As the Web and Digital Media Manager on TowerJazz Semiconductor’s corporate communications team, part of my role was creating visuals for digital media and marketing initiatives, for example for events and event booths, ads, videos, annual reports, emails, and social media posts in addition to building and maintaining the corporate website. Working on a variety of initiatives gave me the opportunity to interface with a number of different people within the organization.
An Ask
One day in 2016, I received an email from Human Resources asking if I would help put together a video about why people enjoy working at TowerJazz. The video was for an upcoming event to celebrate achieving a one billion dollar annual revenue run rate. I was juggling several items but decided to squeeze it in because I felt it was important. My work focused mainly on messaging from management to customers, shareholders, and employees, which made sense given my role, but I didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to highlight people working on the day-to-day details.
When I set up the lights and camera for the shoots, there was no script or plan aside from asking, “What about working at TowerJazz makes you smile?” and then any follow up questions that seemed to flow. My job, at that moment, was to make sure that those in front of the camera felt comfortable and free to be themselves.
After shooting wrapped, I loaded all the footage onto my computer and narrowed down which clips to use. Editing without a script took more time than something planned because it required watching everything a couple of times to determine a sequence that flowed. Yet, as with any creative endeavor, there was a sense of enjoyment in the process of seeing it come together.
The Reaction
At the celebration, this was the second of two videos featuring TowerJazz employees that I put together for the event. As it ended and the audience roared. I felt truly happy about saying yes to making it. It is a different kind of happy than when a marketing initiative hits a record KPI, people appreciate a booth design that started on your computer and ended up in a physical space, or you write elegant code. It was the kind of happy that goes with knowing that something you worked on genuinely meant something to people.