Sailorface Video

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Senior Digital Marketing Manager for SweetWater Brewing Company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sailorface Video?

SailorFace is out AOR. Because of their unique model and connections with freelancers in various creative industries, they've become a go-to resource BEYOND just video (their initial project with SweetWater).

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

SailorFace had done a couple projects for SweetWater prior to my onboarding, but that was cut short due to Covid. Their understanding of our brand made them a logical choice to reach back out.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

While video is definitely at the crux of their capabilities, we leverage SailorFace for multiple areas. Creative and campaign strategy. Print and digital advertising. Even venturing into fabricating experiences that will play for social media content.

What was the team composition?

I work closely with their leadership (Evan), but also work directly to other contributors on their team. They handle all of the freelancer connections and project management.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our digital ad CTRs increased to twice the industry average. Our video completion rate for 2021 was nearly 3x YTY. All of this is critical when trying to stand out, generate awareness and engage with our followers on social media.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Primarily, the workflow is positive. There are some projects that drag on with both parties as the culprit. However, their leadership helps to drive their team to get projects done.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

SailorFace Video never backed down from a challenge. While "video" is in their company name, it doesn't do them justice. They're eager to test other areas - from print ads, to fabrication, to even starting an online petition campaign for us! They will do whatever they can to find opportunities for our brand.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

Project management/transparency can be improved. We run several projects with them at once - some sort of status tracker to help everyone involved could be useful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the HR manager at Phoenix Senior Living. We operate and manage senior living communities in the southeast and have roughly 60 communities in 10 states.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sailorface Video?

Roughly 2,600 associates work for us, so we needed to create training material to reach them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sailorface has helped us produce established and consistent training videos for the onboarding and orientation of our associates. The process has been very collaborative. Initially, we provided them with a rough outline and framework of what we were going for, and they helped us put a creative spin on it by defining more content themes for the videos.

Sailorface has also connected us with a scriptwriter to develop the scripts for those training videos, and they’ve been instrumental in helping us build the content. In addition to the training videos, they help us film and produce videos for marketing purposes, as well as videos of the conferences we have every year.

Although we have resources and SMEs within our team that know exactly what we want to get out of our training, Sailorface acts as our media team in helping us produce those videos. Their team brings their own equipment to shoot the videos, but we don’t use a studio because we film the content in our communities. After filming the videos, they’re in charge of the rest of the process, including editing and audio mixing.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four people from Sailorface, including the producer, an audio engineer, a videographer, and a scriptwriter.

How did you come to work with Sailorface Video?

We found Sailorface through a reference.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2020, and our engagement is ongoing. We use them at least once per year because we have continuous opportunities to film training videos and other content.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Sailorface is really creative, and they’ve been excellent at ensuring that all the content we produce looks like part of one organization, which is what we needed from the start. Additionally, their team is very outgoing and energetic, which fits our needs very well.

Our team isn’t used to being on camera nor filmed during training, but Sailorface is very patient, explains the process very well, and helps everyone feel comfortable with that process. Whenever we’ve needed to do retakes or start over, they’ve been very nice in accepting those requests.

Furthermore, the quality of the videos that Sailorface produces is great. Whenever we share those videos, whether they are training or marketing videos, we always get very positive reviews. Overall, we’re very happy with their work. That’s why we keep coming back to them; we trust them, and we know that they’ll do a great job every time.

How did Sailorface Video perform from a project management standpoint?

Sailorface is very professional, organized, and timely, constantly meeting our scheduling needs and the deadlines they estimate. Additionally, they’ve been very realistic and transparent regarding the cost. When there are opportunities to be more budget-friendly, they present us with options to help us decide and ensure that the end result still has a great quality.

Sailorface has also been great at setting up weekly calls — or any other cadence needed — to keep the project moving in a timely manner. We communicate via email and use Dropbox as a resource for sharing workbooks. They’ve also used Frame.io, which has made it very easy for us to edit the videos. Whenever we want to change something, we just leave notes on that platform.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Sailorface’s willingness to be collaboratively creative is outstanding. We’ve never had to give them too many specific guidelines for them to be able to see the bigger picture of what we want. Additionally, their patience has been noteworthy during our brainstorming sessions; they always ensure to capture everything we want.

It is also noteworthy that Sailorface is very professional during the filming process. Bringing external vendors into our communities is always a sensitive matter because we’re essentially inviting those vendors into people’s homes.

On those occasions, these vendors are acting as an extension of our company, representing us. Still, working with Sailorface, we’ve never had to worry about how they represent us. They always handle interactions with those people very graciously and strive to get to know them. Overall, it is a great partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner in a musical band called Lesibu Grand. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sailorface Video?

I hired Sailorface to help us make music videos.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sailorface created three major videos for us. They did a bunch of edits to those videos. The final products were three full-length music videos. The team used their own equipment and was also in charge of audio mixing. 

What is the team composition?

I work with Evan (Executive Producer) and his team. 

How did you come to work with Sailorface Video?

I knew the father of Evan, and that was what led me to call them. Once I saw the work they’d done for other people, I was impressed with their work, so I hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

I invested around $30,000 in total. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from January 2019–May 2021. The three video projects had their beginning and end dates; one video was done in June 2019, and another one was done in May–August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The final one was done from January–May 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The videos had different viewership counts. One of them had 90,000 views, while the other had 40,000 views. The third one had 30,000 views — in total, they had around 150,000 views. One of the clips went viral on TikTok and received over 1.9 million views. 

In other words, the videos were well-received. They were reviewed in national magazines, and positive articles were written about them.

How did Sailorface Video perform from a project management standpoint?

Sailorface’s project management was great. They were one of the best teams I’d worked with in terms of keeping the project on budget and within schedule. In terms of tools, we used emails and notes as we communicated back and forth. We had in-person meetings before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and then we used Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Evan and his team had a great creative vision. They were collaborative and took feedback well. On top of that, they were detail-oriented. These were their strongest attributes. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d strongly recommend working with Sailorface. Listen to them — express your ideas but hear what they have to say, and you’ll have a great product. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Business advisory and CPA firm

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sailorface Video, and what were your goals?

We have worked with Sailorface on many projects, the most recent being a series of learning and development service explainer videos. Their creativity and attention to detail continue to make our scripts memorable and effective. Great team. Great results. Great partners in crime. We consider Sailorface an extension of our creative team.

SOLUTION

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

They just get it. They go the extra mile to make us look good. On the first project we worked on together They took my script and pushed it to the next level which Enabled us to capture some really compelling material.

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

They are very process oriented and their digital workflow platform has Made it easy for our busy stakeholders to comment and approve on the videos.

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

I primarily work with Evan and Clark but the whole team is stellar. They are quick to respond easy to work with free-flowing with the ideas and not afraid to call bullshit if I suggest something stupid.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our internal audiences have loved the end products and our executives ask for them by name.

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

They have a digital workflow tool that makes commenting on their videos very easy and they are very proactive with project management.

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

I I just enjoy working with them. They’re good people, experts in their craft, and they love what they do. And that in my opinion is an unbeatable combination.

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

Just keep up the the good work.