(Wahoo Films crew on location in 2017 | Photo courtesy of Wahoo Films)
Fifteen years ago, Michelle Alvarado had just come off a year of traveling in a van and compiling videos to produce a documentary when a new phenomenon was emerging. YouTube had launched in 2005, and Alvarado quickly recognized the marketing potential of online videos. At the time, television commercials were the primary means of advertising, but Alvarado saw online videos as an affordable way for companies to reach large national audiences, so she took a leap and opened Wahoo Films in Bend just months after YouTube launched.
“In 2005, YouTube became a company, and so did Wahoo Films,” says Alvarado. “I wanted a business that produces short films with big impact, and YouTube was the perfect platform to do that. At first it was clunky, low-quality technology, so Wahoo Films became unique in producing videos for online. From then on, we continually adapted to the fast-changing technology as other social platforms favored video.”
Right out of college, Alvarado left a job working at National Geographic Feature Films in Los Angeles for a position at the Monterey Bay Aquarium doing video production, she explains. “With experience working with amazing teams including BBC, IMAX and Showtime, now in my mid-20s, I felt I was ready to produce my own documentary. I set off with my boyfriend in a van for about a year. It was a struggle both financially and emotionally. I was too siloed and struggled to find the story I was seeking.” She adds, “I had all of this beautiful footage with lots of short stories but at the time, you needed to have a long-format documentary that would run on television. Apparently, my best skills were in telling meaningful stories and visual artistry in a short amount of time.”
When Alvarado started Wahoo Films, she had been living in Bend for three years. “I wanted to live in a small town versus the city. In 2003, my boyfriend at the time moved to Bend, so I looked for work here. Most of the local video production companies didn’t have employees. When I saw the opportunity to teach video and television at Bend High School, I jumped on it and got hired.”
In 2005, video was just becoming available online and publishable by the average person. YouTube was one of the first sites to provide this innovation: Its first video, Me at the Zoo, was published on April 23, 2005, and currently has more than 143 million views. In 2006, Facebook — which had been launched as Facemash in 2004 by Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg and his roommates Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes — introduced video onto its growing platform. At that time, Alvarado says, a company could spend anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars to produce a professional video advertisement. Now, however, video is integrated into just about everything viewers do online. It is used for entertainment, education and to fill down time, and has become a dominant marketing tool with ads running 24/7. Alvarado says online video has become increasingly affordable, typically costing somewhere in the thousands to have a video produced professionally, and is free for do-it-yourselfers using their cell phones.
As the years progressed, newer video platforms emerged. From 2010 to 2020, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and others joined the online video trend. “With the growth of these platforms, Wahoo Films also grew,” says Alvarado. “It took a lot of convincing at first for companies to consider online videos, but as the popularity grew, so did our company. I was often consulted to move to a larger city for more growth, but I knew I wanted to live in a smaller, outdoor town.”
Fast-forward 15 years, and Wahoo Films now has four staff members, as well as freelancers throughout the U.S. “Ironically, the Bend community connected me with so many amazing people who are incredibly smart and successful. Through our network in Bend, we were able to work with local and large companies like Google, Facebook, Sony and Chevy, as well as many nonprofits and government agencies like High Desert Museum, Habitat for Humanity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I’m most proud that we’ve seen growth in the millions for many of our clients, and have helped numerous nonprofits exceed their fundraising goals.”
At Wahoo Films, Alvarado says the team members are social media pros, but they also love an audience when their films play at festivals or events. “We have this amazing synergy going on that I credit for the rise in our storytelling ability, as well as the successful results for our clients. A few years ago, it was one of my team members who realized we had to shift our thinking toward a more strategic approach that follows the customer journey.” She adds, “We also wanted to execute running the media campaigns for our customers as a way to provide measurable results. It’s becoming increasingly challenging to rise above the noise; meaningful stories combined with strategic execution in distribution are the keys to successful media campaigns.”
To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Wahoo Films is creating a campaign that includes a blog post, newsletter, social media drive and a video.
Looking forward, Alvarado notes that predictions indicate online video will become even more integrated into our society over the next five years, citing a Forbes article titled Video Advertising Trends Going Into 2021. The articles states, “The golden age of video is upon us, and it looks as though video advertising is poised to become a marketing juggernaut. In today’s increasingly digital world, video advertising will likely continue to be an important part of marketing plans well into the future.”
