PMP227: Me, Myself and Bob. 7 Lessons from the Rise and Fall of VeggieTales скачать в хорошем качестве

PMP227: Me, Myself and Bob. 7 Lessons from the Rise and Fall of VeggieTales

Have you ever had a dream you’ve been unable to fulfill? Phil Vischer was born in Muscatine, Iowa, in 1967. He grew up mesmerized by Disney films, Star Wars, and later by MTV. Phil also came from a family that was deeply religious. As he grew up, he longed to see media created that would portray his Christian values in ways that were both appealing and entertaining. Phil Vischer was a technology wiz, even at a young age. Some of his earliest memories involved making special effects with his grandfather’s home video camera. And when the first Atari 400 personal computer was on the market, his family found a way to buy one for him. He went to St. Paul’s Bible college in Minnesota, but he dropped out in his second year and began his first company making advertisement videos in 1989. It was during his twenties, that he began to experiment with software that allowed him to do what no one else was marketing at the time, lattice deformation: the ability to make digital images “squishy” instead of just blocks on a screen. This discovery led to his creation of a cartoon character named Larry: a green cucumber with quirky eyes and a toothy smile. Later he created his sidekick, Bob the Tomato, and the VeggieTales industry began. Actually, the company was called Big Idea Productions, started in August of 1993. Throughout the origin story of the company, Phil Visher had several benefactors whose combined contributions gave him the capitol to take the next steps he needed in making his first 30-minute children’s video with animated vegetables telling stories from the Bible with funny songs and Phil’s brand of sly humor throughout. For the first time in his life, Phil felt he was on the verge of creating something that matched the dreams he had as a boy. He idolized the stories of Walt Disney, and he thought maybe this was the opportunity to launch something as appealing as the Disney brand but with a focus on the values of his faith. By 1994, Vischer had a staff of 4 and 50,000 orders for their first two VeggieTales videos, “Are You My Neighbor?” and “Dave and the Giant Pickle.”  By November 1996, with 700,000 copies of his first six videos sold, Big Idea Productions now had 15 staff and revenues at $1.8 million. By 1997, with the release of “Madame Blueberry,” Big Idea Productions had 36 staff with $4 million in the bank and no debt. Enter the leadership team. It was at this juncture, that Vischer decided to bring in some heavy hitters in finance and marketing. He hired a new company President who took over day-to-day operations, and increased the staff to 80 members with 8 million videos sold. But the rapid growth soon hit several snags. As Phil’s dream began to grow, he began to wonder would happen if Big Idea Productions became successful enough to build an amusement park. Already, families were traveling to their office area outside Chicago to see where ‘Bob and Larry’ were being made.  That same year, Phil and his leadership team took on several new ventures in addition to children’s videos. The idea for a new office headquarters launched a $10 million dollar building project. In addition, an idea for an extended video release soon became plans for a full-feature film.  Also, Big Idea Productions started a new cartoon series as well as creating lots of merchandise. All these decisions moved Big Idea Productions from creating an essential product (children’s videos) to several products while hiring at a rapid rate to keep up with anticipated growth. By July 1999, with the release of the video “Larry & the Rumor Weed,” the company had 150 staff. From 1996 to 1999, revenues grew 3,300 percent, from $1.3 million to $44 million. It seemed as if Phil’s dreams were coming true – that everything he touched was turning to gold. But here’s the catch. Expenses at Big Idea Productions had grown to $30 million a year, and this was not factoring in the anticipated final budgets of several of the upcoming product releases.  By the start of 2001, Phil began seeing the writing on the wall. The company had 210 staff, but missed their company’s growth estimates by 80%.15% of the staff had to be laid off, which was not nearly enough to cover the losses Big Idea Productions was incurring, but he didn’t have the heart to cut any deeper.  They abandoned the plans for a new headquarters. By the time Big Idea Productions released its first film, “Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie,” the company had to raise the money necessary to finish the movie, and ticket sales did not recoup the costs. Then the President of their partner distribution company died. Releases of Big Idea Production’s other new product lines fell well below projections. And Big Idea Productions was sued by HIT Entertainment, the company taking over from its distribution predecessor. More cuts followed in the of winter of 2002. By April of 2003, with only 65 staff remaining, Big Idea Produc...