One Story, 300,000 Views: Dometic Marine

Robert Trosset runs Finz Dive Center out of Key West, hauling snorkelers and divers to the Dry Tortugas on a 35-foot catamaran he designed himself. We spent a couple of days with him and Dometic Marine’s first documentary-style customer story is what came out. No script. No lines to read.

The film earned thousands of views on its own. Dometic put paid media behind it and it earned more than 300,000 more. We’ve since wrapped a second project together, and the third is in pre-production.

The dealership problem

Roger Price runs Dometic Marine’s marketing across the Americas, and he’ll tell you the consumer side of Dometic has a playbook that works. Hand the product to an ambassador who lives the lifestyle, and let the review build trust. The marine side sells differently. Boats get bought the way cars get serviced, on the word of the builders and dealers who already have the customer’s trust.

“Boaters are looking to boat builders and boat dealers for their recommendations. Capturing the voice of the actual buyers of our products has two benefits. First, it has the potential to generate more awareness and demand with boat builders. Second, it gives the end consumer confidence in the Dometic brand by generating credibility from industry leaders.”

Roger Price, Marketing Manager, Dometic Marine

So the films put the actual buyers on camera. A charter captain who runs Dometic gear commercially every day. A boat builder who specs it into what many consider the ultimate offshore fishing machine.

One story. No script.

Robert’s film features his voice and nothing else. His boat, his reef, his reasons. The memorable line we keep coming back to is about the Dometic DG3 Gyro that keeps his catamaran flat in a swell.

“My clients usually don’t say anything about it because it is so seamlessly built into the boat. They don’t even notice it’s on until you show them and turn it off.”

Robert Trosset III, Owner, Finz Dive Center

You won’t hear our questions

Roger opened his notes to us with a sentence we’d write ourselves.

“Authenticity is the only thing that matters in Marketing.”

Authenticity earns trust.

Here’s how he protects it. He outlines his ideal vision for the film, down to the responses he hopes exist. We turn that vision into interview questions. Then everyone gets out of the way.

“Then we just let the subject speak. Often, you find that the real gems for the video are in the unplanned responses. That is where authenticity lives and it shines through in the final edit.”

Roger Price

Dometic’s own brand guidelines promise three things. Smart solutions, reliable products, outstanding design. Nobody handed that language to the people in these films, and it came back anyway. Robert said it unprompted. “All the Dometic systems on the boat are extremely reliable.” He called the gyro’s power draw the best he’d ever encountered. Their group brand promise is reliable performance in demanding environments, and a charter captain who runs the gear commercially every day is that promise wearing sunglasses. Unscripted customers keep landing on the brand’s own language. You can write that claim in an ad and hope. You can only prove it in a documentary.

The people in the chair aren’t performers, and some arrive nervous. That’s where Kevin brings his best.

“Kevin has been great at getting the subject to relax and reassures them that it is just a conversation. After a few minutes in the interview chair, everything starts to click.”

Roger Price

Kevin Christensen directed both Dometic projects. Eli Ommen shot them, edited them, and handled the VFX. You won’t see or hear either of them in the finished films, which is the point.

The in-house question

Roger came up through the creative side. Graphic design, advertising, product photography, then an MBA in digital marketing on top. Dometic’s internal team has real production talent, and he’d know, since he runs it and could do the work himself. Which makes his answer to the build-or-buy question worth more than most.

“We have in-house capabilities and the talent to execute our own videos. Our problem is the ability to focus long enough on a single project. Creating great video content must be more than a side project mixed in with the day-to-day activities in a typical corporate marketing office. People often underestimate the amount of work it takes to shoot and edit a few minutes of video. Having an agency focus on this for us frees up my team to handle the rest of the daily grind.”

Roger Price

That’s not a capability gap. It’s a focus gap. And we step in. We love this version of why our team exists.

One story becomes a library

Neither project ended at one film. Robert’s shoot produced the 3-minute feature plus topical cutdowns built around Dometic’s marketing messages. The client experience. Product explainers on how the gear works and how to operate it. Horizontal and vertical for every placement. The SeaVee project delivered a 3-minute customer testimonial, a 90-second cut, and five topical spots that each aim at a single clear message.

One shoot becomes a library, and the library feeds paid, organic, dealer conversations, and boat shows for years. That’s the difference between ordering a video and building an asset.

Your brand’s best salespeople are the customers already using your product. See our brand films, then let’s talk about yours.

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