Skalawag Productions

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was a senior marketing manager at a natural food company called Simple Mills when I worked with Skalawag Productions.

What challenge were you trying to address with Skalawag Productions?

We needed their team to produce brand videos for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially onboarded Skalawag Productions for a larger project that required a brand story video as the main output. We had initial meetings with their team to have them explain their work process to us and how we could help them meet our expectations for the project. They presented ideas that could help our story flow better and explained what kinds of videos would work best for our brand story. 

After the planning stage, we finalized the video angles and alignment before proceeding with the production. Skalawag Productions took care of scriptwriting while occasionally getting feedback and recommendations from us. They were also in charge of art direction, costumes, and location scouting. We prepared a little mock kitchen setup in our office and they shot some clips there while incorporating design elements and title cards. 

Upon the initial project’s completion, we decided to hire them as our content production partner to retain the structure of our brand. Additionally, Skalawag Productions helped us build video content strategies for our social media channels.

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with Mark (Founder & Creative Director) who handled video and content strategies and production. There was also a project manager who was in charge of overall logistics.

How did you come to work with Skalawag Productions?

Initially, we had a pool of agencies that we filtered based on our requirements. We liked their agency’s profile the most and also found their initial pitch to be creative and reliable. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement ran from January 2019–December 2020.

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

We were really impressed with the results and that was also the main reason why we further decided to onboard them as our partner. The video that Slakawag Productions created is still up on our website to date, and that speaks volumes about its quality and timelessness.

As far as the social media video project which lasted a year, we were very happy with the deliverables. I didn’t get to record any metrics, but I was certain that these products also helped us explain our brand and vision to our customers.

How did Skalawag Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

All project updates were recorded in a Google Sheets file that they shared with us. Skalawag Productions had an intricate and well-managed workflow that always led to their seamless delivery of video content. They made sure to keep us updated while monitoring everything on their own to help us allocate our time on other projects or tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Skalawag Productions was a small team, but they handled everything smoothly. They were always willing to go the extra mile just to meet our needs and make sure that all the videos were successfully produced.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t encounter any areas that needed improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to finalize your expectations before starting the production stage. It would also help if you effectively communicate with their team and get their advice on what must be done to improve your brand. Just start off really strong and let them follow through.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product and marketing expert for the commercial division at Breville | PolyScience. We manufacture tabletop kitchen appliances like blenders for chefs and bartenders. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Skalawag Productions?

Whenever we have a new product, we do 6–7 introductory video series in which we break down its features and functions. We hired Skalawag Productions to make these videos for a new product we had.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Skalawag Productions collaboratively on the video production process. I oversaw the branding and messaging of the videos and provided them with the scripts. Then, they worked on the pre-production, production, and post-production of a series of videos promoting our new product.

They also added motion graphics and did multiple derivative cuts since we have several brands across the world.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Mark (Creative Director & Founder) and other people from his team.

How did you come to work with Skalawag Productions?

Skalawag Productions worked in an office where there were several creatives, including a beer podcaster and a photographer with whom we’d worked before. I met Mark there and started talking with him. I reviewed his work and saw that it was high-quality.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on these videos from April–June 2020. The shoot took one day, and they worked in post-production for about a week. However, we have plans to work with them in the future.

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

The videos were fantastic; the sound quality, clarity, and color grading were top-notch. They did an amazing job with the post-production and motion graphics. Objectively, they produced the best videos that we have. 

How did Skalawag Productions perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication was really easy because it was a short pre-production, and there wasn’t much to be done. We used Zoom calls and emails to tell their team what we wanted and approve the script and outline of the project. We just explained what kind of video we wanted, and they came back with the production plan.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The reason why anybody would be happy to work with them is their industry knowledge. Their skillset applies across a number of fields, and I’ve seen them do a lot of work in food and beverage.

Additionally, Mark was very familiar with our products in general. That level of inside knowledge definitely helped make the videos better.

Are there any areas they could improve?  

We had a very good experience with Skalawag Productions. There’s nothing overly critical that I would say. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Skalawag Productions is really great. Anybody can make a video, but the reason to work with somebody like Skalawag Productions is that the end product you get from them has a longevity that other products don’t have. We produce videos for different reasons, and the ones made by them are definitely of higher quality.