Meet Jacob Wilson Cameron Strittmatter | Founders @ Failure Island

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jacob Wilson Cameron Strittmatter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jacob Wilson, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
At the end of the day when you are trying to grow your business, your client’s wishes are always going to take precedence when it comes to the project. But what gives us the most pleasure is when we are able to convince our client or brand to take that extra step that maybe they are a little nervous about. Whether that’s going a bit more out of the box than they are used to, or being bold with how they compare themselves to their competitors. We get them to make these decisions by encouraging them to not be afraid to fail. Because everybody does, and it’s the only way to get better. It’s in our name and a part of who we are. We’ve weathered those storms and come away with the experience to show them the way; and people seem to like that.

What should our readers know about your business?
We started out working together on a small short film Cameron wrote and directed called “All You Can Eat” and were also co-workers at our day job where Cameron was an editor. The film was selected for the Nashville Film Festival and we decided to form Failure Island around it. Over the course of the next 3 years we grew as much as we could without external investment, using free resources where we could and trading favors with fellow creatives. Slowly we started to attract interest from medium sized companies that recognized our ability to bring fun and quirky twists to traditionally boring content such as corporate or academic videos. Over time that has evolved into a unique style that has meshed well with the trend of more and more businesses realizing they need to be investing in video marketing. We still love narrative, and are in post-production on our most ambitious short yet called “Breakfast at the Bodega”. We can’t wait to share it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Ah NYC.

Many a business meeting was had over pints at Wogies Bar and Grill in the Financial District. Try their famous “Garbage Bread” and try to survive it.

Bagel Pub in Park Slope has no doubt contributed to our productions, and our waistlines.

Shoutout to the East River, which claimed one of our lights on an early shoot. If you find it let us know!

Also thank you to two NYPD officers for not arresting us for trespassing during our first music video shoot at the very cool and abandoned Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
So many!

To our first followers: Marina, The Olivias, Eowyn, Joleinn, Nathan, Henry, Tendai, Haley, Mercedes, Zach – you gave so much of your time and we’re eternally grateful. We’ve written your names on our c-stands, and in our hearts. Also a shoutout to our first and most loyal client, The King’s College. Thank you for trusting your brand to our quirky ways and for allowing us to grow our brand within your hallowed halls.

x

Website: failureisland.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/failure_island/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://in.linkedin.com/company/failure-island

Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/failureisland

Image Credits
Sung Jim Kim Marina Barham Eowyn Innes