dude. be nice.
For our last story, Megan, Jillian and I decided to write about a successful and uplifting business that was started by a Cal Poly student.
This project was going to be difficult from the get-go because, as a group of three, we have a different portion left out of every story. This story is missing a person assigned to the word category, so we had to find a story that was tellable well through only interactive elements and a very short video.
Coming to the idea of covering dude. be nice. was difficult. We were out of ideas for the quarter, and all of our good ideas that could have blossomed into great stories definitely needed a word element to be told to their fullest potential. Then Jillian brought up the company because she was involved with them a few years ago and had heard that it had grown rapidly since.
Our Social Media Engagement report told us most Cal Poly students have never heard of the company, so we could cover it in almost any angle.
Once we decided to cover the business, it got a bit trickier. Although the founder and owner of the company went to Cal Poly, he now lives in and is based out of Los Angeles. This made getting any interviews we might need very difficult. So Megan and Jillian went above and beyond and way out of their way and drove down to Los Angeles for the day last Friday. They visited the dude. be nice. offices, took photos, interviewed several people, and got all of the information from the story.
“The hardest part about the interview wasn’t actually going all the way to L.A. to have it, it was that [the business owner] actually sent everyone home before we got there in order to have the office be quiet. So the b-roll was really tough because there wasn’t a lot going on,” said Jillian.
“It was really difficult to come up with a whole Instagram story from a few hours of an interview, but I made it work!” said Megan.
Our group was in almost constant communication through a group text and emails. That was incredibly helpful, because when anyone had a question, it would get answered almost immediately. We also brainstormed ideas on how to cover this topic for a long time, but ultimately we decided the most important aspect of the story is the good the company does and the inspirational and uplifting presentations they give at schools and organizations across the company. So, the story is mainly about a Cal Poly alumni who is putting some nice back into the world at a time of turmoil.
Megan and Jillian work in class after their trip to Los Angeles.
Megan and Jillian said the interview went really well and Brent Camalich, founder and owner of the company, is very bubbly and easy to interview.
Brent Camalich, founder and owner of dude. be nice.
“I just wanted to make people smile and spread some kindness in a world that is usually mean,” Camalich said in the interview.
Overall, our project went pretty flawlessly and we worked very well together as a team.