our company and allowed us to show our personalities in the video. I created the storyboard and script, but they reviewed and provided further direction on best practices/etc.

Who did you work with and what was the feedback process like?

I worked directly with Patrik and Ash and they were amazing. They listened to my feedback, but provided a better direction when I couldn't always picture what exactly I wanted.

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

Our new product demo video has received so many views since we posted it on our website. We're getting about 25% longer viewing than we had before. Additionally, they created a blooper video and it was one of our most popular social posts to date!

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They listen very well and provide great feedback. Communication was great, and everything happened when they said it would.

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

How quickly they made changes and could take an "okay scene" and turn it into something special with just a few edits!

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

They walked me through the whole process and were upfront about edits, costs, and more. The only thing I would say is if an idea I had wasn't great, provide solutions of what might work better! Especially since they are the experts.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of StartupAZ StartupAZ exists to help Arizona’s most innovative startup companies improve their leadership, performance, and connections, while inspiring generosity and philanthropy within their communities.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ahead of Market, and what were your goals?

We hold an annual retreat to bring together founders and alumni for 2 days of growth and professional development. Our goal was to create a video to showcase our program and tell the story of our founders experience with StartupAZ.

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

We had used their service in the past.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail, including the project steps and all stages of production.

We held a pre-event meeting, reviewed our goals, the tone and content we wanted and provided some potential questions or conversation starting points to help them prepare. The AOM team attended the event, shot video and then provided us an draft to review a few weeks later.

Who did you work with and what was the feedback process like?

AOM was flexible and met our needs.

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

We were pleased with the video and it nos now hosted on our YouTube channel.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The team made time to meet with us before shooting to make sure they understood our goal.

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

They took the time to understand our brand and our partners, so they could produce a video that matched our brand.

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

Nothing to add