THE STORY HIDDEN IN THE TREES

A few weeks ago, we received a call from a consultant. He wanted to hire ‘the best’ company to make a brand film. He looked to California to hire ‘the right director and cinematographer. He knew he needed a big brand film to maximize the potential of the brand. He was hired to scale up a this ‘small, promising brand’. He said, ‘this is a great idea that just hadn’t taken off yet’..

It’s hard to tell a good story

Turns out after months with the California agency, no one was happy. Not the client. Not the consultant. He asked if our company would be available to fix his ‘problem’. “Can you fix this, and finish this quick and get it right”?, He added ‘ Unfortunately there isn’t much budget left as we spent it all on hiring ‘the best’ from California.

Two weeks later, we fixed it, and shipped it. Both consultant and his client are thrilled with their finally completed brand film.

Our process

About seven years ago the largest employer in the state asked for a brand film. Everyone seemed very impressed with our experience, and the quality of our work. Turned out the problem was we lived here. We were not from Manhattan, or Brooklyn or Los Angeles. So how could we be trusted with getting the story right for a multi million dollar company – or even a small one like this?

Step 1

Sometimes Being Local is the Problem.

This is in no way about the consultant or his client. They were both great and professional to a fault. It IS about a phenomenon we seem to run into either directly, or by inference every few years. We can’t be ‘that good’ cause we live here – where you live.

Step 2

We didn’t get that Job

We did not. I had nothing to lose so I asked ‘What did we do wrong?’ ‘I hear what you are offering but you CAN’T be that good – you live here’. Bottom line…not all world class creatives live and work in New York, LA etc. Moral of the story? We and many other good creatives prove every day you Can live in a small town – and do world class work.

Step 3

Karma?

What goes around…A few years later, another department in this same large company decided to do an MBA Case Study on our company. I outlined how the first company I co-founded went public on the NYSE, and the second – with fellow co-founder Oprah Winfrey – was sold to NBC for $400 million…(See arthurbell.com for more)