2020 was a year of challenge for everyone. In our personal lives, in our business lives, it was a year where our lives were anything, but normal. A year where change was not just something to try, but mandatory. But at Script to Screen, it was also a year that showed that extreme challenges could be met. When faced with challenges, we pivoted into success.
Learning to Pivot
We faced many of the same challenges as the rest of the world. Pandemic regulations and economic forces changed every aspect of our business. Restrictions on gathering in large in-person groups made creating Direct-to-Consumer video content for our clients difficult. There were new things to learn from a production standpoint and from a business management standpoint.
Then there were the challenges our clients faced. With a suffering economy, tariffs, and depressed brick and mortar retail sales, marketing budgets are frequently some of the first places companies seek to cut. Successfully overcoming this unique time and thrive, not just survive in this environment, required business agility, skill and a bit of luck.
We embraced the challenges and along with our wonderful clients we executed some of our most satisfying work. We deployed software for virtual meetings. This allowed our staff work remotely the majority of the time turning their homes into home offices. The harder part was creating a safe production environment, where a Direct-to-Consumer commercial or infomercial could be filmed under pandemic restrictions.
Our Clients
A perfect example of this is an infomercial we produced for our client eHealth. eHealth is a medical insurance lead provider with a heavy focus on Medicare enrollment. Medicare open enrollment in the fourth quarter is their Black Friday, their Super Bowl. It was imperative that they reach their target market with content on the air during that period. The creative that was originally written for the show was for a large town hall meeting. That wouldn’t fly in a world of Covid.
We pivoted from our original creative into something more manageable — a virtual town hall meeting, something resembling the world in which we live right now. It allowed us to create a compelling, targeted argument, but not pack on-screen talent into a small space with our production crew.
2020 required pivots for many of our clients. Fortunately, the Direct-to-Consumer strategy we have been preaching for years was the answer to many of their problems. As the world became more isolated, selling products directly to customers accelerated the evolution and solution for many companies. As consumers had more and more time to sit and watch screens, it became imperative to reach them through those screens.
Blink, a home security camera system owned by Amazon, began their Direct-to-Consumer campaign in 2019, but continued into 2020. They expanded into a crowded market space and found was to scale with an additional Direct-to-Consumer infomercial. In a world dependent on delivery and items being left on porches, Blink is reaching its target market by using a long form DTC format to showcase its superior features and benefits. Based on Blink’s success, Amazon had us create an infomercial for their Smart Home division.
2020 was a great year for home products, as consumers looked to ways to make their stays at home a little more enjoyable.
2020 also provided opportunity for health-related products.
There was also opportunity for solo outdoor activities, with the return of Adams Golf as a client.
Our Company
Inside the office, 2020 was a year of both success and pivots. We had eight different infomercials charting on the top 25 IMS for the year — Generac, Hoover Smartwash, Nugenix, eHealth, Smartech, Blink, Amazon Smart Home and Sun Joe. We also had two employees celebrate 25 years with the company — IT Director Rene Sasis and Vice President/Executive Producer Joanie Laxson.
We even pivoted in terms of how we market the company. Originally, we had planned on increasing our speaking engagements, starting with an appearance at the Inspired Home Show in Chicago. The show’s cancellation led to online appearances. We then created a series of successful webinars held monthly, interviewing business and thought leaders in the Direct-to-Consumer space.
2020 was not an easy year. It was a year of challenges. But it was a year of challenges we were able to rise to meet.
