Video Production for
Catch Des Moines

We love our city. And during our travels, we often act as unofficial ambassadors for Des Moines, telling people who don’t pronounce it correctly about its unexpected muchness.

Now, thanks to Ben Handfelt, Director of Creative and Communications for Catch Des Moines, the local convention and visitors bureau, we have a neat little phrase to kick off future ambassadorial convos: The S’s are silent, but our city is buzzing.

Working alongside Handfelt and his team and talented actor, Scott Siepker, we produced three videos that show what the buzz about Des Moines is all about.

These videos, which showcase the city’s food and drink, arts and culture, and things to do, are the crown jewels of the wildly successful “The S’s are Silent” campaign.

Not only did Handfelt spearhead the project and lead it throughout, but he also wrote the scripts and did so with Siepker in mind. Handfelt may have written Siepker, who went viral in 2012 with his ironic Iowa Nice Guy character, better than Siepker could have written himself.

Siepker, who sarcastically referred to himself on set as “single take Siepker” and “one shot Scott” had us rolling with his ad-libs, which were too funny not to include a few as outtakes.

After completing these videos, we partnered with Strategic America, a Des Moines advertising agency, to produce a TV commercial around The S’s are Silent concept.

In addition, we worked directly with Handfelt to create a series of “Des Best” videos, which highlight some of Des Best things the city has to offer.