Comments on: Whose Brand Does Your Work Project? Yours or Your Clients?

By: Ron Dawson

Ron Dawson — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:18:28 +0000

In reply to Cliff Etzel. It's a great vid. :)

By: Cliff Etzel

Cliff Etzel — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:38:01 +0000

In reply to Ron Dawson.

LOVE the John Jay Video – in fact after watching it posted to my own blog. 🙂

By: Ron Dawson

Ron Dawson — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:12:23 +0000

In reply to parallel57.

Thank you so much for the kind words. It was a joy to make the film. And equally so working with Shawn.

I must say there were some scary moments up on that mountain with that rope. 🙂

By: parallel57

parallel57 — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:00:56 +0000

Just wanted to comment on the film itself !
I took a few minutes out of the day to watch this video and I can honestly say that it was the best few minutes spent today so far. I loved this. From the peacefulness of Shawn’s personality to being completely in awe of the fantastic landscape ….. all tied together with some wonderful filming .
Yosemite has always been on my wish list of places to go, but even more so now 🙂

By: Ron Dawson

Ron Dawson — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:41:11 +0000

In reply to Cliff Etzel.

This is an excellent point Cliff. I completely agree with you. You will attract clients who are attracted to your brand. I actually write about this in this blog post: http://daredreamermag.com/2012/04/04/john-jay-of-wiedenkennedy-break-out-of-your-silo/

I also personally believe you should ideally take work for clients who brand you “believe in.” However, I would change it up a tad. There are some clients I’ve had in the past whose product or service I’m apathetic too. They sell widgets and they need a good video. So I’ll make them a great one. Even if I could care less about widgets. It helps pay the bills. HOWEVER, I would NOT take a gig for something that was specifically counter to my personal or professional moral or ethics.

And you’re always free to “ruffle feathers” here as long as it’s done respectfully. 🙂

Thanks for the comment.

By: Cliff Etzel

Cliff Etzel — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:00:31 +0000

Ron, Although I understand the basis of your question, another POV is this if the client has come to you: Does yours or my creative work align with what they’re trying to say by the very nature of what our core mission statement is?

Defining what it is we do as visual content creators will by the very nature of the diversity of clients out there, allow us to approach those clients accordingly with our work being similar to the clients own message.

I think it’s a little remiss to ask which brand message one is creating. I, for instance, won’t shoot work for those clients out there who are not in alignment with my core values. IMO, you can’t produce authentic work for a client if you don’t believe in their brand.

Does it preclude one from potential sources of income – more than likely, but at the end of the day, I would rather know I had purity of purpose in producing a project for those clients who held similar beliefs to what I have than be a hypocrite.

Hopefully I’m not ruffling too many feathers with my response 🙂

By: Joe Buissink – An Intimate Portrait Video « The Art & Business of Filmmaking & Photography

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:05:30 +0000

[…] really represented Joe. But, I didn’t have any of the traditional footage I’d use for a promo video. Then I said to myself, “Ron. Aren’t you always going on about how a promo isn’t […]

By: Ron Dawson

Ron Dawson — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:39:45 +0000

In reply to Steve Moses. Wow. Thanks you Mr. Mayor. That is indeed quite an honor. I appreciate it. That was my first time in Yosemite and it was quite a trip. There were a few times up on the side of one of those mountains where I am certain I got more gray hair. :)

By: Steve Moses

Steve Moses — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:29:00 +0000

Ron, beautiful job on that Yosemite piece, my favorite place in the world & you captured the essence of not only Shawn but of Yosemite also……..great job. 🙂