Interplay Agency, 2006–2016
82 brands, most of them new to me
At Interplay I helped 82 companies, small and large, turn prospects into customers. The strategy work was delivered as more than 100 explainer videos and product demos, for clients from Apple, Adobe, ADP, McKinsey, MetLife, and Seagate to founders of brand-new startups.
- 82 brands
- 100+ explainer videos and product demos
- 90 seconds to tell a value proposition
- 10 years
A stand-in for the buyer
Most of my clients’ industries were new to me on day one, which put me in the same seat as their prospects. The client taught me, and that let me teach their potential customers.
If I couldn’t follow it, neither could the buyer. So I kept asking until I could explain the product in the buyer’s words, not the company’s.
How a 90-second film gets made
- Learn the business. Interviews with founders, executives, engineers, and customers.
- Boil it down. Turn the raw inputs (the client’s goals, what the product does, who buys it, and who it competes with) into one value proposition.
- Write the script. Tell it as the buyer’s story, with the buyer as the hero.
- Direct and produce. Bring it to life with visuals that show, not tell.
Selected films
A sales series for First Republic
The business banking team had no quick way to show prospects its online banking without setting up a dummy account. I built a three-part series that moved prospects step by step: a one-minute teaser, two- to three-minute feature demos, and longer product tours that led to a one-hour deep dive.
Sales reps used it at every step of the sales process and saw higher close rates and buyer interest. Later I joined First Republic myself. Read that story.
Ideas I published
Alongside the films, I wrote white papers on how buyers find, read, and act on content. Those ideas still shape my work. Read them on my About page.
Interplay delivered an outstanding demo for us that is already having an impact on our sales pipeline. They guided us expertly all along the way and enabled us to improve our message dramatically.
Interplay did a great job of simplifying our message and delivering a concise and powerful tool to communicate complex concepts to our audience.
Dan is masterful in distilling corporate messaging and product positioning into a tight script brought to life with compelling visuals.