Big Yellow VideoTaxi

Ondrej Havas is the founder of VideoTaxi, an Auckland-based content production company, who believes in “video content made easy.” Despite nearly 40 years of experience in traditional media, his passion for VideoTaxi and the Jimny makes it clear he is now a digital and Suzuki convert.

“Last year, online videos made up 82% of all consumer internet traffic, and that resulted in one million minutes of video crossing the internet per second,” says Ondrej. “That’s fifteen times higher than in 2017.”

Through the rise of the internet and social media, video – and short video, in particular – has become an entrenched part of modern digital life. And that’s where VideoTaxi comes in.

With clients that include some of the country’s biggest brands, VideoTaxi uses a subscription model to reduce costs and open accessibility to video production, given most production companies “won’t get out of bed for less than half a day’s work,” according to Ondrej. VideoTaxi, on the other hand, provides a flat, all-inclusive hourly fee that covers the producer, cameras, drone, editing suite, green screen studio, and any other video production needs.

“For a lot of video production today, especially social media, it’s not about making those big Ben Hur videos. Some videos might be very simple, because of something on TikTok or something on Instagram – it might be taking some footage you shot six months ago and just recutting it and repurposing it. It shouldn’t be expensive.”

Given their business model, a fair amount of zipping around town between shoots is necessary. While the company initially had a fleet of Holden Barinas, there was one Jimny – an older model – that they skinned up in VideoTaxi’s now-signature yellow. This older model soon inspired a desire for change.

“The thing about the Jimny is that nothing else really looks the same. It stood out in a way that we felt VideoTaxi stands out from the competition,” says Ondrej. “Suddenly, we saw a lot of our brand value in the Jimny.”

“It’s efficient, it’s manoeuvrable, it’s funky – it has all those kinds of values in the car, and we suddenly thought if we drive around in a Barina, or any other similar car, we’re just like everyone else. But if we drive around in a Jimny, we actually stand out.”

“The Jimny is fun, and what we do is fun. We’re creating content – it can’t be dry and boring. It was a very deliberate choice for us. It’s our brand all over. If we were to sit down without having seen the Jimny, and designed our ideal company vehicle, I like to think we would have drawn something similar.”

VideoTaxi employs a collection of video producers – or “cabbies” – that work mostly as solo operators. Each cabbie is equipped with a kit that includes a camera, lights, tripods, radio microphones, and a drone – with duplicate kits for every cabbie – yet the Jimny handles these storage needs with ease once the back seats are lowered.

Another benefit of the Jimny, Ondrej says, is the flexibility of having a car that can do just that little bit extra in a non-traditional shooting environment.

“It’s really useful having a car that’s not only a road car but that’s also capable of going off road a little bit. It’s not as though we’re going into the jungle, but when you’re a production company, you’re not just going from office to office – sometimes you’ll be going onto a farm, sometimes a construction site, and having that versatility is really great.”

While currently based only in Auckland, Ondrej says that expansion into Wellington and Christchurch is coming, so if you live in the capital or the Garden City, expect to see a bright yellow Jimny near you soon. In the meantime, check out their work on their website (www.videotaxi.cab) and feel free to get in touch for all your video content needs.