Every few weeks, a link shows up in my inbox. It might come from the person in charge late at night, or from someone who was asked about it in a meeting.
Underneath it is usually some version of the same sentence.
“Can you make me a video like this?”
For a long time, I dreaded those emails. Now, they’re one of my favorite ways for a project to start.
Nobody plans the moment a piece of work connects with them. It happens driving to work, listening to a podcast or while someone else’s video plays before a keynote.
By the time everyone gets on a scheduled call, the original reaction has often been flattened into a phrase like “more energy” or “warmer tone.”
Those phrases don’t give us much to work with. The link does.
Our Two Telling Questions
“What is the work doing?”
The first question I ask is not whether we can make something that looks or sounds like the reference. It’s what that piece is achieving.
Maybe it’s building credibility with an audience that starts out skeptical. Maybe it’s making a complicated subject easy to understand. Maybe it simply feels more confident than the work around it.
Once we can name what it achieves, we can ask the more important question:
‘What would achieve that for you?”
The answer may look nothing like the original reference. Your audience, organization, and problem are different. The link isn’t a template because it shows us where to aim.
Solve the Right Problem First
An ambitious reference does not automatically point to an ambitious production. It may point to a stronger idea, clearer writing or a more confident way of presenting the message.
More often than not, people are responding to the confidence of the idea, the clarity of the message or the way a complicated subject becomes easy to follow.
The goal is to identify that early so the investment goes toward what will make the work more effective, not toward recreating production choices that may have little to do with why the reference worked.
You’ll Get an Honest Read
Sending the link also does not mean I’ll automatically agree with the direction. If I think it will fall short, I’ll say so while there is still time to do something about it.
Years ago, I had an idea I thought was too far outside what a client would accept. I softened it and presented the safer version. They wanted the bolder idea, the one I had talked myself out of showing them. I thought about it the entire drive home. And I still think about it.
Keeping an idea to yourself is safe. No one can reject it but no one can make it better either. Since then, I’ve tried to bring forward the ideas that deserve a real conversation even when they may be harder to sell.
Clients know things about their organizations that our agency cannot see from where we sit. I know things about the work that may not be obvious from inside it. The best answer usually comes from putting both on the table.
Send Us the Link
Send it whenever it finds you, even if it came from someone else.
Then tell me what caught your attention.
Together, we’ll figure out what job the piece is doing and what your work needs to do next.
John Heiple is VVK’s vice president of creative production and executive produces all major video projects. In addition to writing and producing, he manages the day-to-day operations of VVK’s creative production studio. John started his career with Velocity Cow, now VVK, 11 years ago as a writer and producer and then was promoted to executive producer. He has written and produced creative for hundreds of clients including the Sam Bernstein Law Firm, DTE Energy, Ascension St John’s, Weingartz, as well as for over 15 of Metro Detroit’s largest auto dealerships.
Prior to joining Velocity Cow, John spent 11 years at WDIV-Local 4 creating marketing messaging for the NBC affiliate in Detroit as a promotions producer. Later, he became the sales senior producer where he wrote, edited, and produced strategic sales presentations. John is honored to help foster an environment at VVK where everyone can share their thoughts and ideas freely and without judgement. He measures success of the company not just by the quality of the work and the relationships with clients, but also by the respect the team shows one another.
On a completely unrelated note, John met Nicolas Cage and it remains one of the most surreal moments in his life. John is a proud Michigan State University graduate.