The Shark Tank

Meet the folks who help make your business impossible to ignore.

 

Being good at what you do isn't enough if nobody notices.

You're an expert at what you do. You shouldn't also have to be an expert in video production, storytelling, branding, marketing, cinematography, lighting, sound engineering, editing, social media, graphic design, copywriting, location scouting, and figuring out what the heck you're supposed to say on camera.

That's actually our job.

We learn your business, your customers, and your goals. Then we help you figure out what needs to be said, who needs to hear it, and how to make sure they remember it. And that leads to them buying what you're selling.

You know your business. Barking Shark knows how to tell your story.

Most of our clients aren't filmmakers (frankly, it would be a little weird if they were). Our clients come to us knowing they need to build a brand, they need better marketing and better video, and they need a better way to explain what makes their business unique. They don't necessarily know what kind of video they need, what it should say, or where it should go.

The good news is, they don't have to.

Barking Shark will help figure all that out.

We've been doing this for a while.

Barking Shark Creative was founded in 1990 in Greensboro, North Carolina, with a pretty simple idea: businesses shouldn't have to choose between marketing that's effective and marketing that's actually interesting.

Since then, we've helped retail stores, restaurants, and rental companies. We've worked with doctors, lawyers, and universities. Our satisfied clients also include manufacturers, mechanics, non-profits, inventors, authors, radio stations, banks, insurance brokers, HVAC, plumbers, electricians, and campgrounds. What we don't do is weddings.

Literally thousands of videos produced for hundreds of clients in dozens of cities and states and foreign countries. We take our cameras wherever your story takes us.

Meet the Sharks:

[we're working on this bit]

Working with Sharks is really easy with this three-step process.

1. SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION: Our team will meet with you, and together, we’ll outline your goals and challenges. We'll quickly figure out where you are and where you'd like to be, and how we can overcome any obstacles you're facing.

2. DISCUSS YOUR VISION: We'll talk about your business, your audience, and what success ultimately looks like to you. We’ll listen to everything you want to accomplish and help you decide what you need to succeed.

3. GET BACK TO YOUR GENIUS: We’ll handle the videos and branding, and you do what you do best: run your business. Barking Shark will produce and post the brand content your business needs to get noticed by the people that matter and where it can actually make a difference.

What happens when people finally notice?

The goal isn't simply to hand you a beautiful video.

The goal is to help the right people:

• Notice you
• Understand you
• Remember you
• Trust you
• Choose you

Because when your branded marketing clearly communicates to the right audience why your business matters, good things tend to happen.

Great businesses should not be easy to overlook.

You can be great at what you do and still lose business to a competitor who simply does a better job of communicating.

That's the part Barking Shark can hel you fix.

Okay, but why is it called Barking Shark?

The short answer is sleep deprivation. 

Many years ago, when Andy Lindsay was trying to figure the right name for this budding creative endeavor, one thing was clear: we're not going to have an agency name that could just as easily be the name of a law firm: two or three last names strung together seemed pretentious and, frankly, a bit of red flag for the kind of creative ideas that might be produced by a company that couldn't find a better name for their own agency than the last name on their driver's license.

So weeks were spent pouring over books and magazines on every subject imaginable, looking for some kind of verbal imagery that would set them apart. The internet was still young, Google wasn't around yet, and the people who would create ChatGPT probably weren't even born. Hence the need to spend hours staring at old-fashioned printed pages in search of idea.

In the process, a list was made of potential naming possibilities, a list that ultimately included between 70 and 80 ideas. But while the list was still being formed, it was very, very late one night and Andy was taking advantage of a bout of insomnia, working his way through some sort of animal kingdom encyclopedia and considering various creatures that might make the list. Studying a section on sharks, he discovered that there are more than 500 species of sharks swimming around in the world's oceans, and since he'd always been more than a little fascinated with sharks, began perusing the many, many shark species listed, along with their descriptions.

Suddenly, his eyes focused on a type he'd never heard of: a Barking Shark. Wait, what? A Barking Shark sounds fascinating! What exactly… he struggled to focus his sleep-blurred eyes to read carefully. Wait. That doesn't say Barking Shark. It says Basking Shark. Well, that's disappointing.

Basking Sharks are not what you'd call exciting. Or attractive. In fact, they're kinda dorky looking, To be fair, they are really big, second only to the Whale Shark in size, but if they played kickball in shark school, these guys would get picked last, every time. Their mouths are ginormous, but their throats are only about the size of a grapefruit. And that's because all they eat is plankton. BOR-ING!

So, in an act of defiance that has since become legend, Andy immediately wrote on the list, BARKING SHARK. A heretofore non-existent shark species that just sounded way cooler than Basking Shark.

Fast forward to a few weeks later when the list was whittled down to three final candidates, and Barking Shark Creative was one of them. No one can actually remember what the other two finalists were, by the way, because when we went looking for available domain names, the other two, in every conceivable combination, were not available.

But.

BarkingShark.com was just sitting there, waiting. Like the prettiest girl at school in a folding chair at the Homecoming Dance, just waiting. Inconceivable, sure, but it's true. So we grabbed the URL, designed the first version of a logo that would evolve a few more times over the years, and introduced the new and improved name to our clients. Frankly, it was an invaluable decision that has allowed us to build our agency into a nearly unforgettable brand, because the metaphor is unexpected, powerful, and effective:

It's impossible to ignore. A shark gets attention. A shark that barks demands it. And that's branded video: sight + sound + story, working together to interrupt indifference.

It's unexpected. Nobody expects a shark to bark. Likewise, the best creative doesn't give audiences exactly what they've seen a thousand times before. It introduces something surprising enough to make them pay attention.

It's inherently memorable. Barking Shark creates an immediate mental image because the two words don't normally belong together. That's also exactly what you want your brand to do: create a distinctive association that sticks.

It communicates. This is important: the shark represents the brand; the bark represents the message. A business may be impressive, capable and powerful, but if nobody hears its message, that doesn't help much. Barking Shark gives brands a voice.

It combines visual and audio. This is particularly appropriate for a video production company. The shark is what you see. The bark is what you hear. The real power of video comes from combining the two.

It has personality. Shark Creative could easily sound aggressive, corporate, or self-important. Add Barking, and suddenly there's humor and approachability. It says we take our clients' business seriously without necessarily taking ourselves too seriously.

It creates curiosity. Barking Shark Creative practically invites the question, “Where did that name come from?”  That's valuable, because a brand that causes someone to ask a question has already created engagement.

It's ownable. There are endless agencies with names built around words like vision, elevate, ignite, momentum, blue, pixel, and even creative. Barking Shark Creative doesn't exactly sound like a category. It just sounds like us.

It demonstrates the product. This may be the most interesting point: our name itself does what we promise to do for our clients. It's unusual, visual, slightly funny, and difficult to forget. 

Barking Shark is an example of memorable branding while simultaneously being the name of a branding company.