The arrival of their second child inspired interior design consultant Karina Perdomo and her husband, sound engineer Victor Castejon, to do two things: First, make an effort to visually capture the special moments of their growing family to share with friends and relatives. Secondly, readjust their work-life balance — which had tipped drastically to the former side of the scale — so they could have the time to make those special moments.
And that’s when The Quick Brown Fox scampered into the busy couple’s lives. As Karina explains:
“Too often we were putting work first and just weren’t seeing enough of each other. So we decided to combine Victor’s experience in broadcast video pre- and post-production with my creative background and our mutual love of the carefully crafted moving image in starting our own film production company and work together.”
Parenthood and the growth of social media provided them with an insight into their initial target market, according to Karina.
“Video is becoming more and more entwined in social media, and parents especially want to document their children growing up,” notes the 37-year-old mother. “We saw a great opportunity to found a family-oriented company where our genuine understanding and love of family could help us create professional videos for other families in a fun and imaginative fashion. Thus, The Quick Brown Fox Video Production Ltd. was born.”
Lights, camera and lots of action
Today, after almost two years in operation, the southwest London-based company has expanded its scope to include small business. Now, in addition to shooting events and editing other people’s home movie footage, the filmmakers offer clients a variety of services from B2B promotions to educational content for schools and film workshops.
They also produce popular tutorials for kids on their YouTube channel, The Quick Brown Fox TV, which often features their adorable and not-at-all-camera-shy daughter Miranda in creative activities children and parents can do at home about math, science, art and design.
“A typical day for us involves traveling to various filming locations, although twice a week I work from home, discussing pre-production and getting the admin done,” Karina says. “Going out to film is always fun, but it’s important to take these days to keep on top of the business.”
They pride themselves on a fast turnaround of a project, usually having a rough cut ready within 72 hours of shooting. The cut is then uploaded to WeTransfer and a link is sent to the client for review before final editing.
It’s tally-ho! with GoDaddy
While Karina and Victor employ several freelancers and have recently added Carolyn Ong as assistant producer to help with the growing workload, the couple also relies on GoDaddy to be part of their team as IT support staff.
“The first thing we did was register domain names with GoDaddy and then used Website Builder to create a customized, professional-looking site,” recalls Karina. “We saw all the different templates and were impressed by the wide variety. Plus, it’s incredibly simple to use; the buttons down the side of the page make everything immediately accessible.”
She credits that strong online presence with playing a major role in the company’s marketing success. Why? People hunting for their services can easily find The Quick Brown Fox.
“Being online makes our business what it is. About 75 percent of our business is generated through social media, so it’s something we spend a lot of time being active on and driving conversation. I know that personally, if I need to use a new business, I’ll search for them on the Internet or Twitter to check it out. For any small business it’s therefore crucial to be online.”
Supporting small business
And it’s paid off for Karina and Victor. Last year The Quick Brown Fox was named one of the UK’s Small Biz 100 in 2015. The company also was selected to be part of the national Small Business Saturday campaign, an annual event that encourages the public to support the small business community. They spent the day giving away offers to local businesses and holding film workshops on the SBS bus.
“As more people recognize the value in using local businesses, I think there’ll be more demand for independent shops and services,” Karina predicts. “Then the money stays in the local economy and everyone in the community really benefits. I know for myself, our biggest success is making our customers happy — which is something that may not be the first priority for large corporations.”
Supporting small business
