4WT Media has been a huge support of Built In Los Angeles and we thank them for dedicating the time and commitment in sharing our vision. The videos they'e produced for us are of excellent quality and we encourage you to view them: https://bit.ly/1cA5SI4
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Tell us a bit about 4WT Media and how the company came into existence? You say you have 4 Core Values, let's talk more about those.
4WT Stands for ‘4word Thought’ and that really focuses on our 4 values. There’s a word for each value: Innovation, Passion, Authenticity and Dynamism. Really, those are the things we truly believe drive us as a company. In everything that we do for our clients and the team internally (from start to execution), we try to have those values’ influence.
4WT Media came from a company that I started in Sydney back in 2007, called 4word Thought Entertainment. My partner James Mitchell and I worked there together and he came to The States with me to start 4WT as the first team member other than myself. I was working at DocStoc with our other partner, Zack Richards, who was Lead Visual Designer there, before we left to start 4WT. That was the next iteration of 4word Thought and what that company had evolved from, as more of a production company in Australia. What we are now is a very technology-focused creative agency. Our main objective is creating high impact video content and delivering it to the right audience.
What are some of the daily challenges that you face as a creative agency?
I would say the biggest challenge that we face is differentiating ourselves in the marketplace. We are in a very competitive field, in terms of producing video content. Whether that would be television commercials, branded content, or online – which is a really saturated space. We know that we are really good at what we do, and all of our clients know that as well. But we are still wanting to let the rest of the world know.
Where do you place yourselves in the LA Tech Community? As a creative agency has your integration been successful?
I think we have been extremely successful in becoming a part of Los Angeles’ Tech Community. Our roots are truly in the technology and startup communities in LA. Although we don’t exclusively serve that market, we are very passionate about helping young companies and early stage companies in expressing their message and helping them reach their targeted audience.
Our assistance is given through high impact video content which helps market their product or service. We try to be a voice and a vehicle to express the world what is going on in LA. For example, with Silicon Beach Fest and SXSW, we produced video content that involved dozens of different companies that are leaders in the tech scene here. That is part of our way of giving back and really helping put LA Tech on the map.
Coming from 4word Thought, it makes sense that you have a more personal connection with startups because you are still truly a startup yourselves. With that in mind, what sets you apart from other creative agencies and media entities in the startup world?
One thing is I think that we are really focused on technology and innovation, specifically. We are definitely as much a startup as we are a creative agency. We are different from a creative agency in that we have adopted a lean methodology and approach to production and how we service our clients. Often, we can beat out our competition in both timeline and budget. We are different than many startups in that we are totally bootstrapped – we have no venture backing, no debt – which I think is pretty interesting for a company like ours, being focused on product development as well as a service company.
Not a bad way to start off as entrepreneurs! What can we expect from 4WT Media in the future?
What we’re really looking forward to is creating original premium content, and what I mean by that is you are going to see more from 4WT in the way of original programming that may air on television, or online platforms like YouTube, Yahoo, Netflix, etc. We are really excited about taking everything that we have learned (creating thousands of videos and generating millions of views) to create content that we are really passionate about. Much of our work is for our clients and we have actually now taken a major focus to produce content specifically for us, and things we are passionate about. For example, every week we have a new initiative called ‘4WT Fridays’ where we take the last day of the workweek and focus exclusively on internal projects. That comes in the form of content, original tv shows, or programming that we are developing. As well as product development and doing more of the tech side of our company and what we are currently building.
Choosing to not only focus on clients but also internal matters is a smart way to maintain a long lasting business. Any entrepreneur you talk to today will say that as a startup it’s a continuous process: you’re always changing your game plan. That being said, what advice would you give to entrepreneurs aspiring to start companies within the creative agency/media realm?
I think that the biggest piece of advice I can give folks out there who would aspire to be successful in this space is: be very focused about what it is you do and what your value to your clients or community may be. To be a bit more specific, I think that a lot of creative people try to do too much by trying to be all things to all people. I can say totally candidly that we’ve made that mistake in the past and it’s something we’ve learned from. How we’ve really evolved is choosing to be really focused about who we are and what it is that we do. For young people getting started out there it is much better to be really good at one thing than to be the ‘jack of all trades’ or an ‘inch deep and a mile wide’.
An inside look at the 4WT Media Team:
From left to right: CEO John Trefry, Head of Design Zak Richards, Director Tony Yacenda, and James Mitchell
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CEO & Founder John Trefry
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