Elevator Talks
An internal effort by Partners + Simons, Elevator Talks began as an idea based on the "elevator pitch"—a short, impromptu sales pitch given to someone during the length of an average elevator ride—created in the form of a short interview with client CEOs, or other leadership, on the state of their industry. Tony Cotrupi, the President of Partners + Simons, conducted the interviews which gave him a chance to pose questions that would also highlight the agency's added insight and expertise in the client's business.
Below is a concept for the opening sequence of what would be a talk show style introduction of Tony and the guest he'd be interviewing. The set would use a freight elevator in the office with bold graphic treatment of the show title as the backdrop. The elevator would also be activated, shuttling the guest to the office floor and onto the set as they're introduced.
The name of the production evolved from "Elevator Speeches" to finally "Elevator Talks" as this was meant to be more of a dialog. Viewers would first see the video interview in a shortened, one minute clip and then be prompted to watch the entire interview if they'd like.
Concept for opening sequence. This approach ultimately proved too costly and production heavy and began to lose the element of brevity which is what the name represented. We chose to use an animated opener that imitated the freight elevator doors, complete with sound effects.
Our first video featured the interview in a talk show format. Both participants sitting next to each other employing various camera angles. But in the end, we didn't feel this maintained the quality of production we were going for and we turned to an approach where the conversations would take place in the interviewee's office and in a more intimate setting.
The final format—natural lighting and more flexible camera usage gave the videos a much more finished appeal.