Most corporate videos are watched once, forgotten instantly, and never spoken of again.

I help internal comms and marketing leaders make sure theirs are not.

I’m Joe Hickey, founder of Shatter Media. I work with brands like British Gas, Arriva, Rathbones and Knight Frank to turn strategies, announcements and events into clear, human stories on video.

My focus:
• Messages people actually understand and feel
• Leaders who feel real on camera
• Content that supports your wider comms plan, not just another “nice video”

If you own engagement, adoption or alignment inside your organisation, I help you create video that does its job.

Joe Hickey

My eldest has just captured me!

It's not what you think!

A little throwback to the end of last year, my son's school assignment was to shadow his old man in a days work.

That just so happened to fall in the infamous Budget Day.

His task, document the day, what we're doing, a few tips a long the way, and edit it into a story-driven vlog style video to showcase a bit of the behind the scenes of some of what I do.

How did he do? Let me know and I'll pass on the feedback!!

📽️ 📽️

Joe Hickey 🎥

Turning strategy, change & events into stories your people remember | Video for internal comms & marketing leaders | Founder – Shatter Media

Stories Are Back! 📖

Not LinkedIn Stories, Although, unpopular opinion, I didn’t hate those.

I mean actual storytelling.

The King of Shortform content TikTok, has been quietly pushing micro-dramas,  short-form, episodic content that hooks you, then makes you come back for the next part.

This is feeding the holy grail of metrics, retention time. It is also driving repeat traffic due to content consumers coming back to see the next episode.

So that's great but what can we learn from this?

Simple:
✅ Think in stories, not snippets
✅ Build episodic arcs for your content, not just one-off's
✅ Don't just bolt CTA's at the end, but weave them into the content;
Tease - Demonstrate - Social Proof

This isn't just a trend, it's a consumer's behavioural signal.

And honestly, it’s exactly why I built my BrandStory Video product in the first place, documenting real journeys, showing experience in action, and proving quality instead of claiming it.

If your content feels forgettable, it’s probably because it’s not telling a story.

If you want help doing that properly, you know where I am.

🎬🎥🎬

Longform Vs Shortform 🎥

So which is better?

In a nutshell... 🥜 neither.

Each serves a different purpose. 

Let's keep it simple

Shortform = Attention, visibility 👀

Longform = Trust, connection, authority

Utilising both effectively, deployed at the right time, leads to conversion and action!

If you're interested in how, then let's chat 🗨️

🎥🎥🎥

The importance of flexibility!

Now I'm not one who can do the splits, but I'll give it a go!

Ok, ok, maybe I don't mean that kind of flexibility, god knows I'm not as nimble as I used to be.

Yesterday demonstrated how being flexible cannot only help you go the extra mile for the client, but also save your own arse!

To set the scene quickly, I was running a camera operator job for an event at a racing circuit, classic cars, lots of noise and the smell of fuel, it was a lot of fun!

Not my gig, but a friend of mine so I was assisting him and his team, the client wanted a really simple video of classic cars with some racing and rally drivers flying around the circuit as part of his presentation, which would be shot in the morning, edited quickly after and added to the PowerPoint.

Simple enough until we checked on the hired camera (which for events we hard wire power in) and the batteries weren't working.

3 large batteries, completely dead, a faulty charge, and no way of getting power out onto the track to the camera to capture the footage.

None of us panicked, none of us worried, we ran a couple tests to ensure there was no way of rectifying the hired kit.

Then, as I always tend to, I had some of my own kit with me, including my camera for a "just in case" moment, this was that moment.

We were right in time, I got my camera, got set up, ran out, got the shot. 

Problem solving is all part of the job, it's the fun part.

Video solutions can impact business in a big way, gain attention, build trust and concert clients, reach out and lets see how video can help your business 🎥🎥🎥

A luxury hotel CEO just went viral on TikTok.

With a simple method...

Not because of a marketing campaign.
Not because of ads.
Not because of a trendy hook or jump cuts.

Because she told stories.

✅ Behind-the-scenes moments.
✅ Day-to-day realities.
✅ Human observations from inside a very polished world.

And people loved it.

Millions of views.
Huge engagement.
Increased brand awareness and job applications.

She didn’t just “create content”.
She documented experience.

No over-produced scripts.
No trying to be an influencer.
Just a real person, in a real role, sharing real stories and real personality.

Authority building at its finest.

And it’s a reminder that storytelling isn’t about drama or viral tricks, it’s about context.

Letting people see how things actually work.

Letting them trust you before you ever try to sell them anything.

This is exactly why polished, generic brand videos are losing their punch…

…and why human-led storytelling is winning.

If you’re a founder, leader, or expert wondering why your content feels invisible, ask yourself this:

Are you posting snippets…
or are you inviting people into a story?

Because stories don’t just get watched.
They get remembered.

🎬

Head of Partnerships | Simple Design Works

At Simple Design Works, I help ambitious businesses turn complex challenges into simple, commercially scalable solutions. 

Understanding what drives growth, spotting barriers that hold it back, and building strategies that help our partners move faster, safer, and smarter.

I work with organisations across manufacturing, logistics, and industrial sectors who share one thing in common: they want to innovate, but need the right support to make it happen. My job is to make sure that support is clear, practical, and built around measurable commercial outcomes.

I believe the best partnerships are founded on curiosity, honesty, and momentum. That means asking better questions, challenging assumptions, and creating simplistic clarity where others add complexity. 

Whether it’s unlocking efficiency, improving safety, or turning great ideas into reality, I help our partners remove barriers to growth and build solutions that deliver real impact — for their teams, their customers, and their bottom line.

Nathan Nicholson

From Chas To Order - The brief nobody wants to write

Projects start like this:

"We need a new product. Here's the rough idea. Can you design it?"

Missing: 

Why does this exist? 

Who's it for? 

What problem does it solve? 

What's the commercial target?

We see this constantly.

Teams skip the brief because they're excited to start. 

Or 

They think the answers are obvious.

Six months later they're redesigning because nobody validated the fundamentals.

What needs clarifying first:

What's the actual user problem?

What are the functional requirements?

What's the target cost?

What manufacturing constraints exist?

The pattern:

Teams that spend two weeks getting clarity upfront save six months of rework later.

Teams that skip it start fast, get stuck when assumptions collide with reality.
Clarifying the brief feels like it slows things down.

It's what lets you move fast with confidence.

Have you started a project that needed a clearer brief?

I help build products designed to make money, not just designed to look good | For industrial & commercial businesses validating before over-investing | Simple Design Works

Requirements get interpreted three different ways

Ever had a project where everyone agrees on the project brief, it feels clear & the team starts work.

Three months in, someone says "wait, I thought we were doing X" and someone else says "no, we agreed on Y."

Turns out the brief wasn't clear. It just seemed clear because nobody tested the assumptions.

What looked aligned:

"We need to improve user experience" ✓

"Target cost is around £90" ✓

"Launch in Q3" ✓

What wasn't aligned:

What "improved UX" actually means in practice.
Whether £90 is ex-factory, landed, or retail.

If Q3 means design complete or production shipping.

The pattern:

Vague briefs feel faster at the start.

They create expensive confusion later.

What catches teams out:

Different interpretations of the same words.

Assumptions nobody validated.

Constraints that show up halfway through tooling.

The teams that spend time clarifying upfront move faster overall.

The teams that rush past it rebuild later.

What brief assumptions have caused problems on your projects?

taplio

The Battle

Joe Hickey

Nathan Nicholson

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreJoe Hickey's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreNathan Nicholson's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Joe Hickey

Nathan Nicholson

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Joe Hickey's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreNathan Nicholson's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJoe Hickey's LinkedIn Performance