IdeaRocket

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a cardiologist and the founder and owner of BREATHE, a workplace stress reduction company.  

What challenge were you trying to address with IdeaRocket?

I’ve noticed that there’s a relationship between the stress in our lives and our heart health. In order to combat that, I created a methodology that’s been shown to lower stress, heart rates, and blood pressure. It is a seven-step stress reduction exercise called “BREATHE”. I wanted to show the process using animation — it would define what it is and how it can be used to decrease stress in the workplace.

What was the scope of their involvement?

IdeaRocket first created a whiteboard animation video that showcased who I am and what my mission is in an easy-to-understand way. Then they produced 30 exercise videos that explain how the methodology can be used in different situations. They helped me produce a script, which was basically my autobiography. I wrote the script for each one, but they let me choose from several voice actors to read the scripts. They used different stock photos, videography, and music.

We have a whole library of videos created for kids to help them reduce stress at school with public speaking, sports, and so on. There’s a three-video library for helping people reduce stress at work focused on innovation, teamwork, leadership, communication, and goal setting. The final library is focused on nature.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Will (Founder & Creative Director), SaraJane (Producer), and two other people. I believe there were other animators working in the background.

How did you come to work with IdeaRocket?

They’re a phenomenal animation and marketing company, and I saw one of their whiteboard animation videos randomly on the internet for an airline. I connected with IdeaRocket on the phone, and they were professional, accessible, and amazingly talented. 

How much have you invested with them?

The total amount so far is $75,000–$80,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with IdeaRocket in October 2020, and the initial engagement lasted eight months. I plan to continue working with them.

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

IdeaRocket was phenomenal at expressing my concept through animation. I’m very impressed with their work. They’re creative, amazingly industrious, and have access to incredible editing tools.

I started promoting the videos just a few weeks ago. My main goal is to connect with national children's programs and, secondly, with corporations. Heart disease can start in children as early as 12 years old, and it increases as we get older. If we can teach kids how to reduce stress, we can lower that risk. Their work wasn't cheap, but the work was incredible and very high-quality.

How did IdeaRocket perform from a project management standpoint?

I had initial Zoom calls with IdeaRocket’s team, where I showed them my methodology. I also sent them PowerPoints over email. 

They have a fairly sophisticated management tool with a schedule detailing when each task would be done. I would send them the first phase of a script, they’d give me a date for the first edit, and they’d send it back to me. 

They gave me dates for the voiceover auditions, and they sent me MP3s to pick from. We recorded the voiceover in a studio in Santa Monica. Will directed me remotely from New York. He did the sound editing there and made the 90-second animation that went along with it. 

We would do five videos at a time, and they gave me completion dates for each one. They were spot on every single time. They’re timely and incredibly organized with the logistics. I can’t say enough positive things about IdeaRocket. It’s a professional and well-oiled machine.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re creative, collaborative, and professional. I’m a cardiologist, but I’m also a speaker and an author. I’ve been fortunate enough to work on a lot of TV and movie sets, so I’m familiar with editing, sound, and videography, and IdeaRocket is incredibly high-end and professional. They’re great artists that gave me sound-studio quality.

I’ve enjoyed learning how some of the technical aspects of animation and projects work and the best ways to market a product from IdeaRocket.

Are there any areas they could improve?

IdeaRocket could improve in terms of explaining technical information to laypeople like me. For example, I was trying to embed massive files into PowerPoint presentations, but I didn’t know how to condense them. It would be nice to get a brief overview of how I could show the videos at a conference, for example.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to have a vision for how it should be done. Have a meeting with IdeaRocket to explain it and allow them to come up with a plan. One of the things I’ve learned from them, which I find really important, is that we have to tell a story in 90 seconds. They use animation to show the vision, goal, and dream.

Whoever uses them should explain their idea and have IdeaRocket give it clarity and focus. They’re really good at that. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of sales and marketing at Sabin Metal Corporation, a primary refiner. We refine precious metals from various byproducts, scrap materials, and industrial wastes, and we make 99.99% pure platinum, palladium, gold, and silver for return back to the market.

What challenge were you trying to address with IdeaRocket?

It's always difficult to keep up with the educational and informational processes with our customers. This is because people are moving on from their procurement roles and their engineering roles to either get promoted or move to a new company and someone new comes in. 

Additionally, behind the scenes in the precious metals industry, there are a lot of details that are very important, but our clients only recycle a lot of their large capacity catalysts every few years.

It’s good for clients to know contract details and processing specialties that make us different, and we wanted to communicate that as best we could.

What was the scope of their involvement?

IdeaRocket did a one-minute video to show what happens when a client is looking for a precious metal refiner.

They showed the important things to consider, what happens to their precious metal material, how the metal is going to be dealt with contractually in the fairest and most balanced way to get the return of their precious metals maximized at a fair price.

The video is a compilation that was synthesized from presentations, articles, and white papers. IdeaRocket came up with the theme, imagery, and voice work. The script was a collaboration between the two of us. The team also created a specialty image within the video that we were able to get as a stand-alone video.

What is the team composition?

When we had our conference calls, it was typically 2–3 of their teammates.

How did you come to work with IdeaRocket?

We looked around online. Something that's very important to me, not only in our lives as consumers in my family, but also B2B, is seeing reviews from other satisfied customers. I want to see a product, statistics, or work the vendor has done in the past. 

When we browsed around, IdeaRocket stood out as having high marks from their past customers. They also had a lot of demos that we could comb through, not only for examples of their great work but also to get ideas for the themes that we might like or dislike when it came time to choose. That was pretty impressive. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2020, and they completed the work in July 2020.

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

The animation really made our vision come to life. IdeaRocket did a good job of bringing it together. All of the comments were positive, and we were able to illustrate without giving away anything proprietary as to how we do what we do. People commented specifically on the informative nature and quality of the video.

How did IdeaRocket perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was excellent and handled with a personal touch, which was important to me. The plan was really clear from the start and it made a lot of sense. 

Our decision-making process was pretty quick and we didn't have a lot of major criticism for what IdeaRocket put together because the preplanning was so thorough. We communicated via Zoom, phone calls, and email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The deadline was initially the first week of August, but it got moved up because the trade show needed our work a week and a half earlier. IdeaRocket made it happen.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. We were very happy.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CIO and we’re a clothing company that does direct-to-consumer, high-end quality dress clothes. And then we have a B2B side where we do polos, joggers, and other types of clothing without the logo so companies can brand their own logos.

What challenge were you trying to address with IdeaRocket?

Because we were small, we needed someone to help us tell the story we wanted to tell. We didn’t have the creative team in place or the normal things you’d need to do it on your own.

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the beginning, they guided us and we gave them our ideas and direction. They created a live-action and animated video to showcase our products. They took our content and put it into the video, but they also floated the idea of creating their own content for it.

Looking back, they could have done that but you can’t tell from the video it wasn’t their content since they did a good job. The final video was roughly 90-seconds in length. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people directly, but there would be 4–5 people on a call and everyone involved was looped into emails. There was an account manager and people working on the creative side, the overlay side, and others. 

How did you come to work with IdeaRocket?

I spoke to around 30 companies and searched locally, but couldn’t find any of the quality I wanted. It took a long time to find the right one, but IdeaRocket stuck with me. After I exhausted my resources, they were the ones I ended up with.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $15,000–$20,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

From being introduced to receiving the final project, we worked together from November 2019–June 2020.

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

William (Creative Director) obsessed over quality and that is exactly what we wanted. They gave us something that was very unique and it was what we asked for. I’ll go to them for every project moving forward. They were able to take the vision we had and make it even better. 

How did IdeaRocket perform from a project management standpoint?

They were the most proactive team I dealt with — it was me that was delayed in response. Our company is taking off, so I’d respond days later sometimes and have to keep up with them. They were really patient and communicative.

If we went with their time schedule, we would have been able to do it in six weeks, but it took closer to six months because of our side stalling things. They were proactive at every step and were detailed. Everything they said they’d do and every deadline they made, they completed it all. We used Wipster, which allowed me to watch the video in real-time and make notes and ask for changes. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their patience level was outstanding — they could have been frustrated with us at any point but they never were. I felt guilty responding late and they’d respond with kindness even though we slowed them down. They made me feel like I had the attention I needed whenever I needed it. 

They were true experts. We went to do a storyboard with other companies that would come back with a pitch that wasn’t even close to what we wanted. Will nailed it from the beginning. It was a great experience for me, especially because of other shops that couldn’t get the job done. I was always excited to work with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no. They went beyond my expectations and they did what they were supposed to do. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust them. They know what they’re doing. Their specialty is the B2B side of things and they will take your vision and make it better if you can describe it to them.