The July 4th Drone

The Nashville 4th of July fireworks show was captured by drone and the results are spectacular. If you haven’t already seen the video, it’s definitely worth checking out. If you’re in a rush, skip forward to 4:40 for the climax.

It was a really well done show recorded in a very unique way with the combination of a drone and a GoPro camera. But let’s focus on the often ignored and ever important question: who managed to plan this and how? We’ve seen top notch event planners from around the country using drones at giant events like music festivals. But this was different.

Entrepreneur Brian Hartline had created CallProof, his sales reporting app, and was on to his next venture, Hytch. Hytch is a ride sharing startup in the making that promises to solve major Nashville traffic problems. Hartline wanted to make a big splash to introduce Hytch to the public and so he strapped a GoPro to a drone in the hopes that he’d be able to see the firework show in his city like never before. The promotional move was a huge success and there will be plenty of opportunities to use and reuse this prize footage.

Hartline is a bold and creative business man. He’s not in charge of organizing Coachella and would hardly describe himself as a premier event professional. Hopefully this will convey the point that almost anybody can use drones to capture their events. Sure there’s some risk. The drone cost him $1,300 and the GoPro was probably another $300 or so. There was no promise that either would return from the colorful explosion. But Hartline was rewarded handsomely for his daring marketing move that will hopefully serve as inspiration for event marketers around the country.

What events would be perfect for drone video recording? Comment of tweet @squadup to continue the conversation.