The year is 2007, and I was managing the 3D animation studio I founded.
We were providing high-end #3D #animations for TV and advertising and have done many successful projects and tv spots.
Since this was a service-based business, I was always looking for the next
projects.
But 2 additional issues made me nervous:
1. Competition from large postproduction houses that had personal connections with clients, and which I found out the hard way was how projects were won.
2. Although we provided great service and quality, we didn’t have a unique differentiation (even lowering costs by using After effects instead of Avid and Flame software didn’t help).
This was 2007, and I truly believed the internet will surpass TV, and everyone will be using it soon for online shopping.
So, I started thinking about how we could add value for online customers that cannot be achieved by TV, save clients’ money, provide better measurable outcomes, and create a business with an ongoing revenue stream that can scale its offerings.
I decided to use our high-end computer graphics expertise to develop an automated virtual factory scalable solution.
For this, I had to change the way the company worked from the bottom up.
I decided to concentrate on one specific online market - the jewelry market, which already sold jewelry online but used just plain 2D photos to showcase its products.
I decided to approach specifically this market for several reasons:
1. Most of engagement rings and jewelry are white, yellow, or rose gold, and diamonds. That meant that once we create these materials in 3D, we would be able to reuse them for all the products.
2. Since these items sell for several hundred or thousands of dollars, it made sense for the clients to spend less than $100 on an interactive realistic 3D video and achieve higher ROI of these items.
3. There was a tough competition within the #Jewelry market, each looking for a way to increase their online sales and presence and find a
competitive advantage.
4. We had no competition from other 3D providers.
I decided to #pivot the high-end service animation studio and create a #Hybrid company, in 2007, before anyone was even talking about hybrid
companies.
We changed the way the creative teams and operations worked, we developed proprietary automated tools for 3D and compositing, developed a CMS system to manage all of the products, and have data and analytics about each client, production, deliveries, costs, etc.
For 3D we outsourced artists from India, the Philippines,
Ukraine, etc, and developed a local R&D team, all of which enabled us to
work with clients from all over the world.
Pivoting and thinking creatively about the business enabled me to get into a new market providing online 3D #luxury products, deliver thousands of digital products ongoing, and of course help my clients
become very successful and lead their industry.