It was the 2nd quarter and he launched his clipboard into the ground, breaking it into pieces.

“#&*$^%^…get over here. What the #$%^$?” (we love it)

That, my friends, is Shane Battier, my coach for the next 3 days. For those of you who do not know who Shane Battier is, you should Google him. He was probably one of the best NBA players nobody ever knows.

Hoop Scoop Magazine named Shane Battier the fourth-best seventh grader in the United States. When he graduated from Detroit Country Day School in 1997, he received the Naismith Award as the best high school basketball player in the nation. When he graduated from Duke in 2001, where he won a record-tying 131 college basketball games, including that year’s N.C.A.A. Championship, he received another Naismith Award as the best college basketball player in the nation.

On day two of our tournament, Shane and I were talking basketball and warming up for the game. I tossed him the ball and watched him rim check 5 shots in a row. He told me he hadn’t shot a ball in a while, but still, I expected him to hit a couple shots at least.

My thought… “How does this guy have an NBA championship ring?”
It was at that time Shane Battier changed the way I looked at basketball forever. I will never play the game the same again. He ended up leading us to the championship where we lost to a much better team. (Just picture a bunch of old guys trying to relive their glory days. It’s a blast.)

In the 90s a virus of statistical probabilities infected professional sports.

Math geniuses began to take all the data that sports lovers keep and put it to work. Think Money Ball.

Shane started to explain to me the way he looks at the game.

He asked me what I thought the worst shot in basketball was. I wasn’t sure, so I guessed a side shot. I was wrong. It’s a jump shot off the dribble.

Kobe Bryant, one of the best players of all time would become pretty inefficient when Shane guarded him. If Kobe dribbled left and pulled up for an 18 foot jump shot: his numbers tanked. Shane knew this.

Shane’s success did not come from his raw talent. It came because he understood the numbers. He would cause his opponents to always take the lowest probability shot.

On offense, Shane would always get the ball to the right teammate where he could take the highest probability shot. It’s all about the numbers.

Shane’s game is a weird combination of obvious weaknesses and nearly invisible strengths. When he is on the court, his teammates get better, often a lot better, and his opponents get worse.

When I step onto a court, I see a court, a basketball hoop, and my opponent. When Shane steps onto a court he sees probabilities, a grid, and numbers.
It’s genius.

Knowing the odds, Shane can pursue an inherently uncertain strategy with total certainty. He can devote himself to a process and disregard the outcome of any given encounter.

To the point…

Do you know and understand your numbers?

When Ydraw creates a video, we like to take into account the numbers.

We know, statistically speaking, a well-written script with a story is going to have a higher success rate.

We know that a testimonial is going to increase your conversions.

We know that if you start your video off from a high level of intensity, your click through rate goes up.

We know that a whiteboard video is going to achieve a higher retention than live, 2D, or 3D. Unless you add in some special Ydraw tricks.

We know that by adding humor and some special effects you’re going to enhance the viewer’s experience in a positive way and your success rate goes up.

Lastly, we know that boring videos, have zero chance.

These types of numbers come from years of experience. We also apply this to our video marketing division. We can’t tell you all the little things we do to shift the probabilities in our favor. We just do them because we have been in the game long enough.

I watch so many video marketing campaigns fail because they are playing a game they do not understand.

Our job is to do what works statistically speaking and yet 35% of the videos that leave our office end up being sabotaged by the client.
It hurts and I am begging you to not do it.

Let us use the numbers to your advantage and increase your probability of success.

We want to create an amazing video for your company.

Call or shoot us an email to get started.

PS. It’s that time of year. Some of you have year-end budgets left over. If you are looking for a way to spend your budget, we would like to chat. We want to show you what we have been working on. It’s amazing.

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