The UK Top 50 survey is open to corporate filmmakers and is a way to celebrate corporate film agencies and better understand the trends and issues facing the industry. After a hiatus of several years, EVCOM and Moving Image worked together to bring back the survey last year, and are very excited to be doing it again this year! As you’ve been working on your entry, we spoke to Casual Films, who took the top spot in 2022.
They produce scroll-stopping brand and corporate video content. They are the global video content production studio for enterprise-level businesses, and have been in business for two decades. They produce 1000+ projects a year for Fortune 500 clients, and have won 100+ awards. Their content has increased share prices, driven brand affinity, and galvanized business results for the world’s most influential brands.
We spoke to their Managing Director, EMEA, Oliver Atkinson about the impact coming first in the UK Top 50 ranking has had on winning business and company culture, and the importance of delivering consistently and pushing creative boundaries.
What makes a brilliant film?
A brilliant video comes from the ability to tell a compelling and engaging story. It should have a narrative that draws in the audience, and keeps them emotionally invested. At the same time, it should be innovative and pushing the creative boundaries, ultimately, it all rests on the idea.
What makes a brilliant film agency?
A brilliant agency understands these principles and can consistently deliver. It’s not just about creating one great film but producing outstanding work for every project. All our teams understand that our final films and animations must be creative, achieve a business objective, be clear, and ultimately deliver a message with impact. We’re also constantly experimenting with cutting-edge technologies, so along with the reliability of our process and the quality of our output, our willingness to move outside our comfort zone and take chances helps to place us as a market leader.
What did ranking number one in the Top 50 mean to you and the team?
Ranking number one in the Top 50 was a tremendous achievement for Casual. We’ve been in the top ten for several years and shared the top spot before, but winning it in the same year as coming number one in the EVCOM Top 50 peer poll was a real accomplishment. It meant that our hard work, dedication, and creativity were being recognised, and it was a testament to every team member’s talent and passion.
What has it meant for your business to have that label of industry recognised success next to your name?
Regardless of your industry reputation or the strength of your portfolio, it’s still hard to convince a prospect to trust you’re going to deliver, especially during those early calls and conversations. Having the EVCOM label of industry-recognised success next to our name has been a significant marketing tool for our business. It has reinforced our reputation as a go-to agency for those seeking excellence in video production.
This industry is full of fantastic talent. As an award-winning agency, how do you differentiate yourself and your client offering, and keep encouraging your team to produce brilliant and innovative work?
We encourage our team to push the boundaries of creativity, explore new techniques, and give them the tools to do so, but most importantly, it’s about the culture; we aim to make every team member feel valued, safe and inspired to bring their best ideas. This combination of talent, innovation, and a strong, united team allows us to produce ground-breaking and award-winning work consistently.