Six Degrees Productions

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product marketing at ZIRO.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees Productions?

We hired Six Degrees for their video production services. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Six Degrees handled everything from planning, scriptwriting, and preproduction to postproduction and editing. The video was animated, and it aimed to tell the story of our brand. The team also handled the voiceover and audio mixing components. They took care of all the sound editing and music licensing, too. We simply had to choose the voices that would resonate with our audience, and their resources put everything together. 

For context, we were once called Stack8, which didn’t fit the new brand positioning that we crafted earlier. As a result, part of this project’s goal was to make sure that our positioning was aligned with our brand and vice versa. From there, we went through a change in name and corporate identity. The video that Six Degrees created aimed to help us tell that story.

What is the team composition?

I mainly dealt with Lee-Anne (Co-Owner & Head of Video Production Canada), who served as our project manager. She had a team that she used to create animations, storyboards, and everything else. She probably had half a dozen team members within that team.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees Productions?

Lee-Anne reached out to me on LinkedIn. When we first connected, I let her know that I’d just started at the company and that we were in the midst of repositioning. I advised her to reach out to me again after six months. 

Six months later, we talked again. We were in the planning stage of what we wanted to do. From there, we started the engagement.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested roughly around $20,000 CAD (approximately $16,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from December 2021–March 2022. 

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

The video was finished, and we’ve since used it on our website and social media channels. We’ve used it on LinkedIn and Instagram. Since the video also explained our business well, our department has also used it for telling our brand story to new recruits and candidates. 

In terms of feedback, everyone on our team was pleased with the video. Our CEO was blown away by it — the video delivered the exact message that he was hoping to send out to the marketplace. On top of that, we also received positive feedback from our clients, who said that our rebranding looked great. 

Overall, the video was awesome; it definitely told our brand story. In fact, our leadership team — including our CEO and COO — received queries from their network about the video. People asked who created it. In other words, they wanted to hire Six Degrees because of the video.

How did Six Degrees Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

The process was seamless. Lee-Anne did a fantastic job at managing the process and keeping things on track. She was proactive and upfront about scope changes. She was also transparent about any additional costs or efforts, so we experienced no surprises.

We used Monday.com as our project-tracking tool, and everyone collaborated and worked with each other truly well — Six Degrees even worked with three of our other vendors for some branding assets. We also used video conferencing via Microsoft Teams to collaborate with everyone. 

Overall, everything was delivered on time. Any delays were generally caused by us, specifically in terms of providing approvals and managing scope creep and changes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Six Degrees was great at telling stories and creating the right visuals for the video through collaboration. Moreover, their team was inquisitive. They were curious so they asked many questions. As a result, they didn’t have much learning curve; they understood our business quickly. 

There weren’t a lot of back and forth repetitions. Lee-Anne was on top of everything, and she was smart when it came to our technology. She distilled what we told her and communicated it well to her team. If there were any hiccups, we talked about them and dealt with issues quickly. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, there weren’t any. Six Degrees did everything correctly. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Transparency is the biggest key to success. Be open, and don’t hide anything. Be clear about your expectations, and make sure that your story is straight before you engage Six Degrees. When your story starts to shift and change, that’s when things get expensive. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a startup, and we’re marketing our TaxZilla app.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees Productions?

We worked with Six Degrees Productions to help us with a promotional video.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Six Degrees Productions guided us through the video production process because this was our first time doing this. After that, they created a draft of the script and we reviewed it. We then provided feedback, and they asked for more screenshots of the app. Once they were done with the first draft of the video, we selected the music and they made some adjustments before sending the final product.

The main purpose of the video was to feature the purpose and advantages of using our app. The video that they created was added to our web page and was circulated through social media, specifically on our website, Facebook, and YouTube.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Lee-Anne (Co-Owner & Head of Video Production).

How did you come to work with Six Degrees Productions?

I posted a request on Clutch, and we got a response from Six Degrees Productions. We also looked at other companies, but we selected them because of their portfolio and experience in producing videos for similar apps.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in October–December 2021.

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

The feedback we received from the video was very positive. In fact, we verified their work with our friends and family first to make sure that the video met our goals. We also received positive comments on our website. Many people were interested to know the company that created our videos. Overall, we’d definitely work with them again in the future because they did an excellent job.

How did Six Degrees Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

They had a good process, which allowed them to meet the deadlines and milestones. They also stayed on budget. We communicated over email and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their experience in creating videos for similar apps before was their strength.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Their work exceeded our expectations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear with your requirements and the format of the video that you prefer.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior corporate marketing strategist at a company that provides applications or solutions to a variety of industries. We use AI, IoT, cloud computing, and sensors to optimize the performance of data or of infrastructure assets. With all of that said, we basically help oil and gas processing facilities, commercial buildings, and wind farms to help them optimize the production of energy.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees Productions?

We needed to put together two videos: the first one to communicate who our company is at a high level and the second one to present our flagship asset care platform, which we sell to all of our clients. We hired Six Degrees to help us visualize that information in a short amount of time.

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was a collaborative process that was led by Six Degrees. We oriented them on our ideas and desired outcome and went on to discuss how we could go about putting everything together. Their team walked us through their approach and timelines before they set off to do the actual video production. We came up with the initial script and had them fine-tune it.

We originally aimed for each video to last a minute and a half, but as we delved deeper into production, we eventually ended up with three-minute-long videos. The end product featured a combination of shots of people going to actual customer sites, B-rolls, stock footage, and some animation coupled with a voiceover. 

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with Lee-Anne (Co-Owner & Head of Video Production) who served as a project manager and coordinated the whole production.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees Productions?

Lee-Anne actually reached out to our CMO through a cold call. We looked at some of their work and decided to give them a try.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted the whole month of August 2021.

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

Our CEO really liked the videos. He felt that they were outstanding and something to be proud of. We were able to upload it to various social media platforms, YouTube, and our website. 

How did Six Degrees Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

There was a scope creep on our side, but Six Degrees was a gem at handling it. There weren’t any issues. They knew the timelines were tight, and they moved heaven and earth in order to accommodate us without any fuss whatsoever. More than that, their team was able to do two independent shoots in two different cities and bring in somebody who could do the voiceover work. They pulled everything off in a short amount of time. 

We typically communicated via email, texts, and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Six Degrees’ can-do attitude really stood out to me. That level of flexibility is hard to find in a service provider.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I was very happy throughout.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t think twice about hiring Six Degrees. It will definitely be worth it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing at Felix Payment Systems. We provide cloud-based payment technology.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees Productions?

We needed someone to create an explainer video for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Six Degrees Productions produced an explainer video for one of our new products. We already wrote the script, scouted for locations and talent, and chose the music before the engagement. The team only handled the video shoot and the editing. They delivered a three-minute video, which we then uploaded to our site and social media accounts.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people: a director of photography and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees Productions?

We chose them because they were responsive and had a great portfolio.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from May–July 2021.

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

Six Degrees Productions did a great job, and we enjoyed working with them.

How did Six Degrees Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

They were extremely organized.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The shoot was very well-planned, so it ended up being a quick process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general manager at West Coast Windows. We manufacture windows and doors, and our installation division renovates old houses with our products.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees Productions?

We hired Six Degrees to produce a corporate video and several tutorials and service-related videos for our Youtube and website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Six Degrees on three different projects: a corporate video, a timelapse video, and some tutorial videos. For the corporate video, they filmed our manufacturing plant and showroom and also filmed on-site. They added voiceover and animation as well. Finally, they came up with a three-minute video that told the story of our company.

The second project was tutorial videos for our website. These how-to videos showed customers all of the things that they frequently ask our service department. Things such as how to adjust the wheels on their patio door or how to remove a screen.

The third video was a timelapse of an installation in front of a house. The film showed our team removing its original 19 windows and replacing them with our products.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Lee-Anne (Co-Owner). There was also a teammate who was the videographer.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees Productions?

I interviewed three companies through Zoom, one of which I had previously worked with. I looked at their demo reels, and Six Degrees had pretty unique videos.

We already had an interview-style Q&A video, and I didn’t want another one of those. We wanted something different, and Six Degrees could offer that. We liked that they added lots of animation into their videos, so we picked them. Also, Lee-Anne was very easy to work with from our first interview. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $9,000 CAD (approximately $7,300 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on these projects from October 2020–April 2021. We wrapped up on all three projects, but I’ll keep Six Degrees in mind should we need to do more video content.

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

Everyone in the organization was very positive about the videos. They loved their feel and content. However, it’s too early to tell the impact since some of the videos went live just recently. For instance, our corporate video went live less than a week ago, but I’m hopeful it’ll generate interest toward our company and increase leads and sales.

Additionally, this video showed our company’s 45 years of history. We hope that customers will see that we have the experience to back up our warranty when they see the video.

How did Six Degrees Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated mainly through email. Six Degrees was very easy to work with. They had a shooting schedule, and they were always punctual. They were very well organized, so nothing ran over.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Six Degrees did things differently. Their demo reels were hipper. Additionally, the animation and neat angles they used made the videos look different from any other corporate videos we’d seen. Additionally, they did lots of drone footage, which is great because most of the houses we work with are beautiful, and they captured that with aerial footage.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think they’re really good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give Six Degrees the creative freedom to propose whatever they want. Every industry is different, so explain to them what you do. Having their team come up with ideas worked better for us than just telling them what to do. We let them do their work, and then we told them what we liked and what we didn’t.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager at TalentClick Workforce Solutions. We’re a personality behavioral assessment company that helps organizations hire and develop top performers. We consider ourselves as a SaaS HR support.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees Productions?

We were looking for a two-minute sales video to introduce our company to the early sales funnel prospects. It had to explain who we were, what we did, and what was our product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Six Degrees Productions provided a full service to create a video. Our CEO submitted a rough draft of our script along with our brand guidelines. They came back, reworked our script, did a storyboard, helped us select a voiceover artist, and did all the animation required.

Six Degrees worked with stock footage and captures of our product, and they turned it into something great. The video is pretty new. We received the final copy recently, and now we’re in the process of posting it and getting it out there.

What is the team composition?

We only had one main point of contact. This person was the head of production but acted as our project manager.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees Productions?

We had an intern who compiled a list of video vendors that met the requirements that we were looking for. Initially, we selected a different vendor, but we had a terrible experience — the quality of their work was atrocious, and they were significantly more expensive.

Six Degrees was the only one to respond after we got out of that agreement and went back to the list of our top three choices. We had a meeting with them that day, and I was immediately impressed by their professionalism and the information they provided. I instantly knew that the quality of their work was going to be what we wanted.

The initial impressions were backed up when the project manager sent us a proposal with some of the scoped-out ideas that we talked about in our meeting. They went a little bit over our budget, but we were totally fine with it because of how everything turned out.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $3,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had our initial meeting in March 2021, and Six Degrees completed the project by the end of April 2021. We’re very likely to go back to them in the next three months for more work.

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

I was impressed with the look and feel of the video created by Six Degrees. This project was very important to me as I’m in charge of our brand, and they nailed it.

The executive team also gave very high praise to the video — the overall qualitative feedback was amazing. We’re very excited about it and are looking forward to using it for sales.

How did Six Degrees Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

We only communicated via email. When we were in the review process, we were able to leave timestamp comments on the video as well. This helped us consolidate our feedback and make it easy for them to make quick changes — we worked seamlessly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Six Degrees’ expertise in the market added so much value to our process. They provided us with great options to display our product and did an amazing job surpassing our expectations of the final look — we loved our final product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our video target time was one minute and 30 seconds, but when we turned in the script and Six Degrees edited it, it pushed the video to be a little longer. It resulted in a video of one minute and 48 seconds, which is only 18 seconds longer. They could’ve pushed back the time a little bit by cutting unnecessary information. However, we were thrilled with the result.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go for it. Be sure to be open to their suggestions because they have a lot of expertise to bring to the table. We had our vision locked in, but we were open to their suggestions as well.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing specialist at Rand Merchant Bank, a corporate banking institution.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees Productions?

We needed someone to create an explainer video that would position our capabilities. The video would be used for pitches and external communications with potential clients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Six Degrees produced two explainer animated videos for us. In doing so, they had to recreate two different brands that we had internally. 

The videos will be used for my internal clients for various reasons, but essentially to position our capabilities.

What is the team composition?

I dealt with one person who was managing the entire process. In the background, I’m sure there was a digital person who was building all the animations.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees Productions?

We chose them based on their quality of work they provided us in the past. It’s purely a relationship based appointment. We were comfortable going with them compared to the other agencies.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2019-June 2020.

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

They deliver good quality work. The turnaround times of the video production are good, as is the quality of the animations. They met the briefs and what we were expecting. I will be using Six Degrees again.

How did Six Degrees Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

Both their project and account management were very good. The team was always able to quickly make the changes I sent to them, and they often came up with innovative, creative solutions. We communicated mostly through email, and sometimes on the phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Six Degrees is agile and creative.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their communication could be broader instead of relying on email. They could do more one-on-one or telephone calls.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open to working with a credible supplier that can produce quality work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing for sales & distribution for an insurance provider.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees Productions?

We have an annual recognition event for top achievers from our sales group. We needed elements created for a webinar, including video production and design work.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Six Degrees Productions handled the design of the invitation, the certificates we handed out, and really everything related to the look and feel of the event.

For the video, they interviewed roughly 100 people, including the winners being recognized. For some of the video pieces, there were several people answering the same question and single interviewees in other videos. The interviews were done by Zoom call, due to COVID-19.

The videos are for a webinar, which was not done by this team. They did create all the elements that went into the webinar, and the goal is to make the winners feel really special when they watch it. 

What is the team composition?

There were between six and seven key people we interacted with for the project.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees Productions?

Our head of marketing recommended them. We included them in the pitch process, and they were selected.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000 - $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April 2019 – August 2020. We worked with them on the same event last year, where they produced the same deliverables.

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

There were challenges due to working with Zoom calls, which were occasionally dropped. They set up, and redid those appointments to ensure top quality work. They are outstanding, with great attention to detail and quality. We’re very pleased.

How did Six Degrees Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

Six Degrees Productions entirely handled the management of the project, so I was a bit removed from the day-to-day. However, any time I called them, they were able to give a very current update. Their communication is very clear, and transparent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They deliver what they promise, and more. They clearly communicate if there’s something they aren’t sure they can deliver, but are willing to try. I’ve worked with several companies; they’re one of the best I’ve engaged with. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re always willing to meet your expectations, and will quickly communicate if they can’t.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a past president of the International Association of Business Communicators, British Columbia, or IABC/BC. We are an industry association of over 500 communication professionals across the province of British Columbia that provides professional development, mentoring, awards, and networking opportunities to the communications field.

What challenge were you trying to address with Six Degrees Productions?

We were hoping to tackle a few things in our work with their team, number one of which was that our communication did not feature enough human stories. We weren’t actually reflecting the diversity and depth of our membership, and we were also approaching our 40th anniversary, so we figured the best way to celebrate that would be to paint a picture of our community at this point in time.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team helped to capture eight member stories in video format over the course of our 40th anniversary year, 2019–2020. We identified the members on our end who we wanted to be featured, and from there the Six Degrees team handled the process of finalizing our storyboards, filming the features, and editing the final product together into a video that we were able to release.

What is the team composition?

Their videographer and head of production were both on set and in contact with us about the editing, so it was a fairly small but nimble team.

How did you come to work with Six Degrees Productions?

Lee-Anne (Head of Video Production) and her team had recently moved to the California area and were getting to know that chapter and its members, and we saw an opportunity to partner with them to help the brand. Because the partnership developed relatively organically, we didn’t really consider any other agencies in the process.

How much have you invested with them?

Our contract with them is worth about $15,000, but they delivered the work pro bono as a way to benefit the organization as a whole.

What is the status of this engagement?

In the end, the project will have run from September 2019–September 2020.

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

Viewership and engagement levels that we are seeing on this content has been exponentially higher than any other video content we’ve ever produced. The number of comments, shares, and reactions is fantastic, and beyond that, our conversations with new members and individuals applying to be on our board have cited those videos as a significant influence in their perception of the brand.

The Six Degrees team really is amazing. Their work was meticulous, so creative, so prepared, and always went the extra mile to provide everything that we needed in one place. They always thought about the format and the audience and used that to determine how to really capture their subjects in ways that made them shine.

How did Six Degrees Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

As an association, we are run by volunteers, so for a vendor, it can sometimes be a challenge to keep us on task because we are obviously more involved by our day jobs. They did a great job of being flexible but also very on the ball so that we never slipped behind on anything and had a great overall experience.

The lighting was always perfect, their team provided coaching to the story subjects to help them be more comfortable on camera, and they had a really discerning eye on the editing table for what content would resonate the best with people. We really appreciated their partnership throughout all of the work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A member of our board was on scene during filming and remarked that she couldn’t wait to work with them in a professional role because their attention to detail was truly astounding. Any slight reflection or anything that could have distracted from the message was taken care of so that they made sure we were getting an excellent result.

They were consistently gracious and fun to be around, and it made the partnership really enjoyable to be a part of. When you’re working with someone for close to a year, that is always a huge plus, so it was something we really appreciated.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, we’ve been pleased with everything they have done throughout their work with us. I really don’t have any complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

One thing that worked really well for us was coming in from our end with a solid strategy and idea of what we wanted to achieve in the final product. That included pretty developed storyboards and a sense of humor in the content and that way they were able to simply apply their methodology to what we had rather than having to do a lot of guesswork about what we were looking for.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am co-founder of Fantastic Life. Fantastic Life is the world's first hormone balancing nutrition app. It helps its users assess the hormone levels within their body and accordingly recommends appropriate foods and diet to restore their hormonal balance. We are a startup.

For what projects/services did your company hire Six Degrees Productions?

We needed an introductory video, showcasing the company and product. We needed to explain how the product functions, its benefits and the use case. Six Degrees did an amazing job at hitting all of those objectives.

What were your goals for this project?

1. Introduce the company to the world
2. Explain the product and its features
3. Capture the various uses cases
4. Explain product benefits

How did you select this vendor?

We had known six degrees for a while from local networking. Amongst all other associated in the area, we found six degrees to be professional, capable and came with the experience we were comfortable with. The initial conversation put us at ease with regards meeting our criteria. Lee-Anne was very quick to understand the requriements and the objective and quick to come up with a plan of attack.

Describe the project in detail.

The project involved a preliminary conversation with the co-founders. Requirements gathering exercise if you will. Once the requirements were gathered, the folks at Six Degrees over the course of a few emails were quickly able to define a roadmap for how the shooting would be done, what was required leading up to it etc.

A series of questions were developed for use as a guideline. The day of the shooting started on time, the team was efficient at setup. It was our first time shooting and making a video and the team made us extremely comfortable. Can't stress how important that was for us. The videos came out professional and no amount of nervousness was ever visible through the videos.

What was the team composition?

The team at Six degrees comprised of Lee-Anne and Chris at the forefront. Six Degrees behind the scenes had a large crew that was involved in various aspects of video production to deliver the product in record time.

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

The team took a little over 2 weeks to produce the finished product. We really did not have any tweaks and updates. One really significant attribute of the entire exercise was that, there wasn't a lot of back and forth during the editing process. Six Degrees pretty much nailed it right from the get go.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Once engaged, Six Degrees pretty much ran with everything. They organized the shoot, they created the plan, a roadmap and a strategy/approach. They were true professionals that made this first time engagement for us painless and seemless. We just had to follow their lead. There struck a good balance between in person meetings and email/phone communication. The balance was quite efficient.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their professionalism combined with the quality of their work blew us away. Not to mention their comfort, the speed of the engagement, and the ease of doing business

Are there any areas for improvement?

None. We are going to be using six degrees again for all future video production.