We have known each other as long as we can remember — quite literally. We were born the same year, grew up down the street from each other from the age of 1, and bought identical cameras within months of each other (Caleb definitely copied Abraham on that one). As long as we can remember, we have been working together to build something cool or tell a funny story. Redd Legend was the natural progression of our backyard filmmaking adventures — started in high school, incorporated in college, and our full-time pursuit after a few years of industry work showed us a hole that we believed we could fill.
Redd Legend was founded from a passion to create a space for artists to thrive. Our industry has some amazing people to whom we look up greatly. Unfortunately, it is also fraught with untrustworthy businesspeople and media that serves only to boost egos — not help people reach their goals. There is also an incredibly high rate of artist burnout and turnover with creative agencies. We are obsessed with ethical marketing, the creative process, and results-oriented media — and those three passions drive the principles of our mission.
We are obsessed with ethical marketing, the creative process, and results-oriented media.
For us, effective and ethical marketing starts with humans. We believe that people are thinking, feeling, and doing beings. Those three modes of behavior are simultaneously parallel and ordered. If we use our media to demand action without an emotional draw, our media is ineffective. If we manipulate emotions without informing the intellect, our media is unethical. There is so much more about humans than can be covered in a single blog post (*cough* schedule a discovery call to chat more about that *cough*), but this foundation gives us a structure to ensure that the work we do is honest and ethical.
There is a deep, primal urge in artists to express themselves. Perhaps everyone has that urge, but it may be most evident in the arts. There is also an inherent sense for most business owners to communicate in a way that is informative, rather than expressive. This tension is where we live — on what we refer to as the creative spectrum.
On one end is content — anything that exists merely to transmit information. A recording straight from the camera, or an audio file of people talking—that is content. On the other end is art — pure personal expression. Art is beholden to no one and serves no corporate purpose. Creative is everything in between content and art. Content certainly has some value for a business, but anyone can develop some technical skills and capture content. Good art is inherently valuable, but very difficult (if not impossible) to use to help a business achieve its goals. Creative work relies on both the technical skills of content and the innate generative abilities of an artist to shape something that serves a corporate purpose while allowing an artist to infuse it with something new and creative. Our best clients need creative work, and our best work falls closer and closer to art on the creative spectrum.
As business owners, we understand the need for creative work to make sense for businesses. We treat each piece of media like an investment, and want to generate a return on investment for our clients. This philosophy allows us to build a strategy for every client that works with their goals and budget — and allows us to refer work to other partners if we are not the best fit. We think there is plenty of space in the industry for collaboration, and do not feel the need to compete with people who are better than we are at things outside of our lane. We love doing excellent work in our space and working with people who do excellent work in theirs to create success for everyone around us.
At the end of the day, we are here to serve. That mission goes far beyond our work at Redd Legend, but is truly why we do what we do.
Soli Deo gloria. To God alone be the glory.
