So Yeah, We Tried Slack
Introducing Slack to the world, in video. Peeking behind the scenes. Finding a title that fit.
In was clear to us in 2014 that the 🔥 hottest thing 🔥 a tech startup could do in Silicon Valley was get a Sandwich Video made for their product. Sandwich Video’s whole business lived on startups and they delivered a consistent experience introducing complex products in simple stories with a touch of charming irreverence.
Many of their videos also featured the flat, almost laconic line delivery of founder Adam Lisagor. The videos were popular and fun and demystified odd or complex and abstract products into clear problems and solutions. They had a recognizable format and look and feel, and seemed almost like a micro genre themselves.
In short, we at Slack wanted a Sandwich video for our launch. It felt like a rite of passage and a declaration of our intent to be seen within a cohort of tech companies with large ambitions and enough money to fund a shot at that ambition.
The video that resulted, much later than our launch, pretty much tells the story of the creation of the video, and I think is a fun thing to revisit.
Here goes, in video and then script form.
(Opening: sunny LA day, blue sky, exterior of Sandwich Video Inc. office building, music signature reminiscent of a sit com returning from an ad break.)
Adam (seated, speaking to the camera, red socks; Founder, Sandwich Video): So, 6 months ago I get an email from Stewart Butterfield who wants to talk about making a video for his new thing, Slack. It would change the way…
Stewart (typing on his computer; Founder, Slack): …teams communicate. (hits enter key on keyboard)
Adam (reading from a computer screen): ‘…change the way teams communicate.’ (squinch of face)
Adam (seated, speaking to the camera, red socks): I told him my company runs entirely on email and dropbox and we were doing just fine.
Stewart (reading from computer screen): (squinch of face)
JP (Creative Director): Yeah, I guess we had a system (camera pans across Sandwich office with message notification windows falling to each individual at their desk). I would email with Adam and text with Shadie.
Claude (Director): JP and I would GChat.
Shadie (Executive Producer): And I would mostly hold my meetings in the utility closet.
(Cut to Shadie and two other characters in the utility closet.)
Sabrina (Director): And I was new so I didn’t talk so much.
Adam: This wasn’t sustainable (message notification windows falling all around him) if I wanted my company to grow. (Looks at camera) And something had to change. So yeah, we tried Slack.
(Slack title card. Time shift to Today. Camera pans office. Notifications for messages arise from individuals at their desks.)
Claude voiceover: Slack lets us to all our communication in one place. It’s like combining multiple forms of messaging and file sharing into one app. Adam’s pretty much in love with it.
Greg, Head of Production: You make channels in Slack (channel #post-production arises with messages) which is perfect for discussing specific topics and groups, depending on who needs to be in on the conversation (channel #casting arises with members greg, samantha, roxana).
Adam (from off screen): Let’s try one a little less goofy.
Greg: Copy that.
Greg (typing in message): Where are we on the Slack script?
JP (typing in message): Coming along nicely! 👍
Shadie (typing in message): Make sure you show me doing a magic trick.
Sabrina: One thing I like is that we can send all kinds of documents right in the app. You can just drag and drop.
Slack integrates with Dropbox which is amazing because we use Dropbox for everything.
Samantha (Office Manager): Slack supports all kinds of other integrations too. Everything from Asana, Google Hangouts, JIRA, PaperTrail, Pingdom, PivotalTracker…
Adam: A link to an audio player like Soundcloud extends inline so listening to it couldn’t be easier. (Puts on headphones and background audio changes as if played through headphones.)
Samantha: …AppSignal, Bitbucket, Bugsnag, Buildbox,…
Lauren (Office Assistant): Slack just looks really cool. Like something you’d actually want to use. (Cut to exterior with Lauren laden with bags) And with the mobile app we can Slack anywhere – at home, at the office,…
Adam: …even on the go.
Shadie: I like that Slack always keeps my place. I can switch from my laptop to my mobile (shows phone and slides playing card up from behind it) and I never miss a thing. (Looks off screen.) Is this your card?
JP / Sabrina (in unison): Yes / No.
Roxana (Casting Director, seated beside Adam): What I love about Slack is how it connects the team with direct lines of communication, business –
Adam: She uses it to send funny pictures.
Roxana: I use it to send funny pictures.
(Cut to upload of baby wearing wig of crazy hair.)
Samantha: …Crashlytics, MailChimp, reamaze, Stripe, Code Ship, GitHub…
Adam (as camera pans across happy office with Slack messages arising from calm and focused employees): And Adam loves it. His isn’t bloated and he can easily keep tabs on everyone’s projects. Slack really has changed the way his team communicates. And all this (cut to Adam reading script on his phone from in Slack, surrounded by video making equipment and members of the team) open, efficient communication keeps his company happy. (Looks at camera) Which makes Adam happy too.
(Slack end title animation.)
The Sandwich team did a very good job with the production. Stewart and I had worked with them on the script. Stewart had even done a really solid job with his lines and acting. It all came together, except one thing.
Untitled
We got the video near the end of one day of work. It seemed very close to complete, with one significant issue: no title.
We could call it something like, Intro to Slack, that did what it said on the tin. We could do something whimsical and call it Adam’s Big Communication Discovery. We could opt for the descriptive with something like What is Slack and How to Use It to Communicate and Improve Your Business in 3 Easy Steps. None of those approaches seems right though. We decided to sleep on it.
As I watched the video again that night, I thought for sure the title would emerge. And then it did. That one line, where Adam looks at the camera and the story shifts from the problem to the solution – “So yeah, we tried Slack” – that was the title. I was sure of it. I posted that suggestion to the team and went to bed.
Knowing the team pretty well by then, I felt certain they would have Opinions. There had been a big internal drive to get the video made in the first place. People cared a lot about it.
But really, what would matter was what Stewart thought of it. Did it work? This was to be one of our main public facing promotional items. It mattered to get it right, in the voice we wanted to speak in.
I slept well that night, not knowing how my suggestion had been received, or if it had been received, and if I had finally gotten close enough to Slack to know its voice.
I woke the next morning and saw unread messages. Someone overnight had created an animated gif looping between Adam’s squinching face and Stewart’s squinching face in a perpetual disconnect of emoted misunderstanding and disgruntlement. And yes, the title would be So yeah, We Tried Slack.
Looking for that video recently while writing this section I found it on the Sandwich Video website in their Explainers section. Its title? Sandwich Loves Slack. Well, I guess they loved that title more.
As a coda, Slack had Sandwich make a second video that acted kind of like a sequel to the first but for the COVID-19 pandemic. It was like How to Use Slack From Home or Anywhere With Social Distancing. Such were the times!
Up next: Easter Eggs in Slack — Delighting with details in work as a role-playing game. Rewarding exploration. Nudging with a voice.