As we welcome in 2024, we thought we’d spend some time looking back at Mosevic’s year, distilling the turning points, the peaks, and the troughs. In this week’s journal, we're recapping some of the biggest changes 2023 delivered to us here at Mosevic HQ.
1. This isn’t too weird: social media and Jack’s head cast
For those who have followed Jack on Mosevic’s social media for a while, you will have noticed that 2023 saw Jack shift gears when it came to the videos he makes and shares. Up until this year, Jack’s videos mainly chronicled the process behind how he makes Mosevic’s hardened denim sunglasses; from hardening the denim with resin, to machine cutting the frame shapes, to hand sanding and shaping, to the finished product.
Whilst these videos were key to gaining greater exposure across social media, Jack felt that he’d documented this process from every angle. He knew a change was needed, and so in January 2023, Jack made a cast of his own head, documenting the whole experiment.
This video, which he posted to social media, ended up going viral, racking up 60 million views! Not only did it cause a peak in the sale of Mosevic’s frames, but it confirmed to Jack that these ideas, far from being ‘too weird’ to experiment and share on social media, were pivotal to the continued success of the brand. The video of Jack casting his head was a turning point for Mosevic, and set a marketing precedent for Jack to continue exploring his vault of 'wacky’ ideas.
With this change in approach to social media, a frequent comment we receive in response to Jack’s experiments, is that he’s just messing about. But in many ways, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Social media continues to be the number one deciding factor in the financial success of Mosevic (our frames aren't in stores, we sell exclusively online at the moment), without which we wouldn’t have a waitlist of people wanting our frames.
These ‘silly’ videos, far from being just about experimenting and having fun, are fundamental to the present and future success of Mosevic. It's critical that we continue to evolve our marketing on social media so we can consistently captivate and grow our audience.
2. The team of one grows: Mosevic HQ expands
After the video of Jack casting his head went viral, the workshop was overwhelmed with orders. At this point in February 2023, Mosevic was a team of one – that is, Jack was doing everything from writing emails and responding to messages, to managing the entire making process.
Having never had people working at the workshop before, Jack approached two friends, Mike and Laura, to see if they wanted to come and help out for a bit.
In joining, Mike and Laura tripled the team size overnight. They worked with Jack to increase the number of frames that could be made at a time, and took over the order logistics, amongst lots of other things. Though Jack knew they would only be at the workshop for a short time, Mike and Laura joining Mosevic was another key turning point this year; it signalled that Mosevic required a permanent team to keep pace with demand.
Not only this, but with a small team of people now making the frames, combined with a steady stream of orders, frames were being made over and over again, ultimately providing the opportunity for Jack to make incremental changes to the making process over the course of the year.
So in the summer of 2023, Jack went about finding a small team of three to fill the shoes left behind by Mike and Laura. And that’s where me (Miranda), Will and Karl came in.
We joined Jack at the end of the summer – all with a jumble of experience, from the military to corporate project management to design. New ideas and approaches to the production and development of the frames came with us, and this in turn supported tweaks to the way the frames are made. Though Jack says it was a big leap to bring on three people he didn’t know, I think we all took this leap in our own ways. And I know I’m not alone in thinking it was the best leap I've ever made.
Jack’s dog, Penvelope, also saw her circle of colleagues grow. Each of us in the new team has a furry companion, and over the months since we joined, we have been bringing them in to work with us. Now, Penvelope has dog pals she hangs out with every week, and the workshop has never been so woofy.