VC Portfolio Campaign - Video Ad Adaptation Template

Campaign: FirstMark Capital
Project Lead: Julian Mercer
Status: 🔄 In Progress
Last Updated: February 6, 2026

🎯 Campaign Concept

The Strategy

Adapt existing customer testimonial videos for VC-targeted campaigns. The goal is to leverage portfolio company social proof to build trust with executives at VC portfolio companies.

The Hook

VC logo recognition → "Hey, that's my investor!"
Portfolio company testimonial → Social proof from a fellow portfolio company
Credibility transfer → If [Company X] trusts Remotely, we should too
Portfolio perk/discount → Exclusive offer for portfolio companies
CTA → Book a call / Learn more

Why This Works

VCs often share resources across portfolio companies
CTOs/VPEs trust recommendations from peers in the portfolio
Creates sense of exclusivity and insider access
Lower barrier than cold outreach

📋 Original Assets (V3 Videos)

What We Have

Existing testimonial video ads featuring Bluecore executives:

Video	Speaker	Title	Duration	Format
Kenny-01	Kenny Tang	CTO	~19s	1080×1920 (vertical)
Kenny-02	Kenny Tang	CTO	~19s	1080×1920 (vertical)
Laurent-01	Laurent Pierre	VP Engineering	~19s	1080×1920 (vertical)
Laurent-02	Laurent Pierre	VP Engineering	~19s	1080×1920 (vertical)
Laurent-03	Laurent Pierre	VP Engineering	~19s	1080×1920 (vertical)
Laurent-04	Laurent Pierre	VP Engineering	~19s	1080×1920 (vertical)
Tara-01	Tara Sussman	VP People	~19s	1080×1920 (vertical)
Tara-02	Tara Sussman	VP People	~19s	1080×1920 (vertical)
Tara-03	Tara Sussman	VP People	~19s	1080×1920 (vertical)

Source: V3 Videos Drive Folder

Current Branding in V3 Videos

Remotely logo (top-left)
Speaker lower third (name + title + company)
Auto-generated captions
No VC branding

⚠️ Critical Learning: Clean Source Required

The Problem

You CANNOT simply overlay new logos on the V3 videos. The Remotely logo is "burned in" to the video frames. Attempts to cover/mask it result in:

Visible artifacts (solid color boxes)
Logo ghosting through transparent overlays
Unprofessional appearance

The Solution

Use clean source videos from Grain (the original interview recordings without any post-production branding), then add all logos fresh.

Source Material

Source	Resolution	Orientation	Branding	Location
V3 Videos (ads)	1080×1920	Vertical	Remotely logo burned in	Drive
Grain Recordings	1280×720	Horizontal	Clean (no logos)	Grain.co

🎬 Production Pipeline

Step-by-Step Process

1. Download Clean Source from Grain

Access Grain.co recordings
Download full interview videos (unbranded)
Store locally for processing

2. Find Timestamps

Transcribe the full interview (Whisper API)
Match transcript to V3 video content
Note start/end timestamps for each clip

3. Extract Segment

ffmpeg -ss [START] -i source.mp4 -t [DURATION] -c copy segment.mp4

4. Reframe to Vertical (9:16)

Source: 1280×720 (horizontal)
Target: 1080×1920 (vertical)
Crop width: 405px (720 × 9/16)
Center on speaker's face

ffmpeg -i segment.mp4 -vf "crop=405:720:X:0,scale=1080:1920" reframed.mp4

5. Add Logo Overlays

VC logo: Top-left (white, transparent)
Portfolio company logo: Top-right (white, transparent)
Use ffmpeg overlay filter

6. Add Lower Third

Speaker name (bold)
Title @ Company
Create as transparent PNG, overlay on video

7. Add Captions (Optional)

Re-transcribe the segment
Burn in subtitles matching V3 style

8. Export Final

Codec: H.264
Resolution: 1080×1920
Optimized for LinkedIn/Meta

🖼️ Logo Layout Specification

Confirmed Design (Option B)

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  [VC LOGO]              [COMPANY]   │  ← Top bar
│   white                    white    │
│                                     │
│                                     │
│         [SPEAKER VIDEO]             │
│                                     │
│                                     │
│                                     │
│  Speaker Name                       │  ← Lower third
│  Title @ Company                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Logo Sizing (Version B - 75% larger)

VC logo height: ~61px
Company logo height: ~61px (proportional width)
Margins: 60px from edges, 50px from top

📁 FirstMark Campaign Assets

Logos Collected

File	Description	Status
`firstmark-official-white.png`	FIRSTMARK wordmark (white + yellow brush)	✅ Ready
`bluecore-white.png`	Bluecore logo (white)	✅ Ready
`lower-third-kenny.png`	Kenny Tang lower third overlay	✅ Ready

Source Videos Downloaded

Video	Grain Source	Timestamp	Status
Kenny-01	Kenny-full-source.mp4 (1.48GB)	~06:43	✅ Found
Kenny-02	Kenny-full-source.mp4	TBD	⏳ Pending
Laurent-01-04	Need download	TBD	⏳ Pending
Tara-01-03	Need download	TBD	⏳ Pending

📊 FirstMark Campaign Progress

✅ Completed

Collect FirstMark logo assets (official from Cabo)
Collect Bluecore logo (white version)
Download Kenny full interview from Grain
Find Kenny-01 timestamp (~06:43)
Test logo overlay approaches (masking doesn't work)
Set up tooling (ffmpeg, Pillow for text overlays)
Create lower third PNG overlay
Process Kenny-01 with clean source pipeline ✅

🔄 In Progress

Review Kenny-01 clean version (sent to Cabo)
Add captions to Kenny-01 (if requested)
Find Kenny-02 timestamp in full interview

⏳ Pending

Download Laurent full interview from Grain
Download Tara full interview from Grain
Find all remaining timestamps
Process remaining 8 videos
Adapt ad copy for FirstMark campaign

🛠️ Tools & Dependencies

Required

ffmpeg - Video processing (crop, scale, overlay)
Python + Pillow - Text overlay generation
Whisper API - Audio transcription

Setup (macOS)

# ffmpeg (via Homebrew)
brew install ffmpeg

# Pillow (via Python venv)
python3 -m venv /tmp/imgenv
/tmp/imgenv/bin/pip install Pillow

Optional

ImageMagick - Alternative for image processing
Grain MCP - Programmatic access to recordings

📂 File Structure

/projects/firstmark-vc-campaign/
├── PLAN.md                          # This file
├── logos/
│   ├── firstmark-official-white.png # VC logo (white)
│   ├── bluecore-white.png           # Portfolio company logo
│   └── lower-third-kenny.png        # Text overlay
├── videos/
│   ├── Kenny-full-source.mp4        # Clean Grain source (1.48GB)
│   ├── Kenny-01.mp4                 # V3 reference
│   └── kenny-segment-raw.mp4        # Extracted segment
└── output/
    ├── Kenny-01-FirstMark-clean.mp4 # ✅ Final clean version
    └── clean-final-frame.jpg        # Preview frame

🔗 Reference Links

Project Resources

Plan Gist: https://gist.github.com/aseba/5395e173295ec8524def7e40fc16cf0c
V3 Videos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YP8LXOUxljUW-cQNa1mGuS_jJnQ0czLs
Ad Copy Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZjudpD48angnRCiQRcJLWeG5v5gRNWbptBi3FDPyu94

Bluecore/FirstMark Context

Bluecore is a FirstMark portfolio company
Kenny Tang = CTO @ Bluecore
Laurent Pierre = VP Engineering @ Bluecore
Tara Sussman = VP People @ Bluecore

🔄 Reusing This Template

For Other VCs

Copy this plan structure
Replace FirstMark with target VC
Collect VC logo assets
Use same Bluecore testimonials (portfolio company of many VCs)
Follow same production pipeline

For Other Case Studies

Get clean source recordings from Grain
Adapt logo layout for the campaign
Create appropriate lower thirds
Follow production pipeline

📝 Notes

Key Insight

The V3 videos look polished but have branding burned in. Always start from Grain sources for maximum flexibility.

Timeline Estimate

Per video (with source ready): ~15 min processing
Finding timestamps: ~30 min per interview
Full campaign (9 videos): ~1 day with all sources

Template version 1.0 - February 2026

aseba/firstmark-vc-campaign-plan.md