The Weekly Bev - 26th Edition

🎥 Hydrant’s First Commercial

While I was in NYC this past week, I met up with my good friend Sam (who’s no stranger to the vlog and the bev) to shoot Hydrant’s official launch video!

Shooting the commercial with Sam was a quick but creatively fulfilling process. I had the idea for the shoot a couple weeks back and drew inspiration from those old mesothelioma TV ads that anyone around my age would recognize. They always had the same tone and featured a static info page for the entire ad. A bit of a weird thing to draw inspiration from, but I can explain…

For some reason, these ads really stuck in my head, and I don’t think I’m alone. I wanted to reference it and play off that nostalgia, but of course upgrade it visually and (obviously) focus on Hydrant. At the same time, the infomercial format gave me a way to wrap up important information in a fun, slightly tongue-in-cheek way.

I think it was a creative idea, but more importantly it should be very functional. The structure allows us to flex Hydrant’s features in a digestible format. It’s not lost on us that we’re a fintech platform, not some flashy CPG brand, so we want to connect with our creator customers in engaging ways when we can. It will be a big part of my job going forward to figure out how Hydrant gets out there to people who may want our service. The goal with this was packaging the Hydrant message in a way that would resonate, especially with creators who know the pain of net 30 payment terms.

The shoot itself was quick—15 minutes tops—but we came prepared with a finalized script and creative direction. Sam was great to work with as always, understanding how to optimize content for social and even giving me some helpful notes on hitting my lines. The ultimate goal was to create something that would be shared among creators, a piece that they’d want to send to their friends because 1) it was relatively interesting and hopefully funny, and 2) referenced a solution for an issue they experience. We’re still finalizing the video, but stay tuned very soon…

👀 Looking Ahead

As I alluded to up there, these next couple of weeks are going to be exciting! First, I’m getting back into my normal work routine again with a lot more filmmaking gigs. I have a shoot for The North Face in NYC coming up on Monday, I have signed a deal with Chevy and another exciting partner (TBA soon), and I’m signed on for a gig that will span 6 shoots across 6 cities (Hint: it’s not for a hotel brand 😉). Little proof for all of my fellow freelancers out there: the work is coming! You’re crushing it.

Second, I’m working on a recipe book! My goal is pull together some of my favorite everyday recipes that are not super complicated (breakfast taco variations, dinner party dishes, grilling recipes for college football, etc.). Maybe a few guest recipes from our buddy Neil too…It will be simple PDF for you guys to download, but I wanted to put something nice together for you, and I’m shooting to release that in early October. Let me know some of your fall favorites by replying to this email, I am always looking for new recipes.