Better Together

I never feel comfortable in front of a camera. Behind it, yes – I love it; I can reassure, direct and support the subject to get the best from them. But the minute I’ve a camera pointed at me, I can get tense, overthink it or dwell too much on what I sound or look like rather than what I’m actually saying. I’m not alone in this vein of thinking, of that I’m sure.

However, in a recent filming session for some promotional and vlog work for Progress (some of which you’ll see on this site and our social channels) I actually came away from the session high on the adrenaline from a productive and energetic collaboration we had with our film crew.

At Progress, we operate on the belief that if you want to create amazing, you need to work with the amazing. It’s got to be in the business (check). Every job needs to approached with zeal, energy, enthusiasm and a curious ‘What if’ approach to deliver the best solutions (check). But, you also need to make sure you’ve got the same in the partners you work with. From Magic Mike the animator, the event experts that are Robert, Charlie and Rachel at BeVivid, John the production wizard at PRG to the ‘anything is possible’ talents of Simon and the team at Wellcom, we believe in forging close-knit, long-term relationships with a select range of go-to businesses and individuals, experts in their fields, that echo and engage with our approach and values.

The crew that conducted the afore-mentioned filming are another of these partners: Indigo Productions, or Lee and Paul as we know them. We’ve worked with Indigo, a multimedia production agency for a number of years now and they’ve supported us for shoots inside, outside and on far-flung shores. When we have a project that requires their talents to support, say an event or creation of content for campaign, or indeed content for ourselves, they’ll likely be part of the team.

I use the term ‘partners’ rather than ‘suppliers’ deliberately, as too often, particularly in our industry, supporting services such as filming are expected to turn up, shut up and do the job they’ve been asked to do. I find this approach total baffling. Whilst they may be there to provide a service, they’re also there because of their expertise, experience and value, so why not tap into it? We’ll of course have a vision and brief for what we want to achieve, but it’s because we collaborate closely with the likes of Lee and Paul, involve them, seek their views, opinions and input that ultimately the end job is the very best it can be. Very often the feedback we’ll get from our main contact is that the team relish this more collaborative approach as not only are they producing something everyone can be proud of, but the experience of creating it is by far more dynamic and rewarding.

And the more we work with them, the more they know us, what makes us tick, what we’re looking to achieve and how to support that – something we’ve built our reputation at Progress on with our clients – simply being an extension of their team with one common goal.