This Agency Is Spotlighting Non-Client-Facing Team Members with Vogue 73-Questions-Like IG Series
With teams collaborating remotely with no end in sight, L.A. entertainment agency MOCEAN have launched a new content series aimed at putting a spotlight on team members who are normally behind the scenes and not always client-facing. ‘Making Waves’ is a series of short films released each week that highlight a team member via a mini Vogue 73 Questions. Adam Rosenblatt, chief creative officer, MOCEAN talks us through the inspiration behind it.
Q> What was the inspiration for the content series?
Adam> There is no better time than the present to have members of our internal teams show friends and followers of MOCEAN what makes our agency great. MOCEAN is made up of so many talented and creative individuals and that is truly our backbone. Plus, it was fun!
Q> Why did MOCEAN decide now was a good time to spotlight certain team members across the company?
Adam> With the year of the pandemic and all the WFH solitude that everyone is enduring, we felt it would be a great opportunity to have members of our team who are “in the trenches” and day to day, show the outside world their creativity and share their unique voice. We frequently hear from and highlight our senior leaders, but often the ones behind the scenes making us great are not given a spotlight, so we chose six employees from six different departments (writing, producing, editing, design, social and key art) to exemplify our diverse talent.
Q> How did you go about filming each team member? What kind of direction were they given in advance?
Adam> We gave everyone some guidelines, i.e. length of cut, the tone and that it was to be self-filmed (or quarantine-buddy-filmed)—but the basic premise behind the pieces was the question, “Who are you”? The rest was pretty much up to every person we featured.
Q> Were there any fun or surprising BTS moments that occurred during filming?
Adam> In Sara’s video, she realized it wasn’t going to be that easy to have her dog, Azula, “talk” and stay put. Azula kept jumping off mid-take.
In Christina’s video the picture was supposed to be temporary because she felt she should look more presentable, but in the end, just said “whatever”…it was actually done in one take.
Might make the outtakes from the others in another series.
Q> Is there anything you would like to add about maintaining team morale or creativity during a pandemic? Or any tips for other agencies about remote collaboration?
Adam> Communicate with your teams via any digital conferencing tool available. Not by text or email. You can instil a sense of collaboration and partnership by having direct face to face conversations…it sounds like a small and obvious notion, but it helps keep employees interacting and removes a sense of isolation. Even when not working…check in with your teams every chance you have. Share a story; just take a moment to reach out to everyone you can.
There is a lot of bad going on in the world right now and morale can be strengthened by never forgetting who you work with and why.
