Remote Case Study

Summer

The team at Summer reached out to us for the second time with a time-sensitive opportunity to compile a video to pitch to their largest prospective partner to date. The approach consisted of interviewing their users using Summer and saving on their student loans.

Watch our video for Summer

Not all forms of live-action content require an entire cast, crew and script to create an engaging piece. It was a great experience that made me think outside the box from usual production avenues.

Robert Fantozzi

Producer & Director

Think outside the box.

Summer helps student loan borrowers optimize their repayment plans by guiding them through the complex web of repayment options. They then help borrowers enroll in the best plan for their unique financial position, all in less than 10-minutes.

Summer needed a compelling asset to convince Credit Karma they were a perfect choice, so they sent a follow-up survey to users who have successfully secured savings through their product. They prepared a prompt and set of questions to ask the users.

Not all forms of live-action content require an entire cast, crew and script to create an engaging piece. Challenges like this made our team think outside the box from usual production avenues. Instead of directing a shot, we found ourselves directing a real person over zoom.

To make this video cost-efficitent we aimed to reuse some previous frames, screens and potential graphic overlays from the app video we’ve done previously for Summer. You can see it here.

Build rapport.

The main challenge revolved around actually getting the interviewees on a call with us. It’s hard enough to find times to sync up for a video chat, let alone to find a suitable time with people who are overseas.

Summer’s users didn’t know us, and they weren’t going to immediately jump to reply. We overcame this in two ways: encouraging Summer to send me as many options as possible, and making sure our emails to the interviewees were as friendly and warm as possible. This was the first step to building rapport with them, which of course spilled over into our time together on Zoom.

Summer ❤️'s Vidico

Summer helps organizations unlock the full potential of their employees by reducing the burden of student debt, regardless of borrower situation. We are beyond keen in helping them continue to achieve this.

Stellar guidance.

When talking to the interviewees, you have to remember that you’re not dealing with professional actors. You’re dealing with normal people.

We focused on making them feel confident by talking to them on a more personal level, by really making them feel guided, and reassure them that everything was working.

Because of how challenging is to coordinate times we couldn’t afford to have second interviews with Summer’s customers. There wasn’t a gap for errors. Our production team needed to look ahead for the edit, and think about how to make the job of cutting the video easy for the post-production team. Therefore, taking notes through every interview and recording the timestamps of the best takes can eliminate copious amounts of work on the backend.