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Comment by nodesocket | Hacker News Reader

Smart marketing by Adam to star in most every video they make. Instantly when I see him, I know its a sandwich video. Basically they have built in branding into their product.

However, I have to admit, if I was forking out the big cash for a sandwich video for my startup (https://commando.io), I'd insist to not star Adam, because it is somewhat distracting from the message of my startup. He is basically everywhere, and it sort of gives me a strange (but negative) sensation of devaluation of the startup. Am I the only one who feels this way?

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"I'd insist to not star Adam, because it is somewhat distracting from the message of my startup. He is basically everywhere, and it sort of gives me a strange (but negative) sensation of devaluation of the startup. Am I the only one who feels this way?"

That seems like a very inside baseball concern. I really doubt your typical consumer has any memory of the actors in a typical consumer web product video. I mean, going through this list, I've seen a lot of these videos over the years and didn't realize they were all made by the same people until it was pointed out here. I'd also venture to guess that he appears in a lot of them to cut the costs of the video. More people involved in making a video means higher costs.

Re: cutting costs, that's not a consideration at all. On-camera talent usually accounts for less than .5% of one of our projects' total budgets. There are probably more people involved behind the camera than you'd expect. And it can actually be quite a bit costlier to have me on camera, while I'm directing as well (and I can be a real diva).

> your typical consumer

commando.io is a server management tool. I would imagine it's fairly likely that a nontrivial percentage of their customers (developers) pay attention to startups.

> "I'd also venture to guess that he appears in a lot of them to cut the costs of the video."

I'm nearly 100% positive is it intentional that Adam stars in most of the videos, and it not due to cutting costs. It is calculated marketing and probably a requirement by Sandwich. Their clients: Ebay, Groupon, AirBnb, Square, Coin, Warby Parker, Jawbone, and Lyft can afford to pay for an actor or actress.

FWIW the Airbnb video stars a very talented Airbnb employee, Venetia Pristavec, who ran video efforts there since the early days.

This isn't the first time I've heard this. It's not common but not unique. Even a few bigger clients with more at stake in terms of brand voice have shied away from asking me to be on camera. That said, it's usually at my discretion which projects feature me and which don't. There are ones that make more sense for me to be the guy, and ones that make no sense at all, and for those projects (roughly 4 out of 5 of our videos) I'm happy to put someone more suitable in front of the camera.

Adam, thanks for the reply. Makes sense. Don't get me wrong though, my comments were not meant to be negative. I actually love the strategy, pure marketing and branding genius. Someday I hope to be in a position with Commando.io, where we can do a video with you guys.

No negativity taken.

Despite using several of the products they make videos about, I'd never seen any of their work. Even if I had, I'd be likely to go months or years before seeing another video made by them, so I probably wouldn't connect the two incidents.

I suspect the vast majority of viewers are in the same boat, especially if your product's audience isn't startups.

His videos are really awesome. That said, I must admit that when I saw Adam in the navdy video today, I was thinking, hey, Coin already delayed shipping date, why should I pre-order your new project here?

Not sure I understand. What does the actor in the commercial have to do with the product? (disclosure: Navdy investor)

Until seeing the Navdy ad, I thought that the guy in the Coin ad was the founder or something. So when I was this ad, I thought that he killed Coin and moved on to something else.

Same for me. Adam has a very tech-CEO quality about him I just assumed he was in charge of both Coin and Navdy.

For some reason when I see a startup video I associate the main "actor" as the CEO/founder vs when I see a TV commercial for some MegaCorp I instantly know they are actors.

Maybe it is just a bad stereotype I hold of beard+glasses = techie

Negative association arising from re-using the principal actor already associated (in the OP's mind) with a failed product?

Perhaps, something akin to actors getting typecast into certain types of roles throughout their careers (grumpy-bloke, evil-bitch, hipster-douche, vaporware-shill).

BTW, these are just examples and not a reflection on Adam Lisagor or his work!

I take your point. I try and be extremely meticulous and selective with the projects I take on. But this is the tech world, and much like an investor, I can't always know what products will survive all conditions of the market.

I do have a reputation for picking strong contenders, and that has probably been my best asset in bringing interesting new projects. If it starts to happen a lot, that my clients fail to deliver on the promises they ask me to make, then I have to adjust. But for now, my track record is pretty shiny.

Hear, hear! Splendid work so far Adam!

For the record, I've liked your work since the days of the first Square video. If I were Roger Ebert, I'd say: "Two thumbs up!".

Now, one last question, who do I write to for an autographed DVD with all your vids? (Or even some shiny autographed schwag from some of the strong contenders?).

Why, if you must ask, is because advertising is a personal interest of mine and you are creating your own new niche there.

I'd be happy to autograph your browser.

Next time I'm visiting the West coast, I'll take you up on that offer!

Credibility of the person delivering the message.

When I viewed the vids on the page, my first thought was...

* - wait, isn't that the guy from that 1-in-all credit card startup that got featured on HN about 6 months back? ...I thought he was an employee or owner of that biz. - *

I couldn't remember the startup's name, but I sure did recognize the guy's face. And associated the startup's brand with something that is being used on many other projects.

But then again, 99.95% of the people that view these vids might not be in the HN or startup space.

Same thought here :) The name was Coin: https://onlycoin.com

Even if he wasn't in the video, those ads have such a distinctive visual style, low-key dry humour - its either a Sandwich Video or an homage.

Your best approach is to go in an entirely different direction.

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