Breakdowns

If a video doesn’t land in the ear, it won’t land anywhere. We just ran a study and the top performers built the audio hook before the picture. The surprise was how hard real-world textures win. Zips. Snaps. Gravel underfoot. Those cues outperformed music-led edits because they feel honest, not engineered to force emotion. My […]

Stop posting the same cut everywhere. That’s how strong ideas get ignored. Every platform has a language. The story can travel. The edit shouldn’t. -> TikTok wants the unexpected. Fast. Real. A little weird. -> Instagram wants visual polish with rhythm that feels intentional. -> YouTube Shorts wants a clear premise followed by a quick

Vertical isn’t the crop, it’s the canvas. Most teams plan the story first and the platform last. Then on deadline they carve a horizontal into vertical and wonder why the cut feels lifeless. If you need content that works everywhere, you’ve got three options. → Shoot 16×9 crop. You’ll lose about 68% percent of your

The “campaign” model is running out of gas. One big push, one big drop. Back to zero. Look at lohause. Small Lisbon eyewear label, big narrative discipline. They run social like a show. Not product shouting, story stacking. You meet the same characters over time. Same mood. Same point of view. Familiarity becomes a feature.

The “polished UGC” era isn’t evolving. It’s dying. Audiences aren’t fooled by fake authenticity anymore. We can smell the brief, notice the lighting, and we swipe past. So what replaces it? World building. Own a recurring format. Give it characters. Build story arcs people want to return to because they know what lands next week.

The best part of this “drone” shot? There was no drone. The crew was deep in the mountains. Trees packed tight. Zero room for error, so we skipped the heavy zipline rigs and the drone. Nigel Edwards and crew outstretched 50 feet of lightweight cable, clipped on a small 360 camera, and let it fly.

We did a deep audit of a clothing brand on TikTok and these three findings kind of blew me away. First: premium, well produced content is outperforming. On a platform built on scrappy UGC, craft is punching above its weight. Second, product-focussed content wins when it doesn’t feel transactional. Show people: Building, designing, creating… Let

Most 30 second edits die at the 3 second mark… (not because the hook is weak). Because there’s no kicks. (Full transparency I learned about the power of kicks from our pals at Red Bull a few years ago, and tweaked it over time) Here’s how I build for attention that actually holds: 0s Open

My playbook for how we come up with ideas, shoot and deliver video content (told in under 60sec) Discovery: I sit with the brand team and politely interrogate their goals, audience, KPIs, taste. Then we map distribution. Instagram, TikTok, paid, PDP, TV. Where it lives shapes what we make. Creative development: I brief in our

Athletes generate over 2x the engagement than traditional influencers, here’s why: ✔️ Audiences sense inauthenticity and athletes bring unmatched credibility. ✔️ When a brand partners with an athlete, people trust they’re being guided in the right direction. ✔️ Partnering with athletes builds new and authentic connections, brand loyalty, and impact. … that’s why athlete marketing

Most content gets ignored. But it’s the genuine stuff that actually lands. Authenticity still wins. Probably always will. That doesn’t mean everything needs to be shot on an iPhone. It just has to feel real. Unforced. Full of personality. Like this North Face clip of Dr. Deejay in a freezing lake wearing a jacket. It’s

Skateboarding in the 80s. Surfing in the 90s. Snowboarding in the 2000s. A surprising amount of what we now see in mainstream films and social content was shaped by these genres. At Coffee & Creatives (part of WSSF 🏔), I spoke about how action sports didn’t just influence what we shoot, but how we shoot.