Flow Production and Post

Please describe your company and your position there.

Managing Partner at a Digital Agency

For what projects/services did your company hire Flow Production and Post, and what were your goals?

We’ve worked with Flow Productions on a number of projects over the years, and we have always been impressed with their responsiveness, attention to detail, and craftsmanship. When one of our clients in the pharma / biotech space was looking to launch a full re-brand of their company and website, we realized that a video production component would be a key part of that launch, and so we brought Flow on to partner with us on that aspect.

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

Flow’s work was head and shoulders above just about any other video production company we looked at. They also seemed focused on making sure any investment we made into the production was maximized and worthwhile, and immediately felt like a partner from the first meeting.

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

After developing the messaging, design and graphical assets internally, we brought Flow into the loop so that they could execute the video portion of the project. The shoot required our client’s employees to appear on camera in a studio environment and speak naturally about the philosophy and approach of their company.

Flow handled all production logistics, including location, equipment, crew and post production. We would provide Flow with assets and their animation team would take them over and create animations to add to the video. There were two rounds of revisions, and the project was completed successfully.

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

In total we worked directly or indirectly with 6 people from Flow, including their director of photography and other crew members, David, the co-owner and producer, as well as the animator and editor assigned to the project.

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

Not only was our client’s re-launch successful, leading to increased business for them (and higher engagement on webpages that contained videos produced by Flow), but our client was so impressed by Flow’s work that they went on to contact Flow directly for their own video production needs for their clients.

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

We’ve worked with Flow’s team several times in the past, and the workflow has always been smooth and efficient. After a preliminary meeting to discuss the look and feel of the video, David and his team immediately grasped what we were hoping to achieve and ran with it. There was minimal back and forth during the post production process, and all requests and revisions were carried out immediately and as described.

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

What’s always most impressive about Flow is their ability to understand the goals of the production and what the creative vision is without endless back and forth or unnecessary revisions. We know that if we come to them with an idea, it will be executed the way we want at the highest level of quality, and that takes a lot of the worry out of something that can be as uncertain as video production.

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

We’ve generally been pleased with all aspects of our productions with Flow.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of an online marketing company based in New York and Barcelona.

For what projects/services did your company hire Flow Production and Post, and what were your goals?

We were ramping up to launch a VR content service along with a headset solution, and we needed a video to advertise the products and services and to explain them to potential customers.

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

We wanted a firm whose work immediately looked very high quality to make the video stand out from other similar product videos.  We felt that Flow’s work was top tier, and their responsiveness in the early part of the bidding process made working with them appealing.

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

We really had no concept for the videos, just that we wanted to wow the customer.  Flow’s creative team met with us virtually a few times to talk through possible concepts and to figure out what our messaging should be.  From those talks they created a storyboard and then roughed out some animation designs. 

We were able to attend the shoot virtually and see everything they were capturing remotely which was great on the day.  Post production had a few rounds of back and forth and they took our feedback well and really seemed to understand what we were going for when we asked for changes.

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

We worked with 4 or 5 people from Flow.  We worked the most with the producer who was coordinating the project, and we had meetings with the animators and editors as well.

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

Our product launch was very successful and our metrics showed that the video had very good engagement, with a significant number of viewers watching all or nearly all of the video.

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

We thought our interactions with Flow were very productive and efficient.  They provided an online platform that let us review edits and leave notes and mark out on the screen what we wanted to change which turned out to be much faster than going through revisions on a call.  The process felt very smooth throughout.

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

One thing we really liked was that all of the work was being done internally by Flow team members, even the animations, so there was a lot less friction and delay compared to companies we’ve worked with before that had a lot of contractors or outsourcing.

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

I can’t think of anything.  The process was very easy, and the results were great.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of global brand marketing for The Wall Street Journal. I oversee all elements of the brand and overall marketing plan.

What challenge were you trying to address with Flow Production and Post?

We hired them to help us promote a major TV series and project in which big-name personalities mentored new start-ups and chose one as the winner.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The produced a set of video ads for us by going through our raw footage and putting it together. They also handled the music production and post-production on the ads.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a producer, a director, an animator, and an editor.

How did you come to work with Flow Production and Post?

I was dissatisfied with our previous vendor, so I asked my team to provide a list of new options. They probably did the initial search online, but they presented me with their top three choices. I spoke to the head of each company, and when I got to Flow Production and Post, their CEO demonstrated a calm and level of confidence that made me feel secure about going with them. Since I work in the news business, it was important to find someone who would be comfortable with changing goals or deadlines and who wouldn’t crack under pressure.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from July–August 2013.

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

They combed through hundreds of different pieces of video content and brought them together into a coherent narrative for our trailers. It was a difficult series to advertise because all of the pieces were disparate, but they did an impressive job and added value to our entire project by making it more compelling.

How did Flow Production and Post perform from a project management standpoint?

They were well-organized, reliable, and capable of keeping up with our fast-paced production cycle, even if it meant working on weekends. I never felt like I had to push them to stay on task. Everyone on their team possessed solid expertise and was easy to communicate with, and I was impressed by their collaborative nature. Even though they worked remotely, they almost felt like a team within my own company. It helped that they visited our office in person regularly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creativity and competence really stood out. They had such strong expertise that I felt comfortable giving them any kind of assignment. On top of that, they had great instincts for identifying what we needed and what we were looking for in terms of content. They matched the tone of our business and our project rather than suggesting extra things we didn’t need.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This isn’t a real criticism because I don’t think it affected the final product, but I do wish they were located closer to us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be sure that your brief is clear and you have realistic expectations for the business goal you have in mind. Their end product will only be as good as the work you put into the preparation.