The Problem
How do you get the word out about a product that has never existed before and does something that no other product has ever done?
Well, it turns out you need to make a commercial.
The Background
I am a Gen X-er. I grew up in the 80s and like most of us from that era, I watched a TON of TV. He-Man, Thundercats, and Fraggle Rock were some of the standout favorites (at least for me). I also watched thousands of commercials. I ate Fruity Pebbles because Fred Flintstone said they were good and bought GI Joes because, well, GI Joe’s were just awesome! So, while I have consumed lots of video and marketing, I had never CREATED any.
If you have read anything about Sport Clamps or our story you will know that I started off knowing absolutely nothing about creating a product and bringing it to market. I learned almost everything by trying stuff, making mistakes and trying again better (most of the time). I do however have an awesome network of friends and people that supported me. I also read a lot.
That combination of reading and having wonderful friends is what helped us create our first two videos.
We all see engaging videos all the time. Youtube is an amazing platform. I personally have gone from watching videos about haunted islands to other ones about people crashing on bikes and it seemed perfectly natural.
When I thought about creating videos for Sport Clamps though, it seemed overwhelming! How to shoot it, where to shoot it, what props would we need, what kind of camera equipment? Would we need audio equipment or is the microphone on the camera okay? What do we say? Who is going to be in front of the camera? How do we make it entertaining? How do you make it something that people will want to share? How do you put things on Youtube? I mentioned I was clueless right?
Salvation
Enter my great friend we will call “Steve”. Steve has worked in television for 25 years and is a producer on a show that you DEFINITELY know. We are fishing buddies and go to the same church. When I told him what I was trying to do, he was incredible. He laid it out in a way that even this former Marine could understand. He told me that the two most important things were the script and the director. I didn’t even know what a director did and was planning to do it myself. I thought that if 19 year-old kids could do it, so could I. I was so wrong.
He also told me about the “Shot List”. That is where you take the script and describe the video shot that goes along with it. Here is an example of one we used.
The Crew
Now, I am fortunate to live in San Diego which is only about an hour and a half from Los Angeles. Los Angeles has the highest concentration of show business people IN THE WORLD! Steve works there and knows a lot of them. Including the young, creative (and at the time out of work due to COVID-19) ones. These are amazing individuals that I could NEVER afford on a normal day.
So, I got a brilliant young director/producer, a professional videographer/drone pilot AND an audio engineer! These three young professionals were so impressive! We worked collaboratively on the script and shot list, developed a list of props we would need and I went out scouting locations to shoot here in my hometown. I still find it hilarious that I was out “scouting locations” but I did. I also played the role of casting director by asking another friend “Ryan” who you will see in both commercials if he would do the acting. Ryan is much more talented and better looking than me and is a fantastic actor. Did I mention that I was lucky with my friends?
Since Sport Clamps has two primary customers (Sports Fans and Sports Parents) we needed to shoot 2 different commercials. That meant two locations, two sets of props, two scripts, etc. etc. Oh, and I could only afford the crew for one day so it all had to be shot in about a 10 hour period!
We started early at a local soccer field. We got the drone shots done and the solo shots of Ryan walking and talking. Then our “extras” showed up. These were little girls I had coached on a former soccer team. If you watch the Sports Parents video, you will see them run by. After we got the action shots, Ryan again went off and did some more solo shots including one with an animated chart. All in all we had about 4 hours at the soccer field and it was a wrap.
After a catered lunch (thank you wife!) we headed over to the warehouse to shoot the Sports Fans commercial. The set up was a little easier and we were in a groove at that point. Our young director had all the shots lined up and all we had to do was step through his plan. Our videographer had lights, filters, tripods and a bunch of other stuff I had never seen before. She was amazing! It was really cool to watch them work together as a team. I am so grateful to them for their effort and exceptional work ethic. Remember, they drove down from Los Angeles early that morning.
They got all the shots they wanted, including some green screen shots and then did some separate audio takes. It was fascinating to watch them work. I would have been completely lost if I had tried to do it on my own.
Post Production (That’s showbiz talk)
Now you would think that is the end but shooting the thing is just one part of the process. We spent the next three weeks picking music, sound effects, stock clips and editing it all together. I say “we” but it was really our young director/producer doing all the work. He would ask for suggestions and comments then go back to editing. After several rounds, we had it where we wanted and called it complete. I uploaded them to YouTube (whole other story) and gave them to our web guy to imbed in the website.
I learned a ton through the process and have a new-found respect for guys like Dude Perfect who consistently turn out high quality, entertaining video content. It is not as easy as they make it look. If it were not for the help of many people far smarter and more talented than me, I’d still be trying to explain what Sport Clamps are and what they do.
If you ever think about making a commercial, go into it with your eyes wide open. Unless you’ve got the dough to just have it handled, it is a boat load of work. It is extremely rewarding but it takes people that really know what they are doing. You will also probably need to call in favors from your friends.
Thank you again to “Steve”, “Ryan”, “Ryan”, “Trixie”, “Jeff”, “Stella”, “Hannah”, “Lilly”, “Tea”, “Briette” and “Darrell” for making it happen!