FILM

 

What Was the Problem?

Their first hurdle was letting people know about their new office in Sanford. It was a smaller town with a great community. Sort of like one of those towns where everyone knows about everyone and somebody’s “Daddy” or “Grandaddy” had started a business in that area.

Their fear was that if they announced a new office, it would seem like they were starting a competition with the local insurance providers. That would ultimately kill their business and ruin their investment of branching out.

Thankfully, they had just hired Harris. Not only was he born and raised in Sanford, his “Daddy” was one of the big wigs at the local insurance agency.

The creative challenge here was understanding where both agencies were coming from. How do we show that Jones meant no harm for starting up a new office in Sanford? What was the right message to send to them. Also, how the heck do we pull off a video shoot in the middle of a pandemic where we need to be 6 feet away from everyone?

I worked closely with the leaders at Jones to understand the insurance world and their history of their agency. The iconic symbol and mascot was their vintage pickup truck, “Lucy”.

What Was The Solution?

Then the idea came, what if we show the best of both worlds? I pitched the idea of making an announcement video featuring Harris and Lucy showing the connection and unity of the two agencies. We could make it almost like a teaser trailer and also let people know Jones was coming to Sanford with open arms.

It was myself, socially distanced from the new agents, my DSLR and a few GoPro cameras, and the very talented Dale Spaulding who was doing voice over work remotely. 

This was such a success, we started a video campaign showcasing the other new hires who were also branching out to other areas. The key focus was to be the employees interacting with Lucy. Riding triumphantly through the town in their vehicle of validation.

What Did I Learn?

There will always be hiccups or hurdles during production and planning.

Being flexible and versatile is a must, especially when you’re the one making all the decision on set.

It’s also super important to plan ahead. Storyboard, meet with your talent ahead of time to explain the vision, add notes for your voice over artist so they know how to properly pronounce the names of locations and people, don’t drink too much caffeine before a shoot!

It wasn’t a perfect campaign by any stretch of the imagination, but I was able to accomplish what was asked of me and provide a great boost to the Jones Insurance name during a season when getting in touch with a small town was nearly impossible.