Case Study - Garden Way Manufacturing, Troy, New York

Audience:	Troy-Bilt tiller owners and vendors
Goals:	More cost-effective, consistent and safer factory tours. Show quality design, materials and workmanship. Let viewers hear directly from workers. Allow distant dealers to show factory tour. Capture the factory process in a permanent way.
Format:	3/4" videotape for location photography. 1/4" audiotape for factory worker voice-overs. Release on 1/2" videotape.
Screen Length:	17 minutes
Dean Leith Jr. knows the value of factory tours in promoting his company's products - having served as President, Chairman of the Board, and spokesman for Garden Way Manufacturing of Troy, New York. Garden Way produces the familiar red Troy-Bilt tillers seen in gardens across the country. Back in the 1930's, the company was the first U.S. tiller manufacturer. Today, the Troy-Bilt is the acknowledged "Cadillac" in a field of some 30 competitors. "But our problem here is that our factory is very busy." "Our building was never designed for tours. So it's unsafe to let people wander around in there, even on guided tours. It's noisy, so people can't always hear, and you can't actually talk to the workers to get a first-hand feeling about it." Dean Leith believes this "first-hand feeling" is an important part of the company's sales pitch to gardeners. It's an audience which places a premium on good design, high quality materials and superior workmanship - qualities which Garden Way works hard to build into its tillers. "We have it in print- but it's not the same." "You don't have the sounds, you don't have the individual workers. We're not just trying to show machinery- it's got to be in-depth, about the poepl who make the product. We wanted to show that we care a lot, and are really trying to do our best." The Solution Garden Way commissioned Berkshire Film & Video to produce a 17 minute factory tour video as an effective alternative to live tours. The goal was to take customers and vendors through the manufacturing process, while also conveying some of the company's history and philosophy. Particularly important was the belief at Garden Way that superior workmanship results from the commitment of their workers - the "Garden Way family", who really care about the products they make. One strategy for conveying this "sense of family" was using their Chairman, Dean Leith Jr. as the narrator for the tour. Another important element was candid voice-overs from assembly-line workers, describing their part in the operation, and their pride in their work. "These factory tours can get kind of boring." "Sometimes they end up being more of a testimonial to the media production crew than to the customer - but that's not what we wanted." "The thing that comes to my mind is Bill's commitment to developing a real solid understanding of the product and the audience we were trying to reach. He really got into it!" "He captured what's going on here in a real natural way, in a way that doesn't overpower the audience, or put them off." The Selection Process Marketing Manager, Susi Pensel, coordinated the production for Garden Way. She recounts how she selected Berkshire Film & Video for the project:- "I interviewed 17 different companies." "Bill [Matthiessen] was the only one who did not do fancy footwork and talk about the superficial things. The other people talked about their equipment and all the fancy things that could be done. But they weren't talking about those things that are primary to any profit-making business." "Bill understood that no matter what the budget, corporations are always limited in funds. He kept drawing attention to it throughout the process, and worked at staying on target- which is fabulous in business." Unconscious Power "In the very beginning, Bill told me that in addition to the obvious- the script, the visuals, the music and so forth, there's also an unconscious element that has to be built into every videotape for it to be effective," comments Susi Pensel. "What he meant by that wasn't clear to me until we played the tape, and I saw the reactions of other people." "That was the most exciting thing I've ever experienced, as far as watching peoples' faces." "I actually saw people wiping away tears- people who I would hardly expect to even show emotion." "At that point, I knew the tape had some sort of hidden power, it was the emotions, the feelings the tape conveyed. The feedback I got afterwards was that it was beautifully done. It showed the quality that we build into every Troy-Bilt." "He was able to capture the intensity of the workers, you could really see that they were committed to their jobs, were dedicated, and were proud of what they were doing." "Bill was able to help us achieve everything we wanted, without losing our identity." "That was so important to us," say Dean Leith Jr. "And that's why we selected him- because he has that sensitivity." Susi Penzel agrees, "But I think the greatest skill that Bill offers is that he combines expertise not only in writing and photography, but also in sound, lighting, and editing - I think he blends those skills extremely well." "Bill works well with people. That's important if you're disrupting an entire factory, and when you have to deal with the Chairman of the Board, as well as workers on the assembly line." Berkshire Film & Video Top of Page