Cut Canvas Creative

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director at SecondMuse, which is an international innovation agency. We offer entrepreneurship, social, and environmental programs addressing great needs around the world. We use storytelling to advance policy changes and bring new funding into different social and environmental areas. We work with groups of innovators around the world to help empower their social innovations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cut Canvas Creative?

We had a program that worked with 12 innovators from around the world on how to use our oceans as resources to improve nutrition around the world, create new, sustainable livelihoods, and protect water spaces. We had a particular congregation of entrepreneurs in Tanzania and wanted to tell the stories of their work in different areas.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cut Canvas Creative came with us to Tanzania and created a 6–10 minutes, 360-degree VR video that told the stories of our program's innovators, their challenges, and the opportunities in East Africa.

Brett (Founder & Principal) supported us during the preparatory phase. He helped us with creating a script that worked with a short documentary and securing the equipment that we needed. He used 360-degree VR equipment and filmed for about 10 days. Cut Canvas Creative used a VR camera attached to a drone as well as a rigged, underwater 360 VR camera.

He promoted the content through Cut Canvas Creative’s communication channels and partnerships. Also, their team put together a small event for us at World Oceans Day in New York City.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Brett directly.

How did you come to work with Cut Canvas Creative?

We wanted to work with them because of their work with different media and attention to environmental issues around oceans. They’ve done great environmental work, telling stories of different challenges for ocean-related animals and conservation measures. Their team was able to lead the underwater filming that was required for this project. Cut Canvas was a great fit for this role.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $25,000–$30,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with Cut Canvas Creative in February 2017 and the project was completed in July 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were incredibly good at delivering to the specific deliverable. We were incredibly satisfied with the end result.

We were overall incredibly impressed by our collaboration with Cut Canvas Creative. They were flexible teammates and adapted to trying circumstances. It was a pleasure to work on the ground with them.

After the filming was complete, they were supportive in promoting and amplifying the video through written content and other partnerships.

How did Cut Canvas Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

As far as attentiveness, they were in the top 5% of vendors. It was usually within a matter of hours that Brett responded. He was proactive, organized, and took leadership in areas that weren’t our company’s strong points. Brett was not only a great teacher but also a facilitator as we went through this process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was an overall enjoyable experience to work with Cut Canvas Creative. It didn’t feel like work to collaborate with them. Rather, it felt like an opportunity to do an amazing project together. It can feel like there’s a divide when working with contractors, but we aligned quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were a pretty small team and we were clear upfront about the deliverables. It was a bit trickier to push them to go a bit above and beyond. Be clear upfront with the deliverables because they will deliver to exactly what was agreed upon.