What do McDonalds and Bellyflop.tv have in common?
As a student I spent 5 years working at McDonalds, much of the time as a children’s party host although the first few months I worked in the kitchen (where I mastered the art of hiding cooked chicken nuggets down my socks, which I would quickly scoff in the walk-in fridge).
So how on earth can I claim that McDonalds and Bellyflop.tv have anything in common? Well, you have to admit that there is a certain consistency to the food at McDonalds. Like it or not, you know what you are going to get. Likewise I believe a big reason customers return to us is we are consistent in not just the films we make, but how we make them, and the price they cost.
Above is a photo of me hosting one of my McDonalds parties. I’m in the red waist coat!
For all of its criticisms McDonalds food is consistent in appearance and well packaged, but I’m talking about their service culture too. McDonalds was at the forefront of this back in the 1990’s and was great at teaching you how to address any problems between customer and company promptly.
One of the first things I noticed when looking at what I did compared with other website video producers was the lack of quality some people pass off as acceptable video (such as poor sound, or long and boring introductions). But also how inconsistent in quality films made by the same company could be (often this is because they hire in different camera operators and editors, so have no defined ‘look’).
I think every film we make should meet the brief set by a customer, be a consistently good end product, and great value.
I didn’t think about this blog post until I saw Stuart Bradley from branding agency called ‘Trust’ do a presentation at a Chamber of Commerce event recently, and it made me think about the values of Bellyflop.tv and what my comparison was in company values to other businesses. Me and the team are currently writing these up!
I learned a lot from how McDonalds do things, and they seem to always be in the Sunday Times ‘Top companies to work for’, and I admire how they operate as a business and employer.
My plan for Bellyflop.tv is to continue developing my team, get accredited by Investors in People and continue delivering great value to customers.
