We were lucky to catch up with Matt Pittman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Matt, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
Well, it all began when I was presented with an opportunity to produce a testimonial video for a friend’s startup company; it piqued my curiosity. Video has firmly established itself as the most memorable and engaging medium in digital marketing, and the world of video testimonials seemed full of potential. However, as I heard more about the project, there were undoubtedly a few hiccups that came with the production. Namely, the world had just shut down due to the Covid pandemic, I was currently located in Germany, and the client that the company wanted a testimonial video from was based in Switzerland.
When it comes to content, video consistently outperforms other formats, with users overwhelmingly expressing a preference for it over text, audio, and photographs. It was comments like this, along with numerous other statistics about the power of customer review videos, that my good friend Alex Lakemeyer, CEO of PINPOOLS based in Düsseldorf, kept sending my way. Alex is the epitome of persistence, and since he and his brother Heribert were kind enough to allow me to work out of their office while the rest of their employees were instructed to work from home, we had a lot of time together to talk about different marketing strategies.
Our conversations covered the full spectrum of online marketing techniques, such as Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click Advertising, to writing the perfect script to create the perfect video that would surely propel the Lakemeyer brothers to becoming the next viral sensation, taking the internet by storm. Alex and I had differing opinions on which techniques would ultimately offer the best value proposition for generating new business. However, the one thing we both completely agreed on was that, from a marketing perspective, it’s hard to beat a positive customer testimonial video. And to Alex, I was the go-to person for all things video.
Alex often refers to me as ‘Hollywood,’ given that I spent 8 years working in Los Angeles before moving to Germany to be with my then wonderful and amazing girlfriend, who is now my wonderful and still amazing wife. While living in LA, I climbed the proverbial ladder producing everything that came my way including music videos, online series, and eventually commercial content as the Head of Branded Production for Will Ferrell’s comedy company, Funny Or Die. My stories of mingling with celebrities, shutting down entire city streets to shoot car commercials, 18-hour days on set, and the absolutely crazy things that I have had to rent for productions (e.g., camel, helicopter, monster truck, etc.) never ceased to amaze him and, I assume, painted this picture that I could produce literally anything.
So, cut to Alex and me, sitting down for lunch, and him receiving the news that one of their best customers was onboard to record a testimonial video. The ball was now fully in my court, as ‘Mr. Hollywood video-producer extraordinaire,’ to figure out a way to record a high-quality testimonial video in Switzerland remotely from Germany. Oh, and Alex also wanted the testimonial video to be filmed on not just one, but two cameras. This was, without a doubt, the initial challenge that would lead me to founding my fully remote production company Timonial and designing the Timonial Camera Kit, an innovative 4k remote video production solution that can be fully controlled by my team from anywhere on the planet.
Matt, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Well, to sum it up, I’m a video producer who founded a startup that allows companies to create broadcast-quality video testimonials remotely. It’s a work in progress, but I am eager to learn and deliver as much value to our clients as possible. Here are a few takeaways from my own journey that you can hopefully instill in your own startup or idea.
Number one: Ideas and opportunities are everywhere, and more ideas and opportunities are created every day. But in my experience, the idea is not as important as the execution and focusing on the immediate next steps to turn that idea into a reality. The Timonial Kit was relatively easy to design, but ensuring its remote functionality turned into something of a nightmare. I’m referring to days, nights, weeks, and even months of trial and error, all aimed at anticipating and addressing potential remote production challenges. This effort was not just for my benefit but also for the participants on the other end of the camera, regardless of their location in the world.
Number two: Ideas can be big, but innovation and progress come in small steps. When shipping out the original Timonial Kit, the box to ship the thing was huge. Not to mention, the very first box that the kit fit in was intended to hold crossbows and would absolutely not have worked when it came to shipping the kit to companies all over the world. The kit started big and then slowly but surely got smaller. With each different revision, a new issue or problem would come up. The tripods were too big, the camera batteries died too quickly, audio quality was garbage, the kit took too long to set up, and no one in their right mind would ever send this to one of their best customers in fear of losing them forever. Through all of these setbacks and feedback, new solutions emerged, sometimes completely out of nowhere. The main takeaway here is to just keep going. Ask for feedback and don’t take it personally. You are not your idea, but you do have what it takes to make that idea a reality.
Number three: Start and end with value. Convincing people to part with their hard-earned money is no easy feat, and it’s practically impossible if you don’t offer something of value. Value can take various forms and sizes, and ultimately depends on the specific target audience you’re focusing on. At Timonial, our goal is to provide remote video production solutions that empower our customers to showcase their value to their audience. For instance, a well-produced customer review video can significantly enhance a company’s credibility and add substantial value. This is especially important for brands lacking a content strategy or that are unsure of where to begin. Testimonial videos offer an excellent opportunity to boost brand awareness and highlight the value their product or service can bring to potential customers.
I hope these few takeaways will help you along the path of discovering or implementing your big idea. People often overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in five years. My advice to you is to simply start. Start today, start again tomorrow, and commit to starting again everyday for the next five years. If you do that, with the primary goal being to provide value for your customers, I can guarantee you will have achieved something remarkable. Best of luck!
Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?
Over the past couple of years, we have all witnessed the impressive rise and subsequent fall of NFTs. I won’t lie; I was tempted to join one of my friends in buying one of Elon Musk’s first tweets as an NFT, but cooler heads prevailed. Some may consider owning a picture of a sophisticated Ape in John Lennon-style sunglasses completely pointless because everyone has the ability to screenshot, save, and share this image. The jury is still out for me on the ape with the cool sunglasses, but I do see incredible value in the underlying principle of NFTs and their ability to provide proof of ownership or authenticity of a particular person, place, or thing that is stored on a blockchain, which acts as a transparent ledger that cannot be tampered with or defrauded.
We already live in a world where what we see on our screens is often edited, upscaled, and enhanced to the point where the term ‘reality’ has little to no actual substance. This world becomes even more unpredictable as deepfake technology becomes more accessible and user-friendly, leading to the ever-increasing rise of misinformation and a lack of trust and credibility in society in general. In a future not too far away, I believe NFTs can play a pivotal role in providing concrete proof and credibility to the leaders, teachers, and politicians that we see and hear on our screens every day. For example, if a public figure wanted to protect their credibility from fraudsters or ensure that their audience was, in fact, watching the real them, having some sort of QR code or digital watermark that can be displayed to their viewers, linked to an NFT that proves they are who they say they are, would be a no-brainer. To my knowledge, this technology has not yet arrived, but it is one that I believe will be required in the coming years as the demand for authenticity and transparency continues to increase.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I firmly believe that creativity is not a one-size-fits-all label. In my opinion, creativity can come in all shapes and sizes and can be expressed by individuals from all walks of life in their own unique way. For me personally, the most rewarding part of being creative is accepting that it is bigger than who I am as an individual. I consider producing music and creating videos to be two of my most significant creative outlets. Some of what I consider my most significant creative breakthroughs have come during times of extreme psychological angst and emotional turmoil. Producing my first short film with a shoestring budget in the desert was, to this day, one of the hardest shoots to pull off. But, let me tell you, that feeling of pure nirvana, driving back to LA surrounded by a group of individuals who were there only to contribute their time and creative expertise, after miraculously not losing any of the actors to heat stroke and successfully getting the passenger van unstuck from the desert sands, was intoxicatingly profound. And that is the feeling that I continue to seek in my search for creative expression.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.timonial.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/timonial.us/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-pittman-producer/
Image Credits
@ Timonial