As Krista Vogel, Agency Director at Hurrdat, always says, “Our best work comes from video married with social strategy.” It’s something we’ve taken to heart in our latest company venture, so we’re happy to announce that we’ve launched an in-house production company, Hurrdat Films.
Within our nearly six years as a marketing agency, we’ve challenged marketing norms through our social media marketing work. Now, we have the opportunity to produce high-quality video marketing content and brand films for any channel, whether it’s a website, YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram. It’s something we haven’t seen a lot of other digital marketing agencies doing, which means we’re better positioned to help clients reach their full marketing campaign potential.
“We saw the power of quality video in several online campaigns that we ran for national clients in early 2014 and knew we needed more for our clients,” says Bill Hipsher, who co-owns Hurrdat with partner Brandon Taylor. “However, we weren’t video experts and didn’t want to venture into unknown territory without an experienced leader both we and our clients could trust. We started our search for someone with years of experience and an impeccable reputation to lead the charge.”
And we found him.
Dan Napoli is a veteran filmmaker with more than a decade of filmmaking experience. After starting a career as a music supervisor on sports documentary PUSH in 2000, Dan has created documentaries, brand films, worked with agencies like Stein IAS and Bozell, and helped edit films for Reebok CrossFit and Alpine Headphones. Now, he’s leading the Hurrdat Films charge as Director of Visual Storytelling.
“Dan and his team are incredibly agile in their approach to working with clients,” says John Battistini, who was Director of Interactive Services at Stein IAS from 2005 to 2015. “We came to them with an unfinished concept, and they helped us deliver an amazing final finished piece inside of three weeks. Their creative thinking really brought our idea to life, and without them, we could never have successfully navigated through the intricacies of the casting, shoot, and final editing/finishing.”
When the chance came to get Dan on our side, our co-owners leapt instantly. “The question was…could we take Dan’s creative abilities and see the same emotional connection with video for clients looking for shorter pieces that help support their online marketing efforts?” says Bill.
Bill and Brandon tested Dan to see his work beyond long-form documentaries before making a decision.
“I asked, ‘Can you tell a compelling story in three, six, 15, 30 seconds?’ Because with online marketing, you’re putting content in places that has a deluge of content already, so we may only get a few seconds to connect with the viewer,” Bill explains. “Dan accepted the challenge, and I think this further positions our company uniquely outside the norm with in-house video production team working alongside digital marketers.”
In August 2015, our parent company, B² Interactive, acquired Dan’s production company Digital Hero Films (formerly called Disconnected Media).
“His connections are extremely valuable,” says Brandon. “Dan’s already built a lot of relationships that can only come from bootstrapping the way he did for more than a decade, and that will help Hurrdat Films remain agile, too.”
Dan’s decade-long working relationship with a small handful of independent film and photography professionals—including CLEO winning directors, camera operators who’ve worked with Dave Grohl from The Foo Fighters, and still photographers who’ve covered the President on Air Force One—provides him and Hurrdat Films with an invaluable roster of freelancers who can help on any client project if necessary.
“There’s a little collective of super talented guys—four to five of us—who’ve worked together on a project basis for like 14 years,” says Dan.
Speaking of super talented guys, there’s our Video Editor & Director, James Chramosta, who has worked with Dan’s Digital Hero Films in several positions over the past seven years. Though Dan is at the helm of Hurrdat Films, James is never out of the frame. Together, they pack a formidable one-two punch, whether collaborating or leading individual video projects.
“Of course, I want James by my side at all times, but over the last seven years, he has blossomed into a director himself, and it’s nice to have someone of his caliber on the team,” says Dan. “We each have our own take at times, and that’s great for clients because there are times that certain clients benefit more from James’ unique perspective and way of telling a story over mine. A complementary view at a director’s level is a luxury many people aren’t lucky enough to have.”
Dan and James work out of Hurrdat Films’ 800-square-foot space, which includes two edit bays, a writers’ room, and a modest interview studio. It might seem like a small workspace for a production company, but the work Hurrdat Films is doing is huge.
Hurrdat Films launched a full-length documentary for Planet Eclipse in December 2015, featuring professional paintball team San Diego Dynasty as they try to keep up their 15-year winning streak. The film, Fifteen, has nearly reached 100,000 views on YouTube within its three months. But the biggest accomplishment has been the film’s inclusion in the 2016 All-Sports Film Festival in Los Angeles. It’ll screen on April 19, 2016.
“When we started making videos, we just wanted to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else in the paintball industry,” says Antony Leadbetter, President of Planet Eclipse. “Over time, we have changed the style of simple paintball eye-candy pieces to documentary/lifestyle pieces. I believe we are now the best in the business at making these types of films, and that’s all down to Dan and his team…They put passion and soul into the work, which makes the final product amazing.”
We plan to keep working on video projects with Planet Eclipse, shooting on location throughout the U.S. at major events. This includes the release of Planet Eclipse’s next brand film in June 2016. In addition, we’ll also produce video content to support clients’ digital marketing campaigns.
“Full brand films are super powerful, but also rare and specific,” says Dan. “We aren’t going to sit here and say everyone needs an 86-minute documentary. That would be ridiculous. But the great thing is, creatively, if you know how to tell a story and capture people’s attention and emotions, that principle can transfer to a bunch of different types videos for different types of clients.”
The perfect example? Victory Fighting Championship (VFC), one of our most recent client additions. As the nation’s top developmental combat sports league, this is a huge partnership and branded video opportunity for us. VFC signed a deal with UFC® to broadcast fights on the UFC Fight Pass® channel, which means they need professional video work that still represents the brand on a local level.
We started managing VFC’s social media and online marketing efforts in January 2016. That includes a series of two-minute mini-documentaries shot, cut, and released the same day as a fight, part of Hurrdat Films’ video work for VFC events, which are held throughout the Midwest every five to six weeks
“The video work I’ve received from Hurrdat is by far the best and biggest piece of a puzzle our company was needing and has received,” says Ryan Stoddard, President of Victory Fighting Championship. “Our videos consistently not only help showcase our events in the best possible way, but also give our fans— and myself even—that chill factor that just makes you say ‘Wow.’ The Victory Fighting Championship brand is emerging as a global development promotion for the UFC and is part of their UFC Fight Pass channel…I couldn’t be any happier with what I’ve received thus far.”
We’ve got a busy spring planned for Hurrdat Films. We’ve booked two docu-profiles (that is, a short-form cinematic take on a company profile). One is for LRS Healthcare, which helps place travel nurses in jobs throughout the U.S. The other is for Community Savings Bank, a small-town bank with several branches throughout rural Iowa. Hurrdat Films will also head to Los Angeles to work with Frost Media on a fitness video shoot with a well-known professional athlete. Mum’s the word on that one.
“Sometimes, it’s an 86-minute film. Sometimes, it’s MMA. And sometimes, it’s for a small-town school district,” says Napoli. “That might sound wildly different, but if they’re all great stories, then on some level they’re very similar. And that’s what we want to be here to do—film great stories.”
“Which ties everything back to why Hurrdat Films has come to be,” adds Bill. “It took us a little time to build the connection, but Hurrdat as a digital marketing agency has a mission—to tell brand stories that are meaningful and measurable. Whether providing services individually or together, we feel Hurrdat and Hurrdat Films fit together quite nicely and will wonderfully tell our clients’ stories.”
About Hurrdat
Founded in 2010 in Lincoln, Neb., Hurrdat is a digital marketing agency on a mission to tell brand stories that are both meaningful and measurable. Hurrdat was born into social media marketing and has grown to offer a full spectrum of digital marketing services. The agency now provides social media, content, paid media, local SEO, and web design to clients throughout the Midwest and beyond. With the addition of Hurrdat Films in 2015, the award-winning agency adds powerful expertise to client initiatives with in-house video production services.
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