We were lucky to catch up with Travis Thompson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Travis, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

In film, there can be and often times is is a large % of excess on any set or production. Founding Elevation 0m and being self taught allowed me to learn through trial and error. Our first major break was a film for Nike that highlighted the first Professional Nike athlete with Cerebral Palsy (Justin Gallegos.)

We had success in storytelling with various sectors outside of footwear before the Justin Piece but In terms of awareness and a defining moment for Elevation 0m this was it. Getting north of 50 million views on Sports Illustrated and having this ad played on Joe Rogan really was a catalyst to expand to where we are today.

LINK: https://www.facebook.com/SportsIllustrated/videos/nike-surprises-with-runner-with-cerebral-palsy-with-pro-contract/308607159930701/

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4KC0nUmY4Y

This ad was produced in the most minimal way. Looking back we made a lot of mistakes. What we learned from this experience was that having all of the gear in the world, a massive budget, and dozens of people on set doesn’t matter if you cant tell a story quickly and efficiently.

Since that day with Justin quickly approaches a decade ago we have grown as a company in so many ways. We have upgraded our gear, become better in all aspects of storytelling, and became better business owners. The thing that hasn’t changed is always making our films about “The Story.”

Every time we start a project we ask ourselves “how can we tell am amazing stories for our clients through the power of film while keeping our process as minimal as possible.” This will always be our goal at Elevation 0m.

It is fun to look back at that film and see how far we have come.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I spent 7 year after college working in college athletics. I enjoyed it but I always had this burning desire to be my own boss and scale a company. What I didn’t know was what company or industry I would be in.

I would like to say I had a master plan, but I didn’t. I remember my very first paid project actually coming from a free one. I filmed something for a friend about his life and just posting it social media. I had zero storytelling experience.

About a week after posting I was contacted by a larger brand who wanted to hire “my company” to create a series of films for them. They asked me to submit a proposal.

At that time I didn’t have a brand name, I didn’t have a logo, and my only other “employee” was my 10 year old Chocolate lab named Miler.

This was the moment I went all in. I submitted a proposal for that contract as a price that would make me quit my previous career. They accepted it and from that moment on I have not looked back. We are approaching year 10 of Elevation 0m being in business and I am as excited and hungry as ever to tell stories for our clients. That’s how I know I am in the right career field.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

COVID obviously was a tough time for everyone, including business owners. It was a defining moment for how we conduct business. It was a time where we stood back and realized this style of business we had grown was sustainable.

Prior to COVID we had looked at establishing a brick and mortar HQ many times. Every time we would get close, we would step back and analyze our client base. We realized that without a dedicated HQ tying us to one specific town we were much more nimble than a lot of our competition. We were able to be on the Oregon Coast one day working with the fishing industry and various destination marketing groups, the next day be in Portland Oregon working with a footwear brand, hop down to Eugene the next and be part of a larger documentary film, the following day be in Bend Oregon working with agriculture groups telling there story, and then hop on a plane and be in Arizona (or various pother states around the country) telling stories for brands local to that region.

This appealed to us massively and we realized how much it appealed to the companies hiring Elevation 0m. We saw it as an advantage and decided to stay remote from Covid onward. We even built out a dedicated production vehicle within a Mercedes Sprinter van. We can transport all production gear on set efficiently, setup and tear down equipment outside of the elements, edit project while on the road, and even have an occasional production meeting to avoid the rain. The Sprinter van has turned into a symbol of how we emphasize flexibility and adaptability during storytelling.

COVID really hurt a lot of agencies that had large overhead from brick and mortars. Thankfully, we actually grew revenue during COVID. Looking back I think it was because we remained nimble and clients wanted to hire us because of that. We have a small team that is extremely adaptable. This has allowed us to land more and more larg storytelling jobs that require this adaptability.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

When I look back on the styles of stories we tell it has really been an extension of my life. Our first big break was Nike and that is tied to my time as a runner for University of Oregon. A lot of connections from my time as a Division I athlete led into amazing business relationships and friendships.

From there I have to look at my connection to natural resources. My father is a lifelong commercial fishermen. When we began telling stories with natural resource sectors like farming, forestry, and fishing, I felt right at home. I grew up with these types of hard working people. I felt like I had an advantage in being able to pull stories out of them and capture it with a lens.

Every sector or client in any given year seems to tie back in one way or another to my life prior to film making. I owe a lot of Elevation 0m’s success to fostering strong relationships throughout my entire life. I also owe any ounce of Success that Elevation 0m has had to surrounding myself with incredible people. I figure if I can keep putting myself in rooms with incredible people, the sky is the limit for Elevation 0m moving forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.elevation0m.com
• Instagram: Elevation0m
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@elevation0m694

Image Credits

Elevation 0m (In house photos)