I was recently going through an old box of photographs and stumbled upon the invitation to the first art show I was part of back in 2010. It was a group show with Justin Wolf and Joseph Gonzalez. At the time, we were working graphic designers who did fine art on the side.
This show was a highlight of the art we created after hours under our alias names. As I reflect back, this was actually a really important benchmark in my life as a creative professional. It was the first time I showed artwork that I created for myself and opened it up to the public for review. At the gallery we had a ledger that guests could leave feedback. Some positive, others ripped particular pieces to shreds.
As a young creative professional, I knew it was important to start building a thick skin around the work I was pouring myself into.
As I have matured in my career, one important skill I’ve picked up is to be able to separate yourself from your work. As the creator, it’s easy to fall in love with every painting, sculpture, design or video— but tossing it out into the world where people will freely judge can be a very humbling experience. But at the end of the day, that feedback (both positive and negative) is important for us to hear because it refines you and your creative process.
That’s why every year at Real Video Production Co. we submit some of our top work in various industry award platforms, where a board of industry professionals judge the work, rank it accordingly, and in some cases provide feedback.
“Winning a Telly Award is great, but seeing your work play during every Sox game on WGN might be the greater reward.”
https://vimeo.com/662430279
We are pleased to announce that this past year we won a silver Telly Award for the video work we did in collaboration with Shawn Stuckey Creative for Steele and Loeber.
https://vimeo.com/499356396
This was a two-part commercial campaign titled “Great Things Begin In The Garage”. One ad featured a budding fashion designer, and the other an up-and-coming baseball legend.
https://vimeo.com/499356452
Sure, winning a Telly Award is great, but seeing your work play during every Sox game on WGN might be the greater reward.
“It’s not necessarily for the quality of work we produced, but our reputation among our clients.”
This past year, we were also recognized by online creative service directory, Clutch.co with an award as one of their Top B2B Companies. This one is a little different because it’s not necessarily for the quality of work we produced, but our reputation among our clients.
https://vimeo.com/662347661
As we’ve built relationships and grown, our clients have graciously been leaving reviews on our company; covering the gamut of how easy we were to work with, an evaluation of the video(s) we produced for them, and an overview of their experience.
Other businesses looking for a similar service use those reviews to see if you would be a good fit for their project. This has been a great way to track our growth, and use their unfiltered feedback as a way to better serve them and prospective clients in the future.
“Real Video Production Co. is ranked the #1 video production company in Indiana”
Winning a Top B2B Award from Clutch.co might be of more value to me than a Telly. Why? Because doing great work is an assumed “pay-to-play” in this arena of being a video production company. Having your clients take the time to do an extensive, honest review of your company is really where we can chart our growth and correct course when we need to.
“One of the top 10 Illinois Video Production Companies”
We are fortunate to say thus far, we’ve garnered sweeping 5-star reviews and Real Video Production Co. is now ranked the #1 video production company in Indiana.
In addition to that, Real Video has been recognized as one of the top 10 Illinois Video Production Companies by DesignRush (#2 to be precise.)
To hear our clients speaking highly of the quality of our work, how easy we are to work with, our meticulous care in planning and executing the creative, and praise for our overall work ethic feels pretty good.
While holding true to one of our top values at Real Video: Authenticity, I have to say that I’m proud of most of the work we have done this past year. Sure, not everything makes the highlight reel but I can honestly say that we created the best video projects we could within the limitations of every project that was given to us.
I’m even more proud of our small, but mighty team. They are ridiculously talented. But more so, they are genuinely good people— people who care for each other, create with excellence, and want to see the work we do make our clients more successful.
“WE’RE READY. BRING IT ON.”
As we step into this year, I already know we will be rewarded with some amazing opportunities as well as tossed some unpredictable zingers, but as we’ve taken stock of how much we’ve grown this past year, I can confidently say we’re ready. Bring it on.