Heirloom Video Book: Interview with Co-founder and Entrepreneur Ashley Kenny
The Heirloom Video Book is a customizable photo and video-playing book that enables readers to upload an hour of personalized videos and photos directly to the Heirloom online builder. Each video book features a 5” HD screen with a speaker to play the video sound or add music. Wrapped in a beautiful hardcover book with a choice of sixteen cover options, each book comes with a fully rechargeable battery, is reloadable, and is designed to last.
Founded in 2020 by sister-and-brother duo Ashley Kenny and Zack Bloom, Heirloom Video Book was inspired by the sibling’s relationship with their 92-year-old Grandmother, Fran, who was hundreds of miles away from them and unable to see visitors due to the pandemic. To enable Fran to see her great-grandchildren, Ashley and Zack used tape and construction paper to cobble together a video player and loaded it with videos of their family. Grandma Fran’s reaction was spectacular! Ashley, an award-winning journalist, spent fifteen years developing documentaries for National Geographic and The Atlantic and even earned the prestigious Edward R. Murrow and Alfred I. DuPont awards. Fully understanding the power of visuals, Ashley worked with her brother to bring their creation to the masses. Now, many iterations later, they have established a company and launched a high-quality product to the public.
Ashley Kenny recently discussed the company via an exclusive interview.
Meagan Meehan (MM): The background of this company is so sweet! When you created this product for your grandmother, did you ever imagine that it could become a mass-produced item?
Ashley Kenny (AK): We never imagined the gift we gave to our Grandma Fran would become a mass-produced, national product. We simply made a gift for our grandma, originally designed and constructed for her sole use. She simply needed our product during the months of forced isolation brought on by COVID. We studied only a tiny slice of what has become our massive market and found that the product literally solved the exact problem we set out to fix, one Grandma at a time. Our price point has held, demonstrating further evidence that this is the key factor to avoiding the highly experienced downfall of many startups: missing the fit with customer’s needs and willingness to buy a solution.
MM: So, what did prompt you to start your own company and how hard was it to establish and keep afloat?
AK: Many twists and turns in our lives look so clear in the rear-view mirror. At the outset of COVID, I was balancing the health of my family, my documentary career and our dramatically changed life. Our pre-school children were forced into homeschooling, my family needed to remain individually isolated, and specifically our dear Grandma was literally locked in her senior apartment for protection. Our product’s first prototype, a video playing book, arrived to our grandmother and her immediate and sustained joy of holding in her hands recent photos and videos of her dearest family brightened her up beyond words. We saw this transformation, and our company was born. We seemed to have brought to that moment a unique combination of required education, talent and bravery to support the initial challenges. Staying afloat has not presented a major challenge as we have controlled our rate of growth, returning profits back into our product, rather than expecting large incomes or perks.
MM: What is it like to work with your sibling?
AK: One of my “secret weapons” all though my life has been the gift of bonding with my amazing brother, Zack. Our parents have often joked that their three children are as different as “chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream…all are delicious and all have their own special features’’. While I am the oldest, none of us seem to hold a specific age-ranking in our family. My brother is truly a guiding light to all of our tech. Thus, when we searched for a way to help our grandmother in COVID-enforced isolation, we listened to him and followed his direction. He listened to me about the key elements of video production, media design and all aspects of art creative design. There has never been a moment of second-guessing, knowing that we all have our backs, we all have our shared goal and all share in the accomplishments. And, as is true for our many family adventures, we sustain our senses of humor, always knowing that our workdays will include these joyful moments together.
MM: Out of all your cover designs, which are the most popular with consumers?
AK: The Memories Cover has been the most popular!
MM: Be honest, do you have a favorite design?
AK: Our Wedding Cover
MM: What has been some of the most memorable feedback that you’ve gotten about this brand and the ways that people have used them?
AK: We recently received an email from a customer who wrote “I never do this but I HAD to write and let you know how incredible your product is. My daughter just had her dance recital and if she wanted to watch it, she didn’t know how to. Well this book solved that problem. She watches her recital over and over and just loves it. I can’t tell you how much I love this product.” In addition to her message, she submitted two photos of her daughter enjoying the product. These user-generated images unmistakably represent how special our product is to her daughter. In another instance we learned that a family, while grieving for the painful loss of their young son, was able to literally hold in their hands (in the form of our video book) precious memories of his life.
MM: What would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?
AK: I am thrilled by our individual customer’s purchases, as they build and share their Heirloom video books. However, our customer base continues to surprise us. First, we seemed to mostly attract the individual buyer, choosing to build and enjoy a single item. As we expanded our marketing efforts and received many national television invitations, our customers sourced from various industries and services. My highlights seem sourced from our biggest surprises: orders from major corporate and nonprofit organizations that find value in using our product to support their business and fundraising messages. These major organizations have the experience, expertise and resources to purchase from other providers, yet they select Heirloom, and re-order often. These substantial B2B orders have supported our ability to seek, obtain and sustain partnerships with companies finding profit for themselves in offering our tool to their customers.
MM: How do you envision Heirloom Video Books evolving over the next five years?
AK: As we have grown, we have expanded our reach for customers and initially could barely find any similarities, until we examined their posted customer reviews and extremely positive feedback. Regardless of whether they are an individual or major corporate buyer, the link has become clear. Our custom retention strategy is foundationally based upon the principle to “pleasantly surprise” our customers. Our Customer Service team answers the phone, meaning real people say hello. We are prepared to listen to issues, understand and hold the privilege to satisfy most requests and overall enjoy our customers. Almost a day doesn’t go by when a customer says “you provide the best customer service I have seen in months or years”. That’s our strategy and we believe we are maintaining our customer loyalty as a direct result. We see our growth potential being foundationally a result of this attention to service. We will evolve based upon the market’s demand, and we believe that over the next five years we will see continued growth.
MM: What are your ultimate goals for the future and is there anything else that you would like to mention?
AK: I’m just so proud of our team and all of the hard work we’ve put into Heirloom. We have a great group of employees and work with some brilliant agency partners, too. We can’t wait for what’s ahead.
* * * * *
To learn more, visit the company’s official website and/or follow them on Instagram via @sendheirloom