Customer Spotlight: Nighthawk Video

June 26, 2023

Meet Nighthawk Video

Nighthawk Video is born from innovation. Its’ DNA can be traced to the early 1980s when Herbie Herbert, the manager of Journey, using video screens & cameras changed the Rock & Roll concert experience forever. Prior to Herbie & Journey pioneering live video, concerts were purely an audio, stage set and lighting experience. Concerts became a journey (no pun intended and #iykyk) toward something much more.

Founded by a group of industry veterans, “with the vision to combine and offer the very best in personalized and customized services with the latest in display technologies, and solutions,” Nighthawk describes itself as a “boutique video company.” Yet, as John Schaeffer, Nighthawk’s Operations Director listed the company’s clients– “boutique” hardly seemed to fit.

The Eagles, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Muse, KISS, Farm Aid, The Lumineers, James Taylor, KPOP superstars J Hope & Suga (members of BTS), and a long list of others all tap Nighthawk for its premium live event custom video solutions. Which includes camera systems, custom fly packs, state of the art Saco LED, video crews and video direction.

Nighthawk was launched in November of 2020. So naturally after hearing that list of clients for a two-and-a-half-year-old company, we had to ask: How? John laughed, but didn’t blink, as he said, “We have a core team that has built trust through decades of relationships. We will never compromise what we do just to get bigger and make more money, and our clients know from their past experiences with our team.”

Nighthawk is a rare live event industry pandemic success story. As John explained, “The pandemic allowed us to pause and reset.” And since November of 2020, Nighthawk has grown and grown. And well, grown some more. “We’ve issued more than 600 POs for new equipment since we started,” John told us.

Of course we had to ask how Nighthawk found Flex? John explained that the core team was using a Flex competitor (rhymes with “it blew”) at their previous company. And Nighthawk was prepared to go with still another (rhymes with “get bent”), but neither worked well enough.

John said, “We were far down the road with (the latter platform) and deep into our fourth or fifth onboarding session when it became clear that it wouldn’t be able to do what we needed it to do. We checked out Flex and were immediately sold.” He continued, “After our experience with the other platform, I tried to find as many danger points with Flex as possible. I couldn’t find any.” By mid to late January, Nighthawk was submitting purchase orders and on its way.

John highlighted Flex’s speed and user-friendliness. “I can show co-workers something two or three times and they will have it. They can learn it and use Flex on their own. When you’re as lean and efficient as we are, it’s an operational blessing.” Like many other customers, Nighthawk is a power user of the Flex’s customized serial packages.

As we were wrapping up, we asked him if there was anything we missed. He took a deep breath and said, “I don’t think so. Our vibe is good. We’ve got a team of professionals on the road that keep it all in the family and are driven by passion, purpose, and our ethics. What else is there?”