We were lucky to catch up with Philip Hessler recently and have shared our conversation below.

Philip, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

So at Think Less we are focused on both commercial/branded content along with entertainment focused series. The branded/commercial side usually starts with a brand or agency coming to us with an idea that we work together to flesh out and produce. On the entertainment side, these are typically original concepts that we package and attach talent then sell to streaming services in the entertainment industry. In the case of our latest series called The Crux which follows the worlds best climbers to the Olympics, it was a bit of both.

The North Face had been looking to produce more entertainment first projects that have the potential for wider distribution. As a company – we had seen the success in the format around embed sports follow docs like Formula 1’s Drive to Survive and Netlfix and thought how we could apply that format to sports that we have a strong background or connections to. Climbing took the center stage there after looking of the sport along with the success of other entertainments like Free Solo which won the academy award for best documentary. The North Face took an approach that was very hands off and they trusted us with our vision for what we wanted to produce. The North Face naturally showed up in the footage because they are such an important brand in climbing but they were very focused on natural brand integration. As the series came together -we were able to approach National Geographic to ultimately distribute the series on their Youtube Channel that reaches millions of viewers. With The North Face trusting us as producers and allowing their brand to authentically show up in the series, we were able to amplify the reach of the series by partnering with Nat Geo in a way that would’ve never allowed if the brand was heavy handed in product placement. This then creates authentic brand association with the viewer who is purely watching the series because of their interest in climbing and the athletes.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I found my way into the film industry primarily through my pursuit of snowboarding and skateboarding. Coming up in those sports, you’re always filming your friends and making little edits so that was my first exposure to shooting and editing. Then when I was in college I made a feature documentary about my adopted brother’s journey to become the first snowboarder to represent Uganda in the Olympics called Far From Home which eventually was acquired by Red Bull Media House as branded storytelling was really starting to take off. That kickstarted my journey into branded content and unscripted TV space.

Now, I’m an EP and Head of Production at Think Less Studios. We are a full service creative and production studio focused on exploring today’s culture through bold storytelling, transforming challenges into narratives that transcend advertising. We work with global brands including Red Bull, The North Face, Pinterest, Ford, National Geographic and many others. We operate at the intersection of advertising and entertainment and help brands find the right stories to tell that expose their brand to new audiences and leverage new distribution opportunities.

The project that I am recently most proud of is a four part embed series called The Crux that we produced for The North Face that follows the world’s best climbers through the qualifying circuit as they attempt to qualify for 2024 Olympics in Paris. The project was inspired by unscripted series such as Netflix’s Drive to Survive and Break Point and was a huge team effort between Little Monster Films, the International Federation of Sport Climbing, and our studio. Ultimately, we followed 8 climbers through the circuit for 4 months and were able to help secure distribution through National Geographic Digital which felt like a big win for the series and our partners at The North Face. As filmmakers we love the experience of submerging ourselves in a new world and bringing it to a new audience. Our secret sauce lies in the understanding of what it takes to bring a premium level of storytelling to branded content while balancing the needs and marketing goals of our clients to ensure these stories and campaigns can have real success for the brands we work with.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A big lesson that I had to learn in my mid-late twenties was that success (however you define it) and life in general is not a linear path. I feel like societal pressures can make us think that we need to have a check list of goals that ultimately makes us successful – graduate college, get a good job, buy a house, start a family, etc and suddenly you’re happy and successful. When I was in my early twenties I thought that I was on a fast track to some of those things but as they were attained at the sacrifice of other things I had to reconcile with the fact that going through life thinking you’re just checking off goals on a to-do list is no way to live. Not to say that any of those things are bad but if you just chase the outcome you’re missing the journey along the way. Since then, I’ve recalibrated to really be driven by experiences and relationships. I love my job and having the opportunity to make films because of the experiences I get to have with people I would otherwise never meet in my day to day life in Salt Lake City. This extends to our clients we collaborate with, crews we work with, and of course the participants featured in all these projects. Everything else is merely an outcome of being present in these experiences and I keep that at the forefront of my mind not only in work but also in my personal relationships and the hobbies I have outside of work.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I feel like being fully accountable for our projects helped us build a reputation in our market. Especially for original ideas that we take find brand or network partners on, we really feel like we are the shepherds of these stories. We want these projects to have as much as value as possible for the partners we find for these stories and we think about these initiatives in a multi faceted way. Not only do we look at the approach and craft to how we are telling the narrative but also ways to activate the project once completed. How can we create a variety of assets around a story that we are passionate about that creates a content funnel that a brand can activate around? Are there distribution opportunities that we could explore outside of traditional brand channels that can bring more value to our partners and the story? What does success look like for this project and how are we measuring that after it is completion. Each project is different depending on what part of the process we are brought into – it’s important to have these conversations to align all partners on the project. We want these projects to have as much visibility as possible and bring as much value as possible to our partners and that is at the core of what we do and who we are as a company.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thinkless.com/
• Instagram: @therealphilhessler
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-hessler-12262063

Image Credits
Erica Hinck, Gaz Leah, Eddy Ekpo, Keegan Rice, Will Saunders