Josh Owen
As a row.

Kat Green
Alright, thanks for joining us, Josh. How are you?

Josh Owen
Oh, I’m doing so fantastic, how are you?

Kat Green
I’m doing great. Yeah, we’re doing good. So let’s just jump right into it, because we just said, so you’re at Comfystone. Can you tell us about it and what kind of videos you typically produce?

Josh Owen
Well, Comfystone is quite the video production company. We’re often trying to change the landscape I think that’s why I love video production so much is it’s videos ever present in our world But it always there’s new things to learn every second of the day So we’re always trying to evolve what we do video production wise so we personally provide video in a strategic manner and really focusing in on things from the ground floor of

using your phone and going all the way up to full production. So we’re kind of like, we do everything in house, kind of every aspect of video, and that’s why we love it. And I just can’t go anywhere else. And being having a background in video myself, that’s just why I love video production and doing all this fun stuff. So that’s kind of the short and snippy of it. You know, obviously, there’s details that I skipped out on. But you know, that’s what we that’s what we like to do.

Kat Green
So you say go anywhere from phone to full production, but what type of videos, tell me about a typical video. Tell me about a typical video from Comfystone for a typical client that you really personally like.

Josh Owen
I mean, Sam, is there anything such as typical? I mean, come on, you can go from anywhere, from point A to point B. I would say, you know, that’s the whole aspect of it that I’m trying to dispel is there is no such thing as typical, everybody’s needs are unique and different and everybody should be doing everything at the same time and especially as your business grows, you know, you’re kind of adding layers of video upon video. So.

Kat Green
Yeah.

Josh Owen
There should be no typical, you should be doing everything that you can video wise. And that’s always the first step is understanding, you know, hey, the phone is this beautiful tool, let’s use it more. Or maybe you could be doing more commercial work or you could be doing ads for digital and social media. And there’s just so many places that we don’t think about on the day to day that people are, you know, have their eyeballs set, you know, 100% of their time almost free time wise, and you know, you’re trying to capture those eyeballs. So that’s why I say.

Kat Green
Thank you.

Josh Owen
Is there a typical I don’t know, maybe not, we’ll see, you know, so

Kat Green
Okay, okay, there’s no such thing as typical, but what do you like? What types of videos do you like to make?

Josh Owen
What are my favorite types of videos? I mean that.

Kat Green
Also, this doesn’t have to be like technical. If you like commercials, do you like narratives? Do you like docu style?

Josh Owen
Mm hmm. See that seem like I said, so when it comes to my favorites, now now, now you’re asking me like, you know, you know, I mean, like, I’m in the ice cream store, what flavor of ice cream am I gonna buy, you know, oh, my gosh, it depends on my mood. But I would say, you know, typically speaking, when it comes to getting the video, I think for me, when it comes to like working for a client, I think that the videos that I like the most are the ones that have the biggest return on investment.

Kat Green
Yeah.

Josh Owen
And those typically speaking are going to be depending upon what you’re going to want to achieve. Typically, we work with clients that really want to develop organic growth. So I like developing organic videos. And so those would be like native videos that really reach out to your audience, whether you’re a nonprofit, you know, and you have specific goals. So making like fun.

Kat Green
So I’m excited.

Josh Owen
advertising videos that are more built around that aspect, more so developing relationships with your partners, clients, things like that. Update recap videos, things like that are more driven to develop a relationship. For me, I like the videos that help develop relationships because I’m a relationships kind of guy, you know, and I like, you know, getting to know people and I think whenever I can extend that format to video…

Kat Green
Yeah.

Josh Owen
and get to know people through video, I think that’s definitely what I love the most and what kind of videos I love the most.

Kat Green
You know, you mentioned a few times that phone is like a totally like viable space to be doing video. And I know that like feature productions have been made on iPhones. Do you have a favorite one of those or do you do you go out of your way to see those?

Josh Owen
Mm-hmm.

Josh Owen
phones, movies made with phones. I would say it’s not necessary for me specifically. Film is more of its own genre where I typically lean towards things not based off the technicality, but based on the story. And I think that’s the case with all content and even with phones. So it just so happens that I necessarily haven’t seen a lot of phone video.

Kat Green
Yeah.

Josh Owen
um, uh, movies that I’m necessarily like invested in, but that’s just because the story hasn’t really driven me there yet. But that’s the same way with, you know, phone content is, you know, it’s all, it is about the content itself. It’s about what you tell. It’s about the value you provide. And, um, it’s about the story you tell within that value. And so, um, all the best movies, you know, if you talk about why it doesn’t work technically from a phone perspective or a

Kat Green
Mm.

Josh Owen
CGI perspective or whatever, it always leads back to one specific thing in that story. And it’s the same thing in the ad world, you know? Are you relevant to the people’s choice of the day or not? And so, to answer your question simply, I have not, but I would love to, you know? So maybe after this, we’ll get some popcorn and we’ll all go down to the movie theater and watch us some phone movies.

Kat Green
Let’s do it. I’m trying to see 52 movies this year, one per week. So. That’s doable. Yeah. I think I’ve seen.

Josh Owen
Hell yeah.

52 movies? That’s great. Is there a specific way of doing it? Are you gonna go see like old movies, new movies, 90s movies?

Kat Green
I’m no, I’m pretty much sticking to streaming and trying to see things that came out in 2021 or later I’m trying

Josh Owen
Wow, okay, so that’s a big sea of smoothies.

Kat Green
Yeah, I know, I know. Literally, just Netflix puts out seven movies a week. So like… Yeah, I don’t have a goal, but I think that’s gonna happen anyway for me. So we’ll see. Yeah.

Josh Owen
Oh man, there’s so many.

Josh Owen
You should just not watch The Net. I watched The Net and it wasn’t as good as I thought it was gonna be. I’m watching old movies. The Net with Sandra Bullock. It was like, it’s such a funny movie because it’s talking about, it’s like one of those hacker movies. If you ever watch like 90s hackers movies, they’re just like so.

Kat Green
than that.

Oh.

Kat Green
Oh, so it’s like the net like the internet. Oh, no, just not. That’s cringy. Okay, well, you know, speaking of old versus the new, what are the biggest changes you’ve seen in ads from like the height of like television commercials to what we now have as social media ads?

Josh Owen
The net like the net. Yeah, it’s great anyway

Josh Owen
Mm-hmm.

Josh Owen
Yeah, I mean, I think this is an interesting question because so much of, if you are, you know, let’s harken back, you know, we’re still millennials. So we’re, you know, we’ve got a little bit of a young chipperness to us. And we remember the old days of watching TV, especially us. Like we were in the big, you know, era of like cartoons and stuff like that, and things were building. And obviously our main source of media was coming through that. And we were really seeing a lot of commercials. But in those eras of like TV commercials,

Kat Green
I’m going to go ahead and turn it off.

Josh Owen
you know, before social media was a thing, you know, there was no, you know, people weren’t developing their own culture yet really. I mean, we were starting to see that with like the blue gene era and stuff like that, but you know, there weren’t a lot of offshoot cultures and no one was really had the platform to develop their own culture. So when it came to advertising, you know, back in the day with commercials, you know, a lot of people were more dictating the pace of what

you know, to produce ads wise, like what the content was going to be, what it was going to look like, you know, they told you, you like rock them, sock them robots or moon shoes or whatever it was. And, you know, they really dictated the pace of that culture. Now we’re kind of starting to see that change, obviously, with social media, you know, you have to really

meet your clients where they’re at. Everybody now, there’s offshoots of culture. You have to really identify who your client avatar is, who your customer is, and really understand what their culture is. And if you’re creating a video that’s just a bunch of kids running around jumping on moon shoes, they’re gonna, it may not work for everybody. You may have to cultivate the video content towards what they particularly love. And that’s…

the most fascinating part about, and that’s why I love it now, is because now we’re seeing like, you can be so targeted towards all these different groups of people that all these different groups of culture. I mean, you see on TikTok, like the funniest thing about TikTok is, you know, I’ll meet one person in one social circle and they’ll be like, Oh, you see, do you see that TikTok where it was doing this? And I was like, Oh no, I didn’t see that. And then you go to another social circle and they’re like, did you see this TikTok where they’re doing that? And I’m like, how does it’s like everybody lives in their own sub genre of culture and TikTok. It’s like its own world. And so that’s what’s so fascinating.

Kat Green
Yeah.

Kat Green
Yeah.

just personalization is what you’re saying basically like the level of customization and personalization is it’s insane. So I you know, when you’re talking about like the story and like how the stories matter, it kind of feels like old ads were like to be the main character, you have to have this but new ads are like, you are the main character and this is how this goes into your story. Exactly.

Josh Owen
Mm-hmm, exactly. That’s a big change.

Josh Owen
Wow, it’s like you get me. It’s like you get me. You just know this, you know? Perfect. Yeah, that’s a great way to sum it up is that it’s very much built around you reaching out to them now versus them reaching to you. And so it’s just such an interesting shift and it’s just continually becoming that way. And as new things open like metaverse, who knows? You know?

Kat Green
Yeah.

Kat Green
Yeah, so.

Kat Green
Oh my God. It’s the metaverse. It’s just so scary. But okay, so when you aren’t trying to get people’s attention and try to like reach out to them, you know, everyone’s like, Oh, an ad, I don’t want to see that. How do you get their attention when they can be skipping the ad as soon as six seconds in or even one second if it’s tick tock? Yeah, I skip all of them.

Josh Owen
We don’t even want to get to that.

Josh Owen
Mm-hmm.

Josh Owen
Yeah, that is, I think, you know, something that we don’t, uh, in the ad world think about often enough is really, um, really focusing in on that first 10 seconds. Um, even five seconds, I would say even faster than that, even the first three seconds, you know, what is the first thing that they are going to hear, see, experience, whatever that is? What is that? Um, and you know, and a big part of that is, um, as everyone should, you need to do a lot of testing with this kind of environment is understanding.

Kat Green
Yeah.

Josh Owen
What do people like, you know, and what do people resonate with? One thing that I’ve always learned is that people love people. It’s a weird concept, but people want, like, just like we talked about, you’re going to them, they want to see themselves in what you’re producing. And so a lot of times what happens is like consumers don’t really know what they want. They want to be told what to want, and they want to be told what to want through someone that is like them. And so any kind of testimonial, human…

Kat Green
Oh yeah.

Josh Owen
you know, connection, any kind of, even if you do a, you know, if you think about like those jackass videos, you know, they really draw you in immediately because you’re just seeing someone do the stunt or something like this. So it’s like, but you’re seeing a human being do it, which is the most important part. And I think, you know, even as simple as an ad of just having, you know, if you had a choice between someone brushing their hair and someone talking about brushing their hair, it would be a big difference versus seeing the act versus someone telling you about the act. And so if you’re able to

get that sensation across quicker and more efficiently, that’s just gonna be the number one thing. Of course, the other part of that is making sure that they have, that in those three seconds, you are really in, like it’s almost like, you need to have like a mini summary of what the video’s gonna be about in those first three seconds. So you’re capturing everything in that first three seconds so they understand what they’re expecting. But also as native as possible, that’s the last thing I’d say is like, you wanna make it feel as much like the content they’re already watching as possible.

Kat Green
Yeah.

Josh Owen
with as little action as possible that they need to take, like especially not trying to get them to move cross platforms, trying to just work them through the platform they’re already on. So if you have like an Instagram ad, making them go to your Instagram page more so than trying to go to a webpage, unless you’re like offering some great deal. The worst feeling ever is having to like bounce from Instagram, which you’re just already content, like scrolling through to all of a sudden being in somewhere else. So it’s a big part of like that aspect of being able to

cultivate this relationship with them. And I mean, that’s kind of what you’re doing. You’re kind of adding on to the stuff that they’re already watching. So it should feel like the stuff they’re watching.

Kat Green
So would you make a video in a different manner for different purposes in the marketing funnel, let’s say, um, to have that first tech 10 seconds interact with the consumer in a different way. So basically, you know, do you change up the video process based on what you’re trying to get the consumer to do? Um, and what does that, what does that look like for those first 10 seconds?

Josh Owen
Oh, 100%.

Josh Owen
Yeah, so that’s definitely interesting because I think the first 10 seconds is all like the concept is always going to be the same, right? Like, you know, you’re trying to make sure that they understand what is being given to you throughout the whole part of the video. But obviously that concept changes based off of what part of the funnel you’re in. So obviously you want to be having video in every part of the funnel, you know, they can fit and be a great addition to all these different parts. The thing I would say, though.

is that when depending upon different parts of the funnel, that part, I think the longer you go into the funnel, the more stretched your content can be. You obviously want it to be short and sweet near the beginning because you don’t know them yet. I don’t wanna, I’m not gonna tell you my whole life story before we even meet. Buy me a drink first, let’s get to know each other. That’s how relationships work and that’s what you’re doing. You’re providing a relationship. And so just in the same way.

Kat Green
Uh-huh.

Josh Owen
it becomes more and more personal as you go across. So I think that’s the biggest difference is like the messaging becomes more personal and those first 10 seconds, maybe at the end of the funnel, you might even be addressing them by name, you know? And so that’s the big difference is like in the beginning, you’re still trying to, you know, be as personal as possible to them, but you don’t know them yet. So you don’t wanna like pretend like you do. You wanna more open it up to like, hey, I get your problem and I wanna learn more about you. Come on this journey with me as I try and sell you my product.

Kat Green
Yeah.

Josh Owen
So that’s kind of the whole big difference that we’re trying to do across the whole way.

Kat Green
You know, he makes really long ads that I watch that company with a purple mattress. And the girls like dress the place. Yeah, they make like 13 minute ads. And I when I tell you I am watching that entire ad, what are they doing in it? I don’t even know, man. Like she’s just talk.

Josh Owen
Oh, that’s what I was gonna, oh, whoa, that’s, yeah. I think the same thing. Mm-hmm.

Josh Owen
Mm-hmm.

It’s the

Kat Green
Oh.

Josh Owen
typically on YouTube, if you do break up the social norm, that works for a certain crowd, especially millennials. That’s a big thing that really appeals to them is can you make something feel, I mean, you’re basically creating a comedy sketch at that point, and that definitely goes to the next layer. That’s definitely not something you have to do, but it’s definitely something that helps if you’re able to, because that’s, if you think about it, people are on YouTube to watch funny videos. And so, if you,

Kat Green
Yeah.

Josh Owen
post a video of yourself just sitting there talking in your camera, like that’s good, but that’s not what they’re doing on YouTube. Now, you could probably get away with that more so on social media, like Instagram or TikTok, but again, that goes back to what we were saying, is that first 10 seconds better be similar to what they’re watching, it better be native. And the nativity of that Sasquatch thing is that it’s just a funny video, and that’s what people are there on YouTube looking for, most of the time, is like they’re looking for a funny video. You may not see that ad so much on

the DIY stuff as you might see it on like the fun stuff. And so, you know, maybe your talking head video works better for ads on top of DIY videos because those people are conscious buyers at that point. They’re making more logical decisions. They’re in that mindset already. So, you know, you’re linking it to the two. But yeah, that’s a great point. Like those Sasquatch purple mattress videos, chef’s kiss, you know, beautiful. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Kat Green
Yeah, you’re just like, where is this going? I just can’t stop watching them. I love that. So Josh, you talked a lot about TikTok, you kind of mentioned it a little bit. And I’m curious about how video production has changed in terms of selling video to different clients and consumers on your end.

Josh Owen
Mm-hmm

Josh Owen
Mm-hmm.

Kat Green
ads can be made on your phone with TikTok and reels and, you know, pretty simply, um, you know, making. Video that you can immediately turn into ads.

Josh Owen
Yeah, I mean, I think the yeah, that’s been a common thread throughout our whole conversation is how much phone has consumed us as consumers. And honestly, if you’re not on that game, then you were five years behind. You know, you’re not streets ahead over here, you’re way in the in the past. And, and that’s just becoming more and more so I mean, you anyway, you can look at all the data that all the data just corroborates this that

You know, phone is where it’s at. Most people spend their time on their phone, at least, you know, a good portion of their day. And so, as you as a client, you know, it’s so vital that you’re providing that kind of content and that you’re providing that content in a steady and consistent flow. And that’s the best way to keep a relationship alive. If you think about it, if you want to have a relationship with a friend, you don’t just call them once every other month. I mean, you can, that’s.

I have some friends like that, but they’re not my best friends. They’re not friends that would buy stuff from me if I were to sell it. And that’s the difference. It’s like if you want to have a consistent relationship with someone, you have to do it consistently. And that’s the best reasoning why phone is so valuable, and that’s why we are trying to promote that with our clients more. And that’s why we’ve even developed our own system to help them learn that through our own boot camp that we offer that we’re trying to help them understand and learn and grow through that.

We’re really trying to teach people, teach our clients how to do that for themselves because obviously as much as we want to be able to film everything for them, we’re not going to be able to be there every step of the way, every step, every day, every moment. Being able to teach them these skills is so valuable for their business because now they can collect a library. We can help them strategize it on the high level and that’s what we love to do and that’s really what we do.

our value as a company comes in is like, well, let’s help you understand what those key moments are gonna be so that you can go in and film it, that you’re prepared, you’re scheduled and all that. But when the time comes, you’ll feel confident to be able to do it yourself. So we really wanna teach people these skills because we all have the capabilities right now to make phone content. We have the capabilities to film it ourselves. We just don’t have the confidence. And so we’re really coming in and saying, hey, we’ll make sure you have the confidence. We’ll make sure you have the skills to learn this.

Josh Owen
and be Comfystone certified, you know, to do this work. So that’s kind of, you know, what we hope to help develop with everybody. Cause I think it’s so valuable and it’s a tool that no one is taking the fullest advantage of yet that I’ve seen. And so to see, you know, outside of, you know, obviously, you know, Adidas can throw money at whoever they want and get whatever they want, but even still, you know, maybe Adidas could be doing something more personal. I don’t think that necessarily matters that they do because they’re so big already, but I think, you know, especially if you’re a mid.

Kat Green
Mm.

Josh Owen
to small tier, you know, size business. This is your way, this is your ticket to really like boost sales immediately and get out there and get, you know, get pumping to the next level. So that’s what I would say.

Kat Green
Absolutely. Do you have any other questions? I don’t. Josh, before we end this conversation, first of all, amazing chat. A lot of great insight. Is there anything else that you want to promote? You want to boost? You’re here. And so if there’s anything that you’re working on?

Josh Owen
Mm-hmm.

Josh Owen
Is this a shout out section we shouting out here? So shout outs, shout outs to my boy, Sam Olmsted over there on the microphone. He’s a no, but for real, definitely. I think I’ve mentioned it here before, but we you know, we are a strategic consulting agency for video production and specific and, and a part of that we really want to provide learning and resource tools for businesses that may not understand.

Kat Green
Yeah, it’s the shout out section.

Josh Owen
how to utilize video to the maximum. And so, that’s really what I would wanna promote is that our services are specifically geared towards helping you understand video and develop it for your business and where to use it, how to use phone video, all that good stuff. We have a bootcamp that teaches you the ins and outs of video production for your phone, as well as being able to come in and strategize your video content. So you don’t have to think about that. And you have a team on your back that helps you.

create and manage all of the assets and materials that you need throughout a year, especially for nonprofits. That’s a big deal. You come to your end gala and you’re thinking, oh my God, I got to tell everyone I did this year and then you’re scrambling to figure it out. But if you have a team at the get-go to really help you figure these things out from day one, even if you’re a product business, having that library so that you’re not having to reinvent the wheel, rehiring a company to develop that partnership, that’s what we’re here to do. And so yeah, that’s what I would promote.

Of course, my wonderful friends at Online Optimism, they’re such a great marketing team. If you haven’t already checked out their stuff, you definitely should. And they are a wonderful marketing company. They have all the great services that you’d ever need. And I mean, come on, you got Meara dealing with your social media. I mean, who else could you possibly have on the job? Spitfire, you know, every time I’ve walked into that office, there’s been a conversation about what’s hot and what’s trending on social media so you know that they know what’s going on.

That’s what we like to do. Boom.

Kat Green
Wow, maybe the best promotion ever. So thanks. We should hire you to market us. Yeah.

Josh Owen
Yeah, well, you know, if you guys need a hype promotion, man, I got your back, you know?

Kat Green
You, you hyped us up. We love it. Um, well, that’s it. Thank you so much for joining us today, Josh. It’s been really great and, uh, a lot of key, um, insights and important things about video. Yeah. Thanks so much. All right.

Josh Owen
Awesome.

Josh Owen
Nice. Yeah, thanks for having me guys. And just let this is our outro to singing song, right?

Josh Owen
Alright, take it easy.

Kat Green
All right. Thanks, Josh. Bye.