GR Strong: How We Captured 40+ Companies Uniting a City During Crisis

Executive Summary

SALT Productions partnered with Cre8gency to produce GR Strong, a community mini-documentary capturing Grand Rapids' collective response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We coordinated interviews across 40+ organizations, from Fortune 500 companies like Amway, BISSELL, Whirlpool, Gentex, and Haworth to beloved local businesses like Amore Trattoria, The Mitten Brewing Co., and Founders Brewing Co.. This passion project, gifted to the city, documented how competitors became collaborators and manufacturers pivoted production to serve society.

What Was the Vision Behind GR Strong?

GR Strong is the story of resilience and innovation in Grand Rapids as our city responded to COVID-19. When the pandemic hit, nobody could predict its full impact, but our community chose to react with purpose. We made this film to document that choice while it was still happening.

When the world set on fire, heroes were born.

"Life is 10% what happens to [us] and 90% of how [we] react to it." — Charles R. Swindoll

"Grand Rapids businesses and organizations are responding to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in outstanding acts of service," said Jenna Inns, Executive Producer at SALT. "We had no choice but to film their heroic support."

This was not a client project. It was a gift to our city, built on three principles: Community. Creativity. Collaboration.

We Are Stronger Together

We saw the pandemic as an opportunity to come together, collaborate, and serve our local community. Our creative production studio joined forces with another production company, Cre8gency, to produce GR Strong.

Under a strange set of circumstances, we leaned on each other to capture the stories unfolding across a strong Grand Rapids community.

How Did SALT Coordinate Interviews With 40+ Organizations?

Producing a documentary featuring executives, employees, and community leaders from more than 40 organizations took meticulous coordination, relationship-building, and logistical precision.

Featured Businesses and Organizations

• Fortune 500 and major corporations
  • Amway
  • BISSELL
  • Whirlpool
  • Gentex Corporation
  • Haworth
  • SpartanNash
• Healthcare and education
  • Corewell Health Foundation West Michigan
  • Corewell Health
  • University of Michigan Health-West
  • Michigan State University
  • Grand Rapids Public Schools
  • Arbor Circle
• Food and beverage
  • Founders Brewing Co.
  • Long Road Distillers
  • The Mitten Brewing Co.
  • Amore Trattoria
  • Osteria Rossa
  • The Holland Supermarket
• Technology and manufacturing
  • Seamless IoT
  • Ghost House Technology
  • 3DC19
  • Hybrid Machining
  • SolisMatica
  • Perception Engineering
  • Concept Molds
  • Jimdi Plastics
  • Altus
  • ReChaco
• Creative and marketing
  • Oh Hello Branding Group
  • Crisco Designs
  • Madroit Marketing
  • Orindi
  • Oliver
  • Rapids Venture
  • Cre8gency
• Community organizations
  • Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce
  • The Right Place
  • Love Inc.
  • Grand Rapids Symphony
  • The Whitecaps
  • The Holland Rotary Club
  • The Holland Rotary After Hours Club

And to the many other individuals, businesses, and organizations we did not have the chance to capture on camera, thank you.

Our Coordination Process

1. Outreach and buy-in: We used trusted relationships and direct outreach to secure participation from C-suite executives, frontline employees, and community leaders.
2. Story discovery: We used pre-interviews to find the strongest transformation stories before cameras rolled.
3. Scheduling logistics: We coordinated filming windows across 40+ organizations with different COVID rules and approval paths.
4. Consistent creative vision: We kept the visual language and narrative spine cohesive across dozens of interviews.

What Production Challenges Did the Pandemic Present?

Filming during an active pandemic forced us to rethink every part of documentary production.

Challenge 1: Safety Protocols

Every interview required company-specific COVID guidelines, distancing rules, and sanitation procedures between shoots.

Challenge 2: Creative Collaboration

Our creative production studio joined forces with Cre8gency to co-produce and co-direct the project. Special thanks to our friend Keith Patterson for co-producing and co-directing interviews, proving that even production companies could model the same competitors-becoming-collaborators spirit we were documenting.

Challenge 3: Emotional Weight

"Every story we filmed during the pandemic compelled me forward," said Sloan Inns, Creative Director at SALT. Capturing stories of loss, adaptation, and hope required sensitivity and emotional stamina from our crew.

What Stories Did GR Strong Capture?

The documentary revealed extraordinary pivots happening across Grand Rapids:

• Brewers became sanitizer makers: Founders Brewing Co. and Long Road Distillers shifted production to hand sanitizer.
• Appliance manufacturers built ventilators: Whirlpool moved from kitchen appliances toward life-saving medical equipment.
• Restaurants fed the unemployed: Amore Trattoria, Osteria Rossa, and The Mitten Brewing Co. provided meals to community members who lost jobs.
• Churches and nonprofits mobilized: Organizations like Love INC and Arbor Circle coordinated volunteer networks.
• Musicians performed virtually: The Grand Rapids Symphony contributed the Hallelujah Chorus, and Grand Rapids Ballet created a "Virtual Hug."
• Manufacturers pivoted to PPE: Jimdi Plastics, Concept Molds, and Hybrid Machining shifted to essential protective equipment.

"When I look around at the troubled times we live in, I realize that humanity is a choice, and those that choose it are the true heroes," said Lisa Kondrat, Director of Planning and Operations at ReChaco.

How Did SALT Extend Impact Beyond the Video?

GR Strong was not just a video. It became an integrated community campaign.

Campaign Components

• Mini-documentary: The anchor storytelling asset.
• Dedicated landing page: A place for community members to get involved, get help, and educate themselves.
• Community engagement documentation: Zach Noonan captured the city's ongoing response.

Who Helped Bring GR Strong to Life?

This project worked because a lot of people showed up for it:

• Keith Patterson, Cre8gency: Co-producer and co-director of interviews
• Chad Kremer: Editor of GR Strong
• Grand Rapids Symphony: Contributed the Hallelujah Chorus
• Grand Rapids Ballet: Created the "Virtual Hug" segment
• Grant Smith: Designed the word cloud and landing page
• Zach Noonan: Community engagement documentation

What Skills Does This Project Showcase?

Even without traditional ROI metrics, GR Strong demonstrates the abilities that matter to enterprise and institutional clients.

1. Executive-Level Access

We secured interviews with leaders from Fortune 500 companies like Whirlpool, Amway, BISSELL, Gentex, and Haworth, plus major regional institutions. That proves we can work at the highest levels without losing the human story.

2. Massive Multi-Stakeholder Coordination

Coordinating 40+ organizations with different schedules, safety rules, and approval processes takes project management discipline most production teams cannot fake.

3. Crisis-Era Production

We delivered strong work under unprecedented constraints. That same muscle matters when timelines shrink, locations get hard, and logistics get messy.

4. Community-Impact Storytelling

We know how to find the human thread inside organizational stories. That is essential for CSR content, annual reports, and brand documentaries.

5. Integrated Campaign Thinking

Video plus landing page means we think beyond the deliverable and toward the outcome.

6. Collaborative Production Model

By partnering with Cre8gency, we showed that even competing production companies can come together for something bigger, mirroring the exact story the film tells.

Frequently Asked Questions

What type of video is GR Strong?

GR Strong is a mini-documentary produced by SALT Productions and Cre8gency that captures Grand Rapids' response to the COVID-19 pandemic through interviews with employees, executives, and community leaders from 40+ organizations.

Which companies are featured in the GR Strong documentary?

Featured organizations include Amway, BISSELL, Whirlpool, Gentex, Haworth, SpartanNash, Founders Brewing Co., Long Road Distillers, The Mitten Brewing Co., Corewell Health, University of Michigan Health-West, Michigan State University, Grand Rapids Public Schools, Grand Rapids Chamber, The Right Place, Grand Rapids Symphony, Whitecaps, and many more local businesses and community organizations.

Why did SALT produce GR Strong?

We created GR Strong as a gift to Grand Rapids, a passion project built to document extraordinary acts of service and unity happening across the city during an unprecedented crisis. It was anchored in three principles: community, creativity, and collaboration.

How many organizations participated in GR Strong?

More than 40 businesses and organizations participated in the documentary, ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to local restaurants, breweries, manufacturers, and nonprofits.

Can SALT produce similar community documentaries for other cities or organizations?

Yes. GR Strong shows that we can coordinate large-scale, multi-stakeholder documentary productions for chambers of commerce, municipalities, economic development groups, and organizations with a community story worth telling.

What made GR Strong different from a typical corporate video?

GR Strong required interviews across 40+ organizations, including direct competitors, each with different COVID protocols and points of view. We then shaped those pieces into one clear story about community resilience.

Where is SALT located?

We are a woman-owned creative video company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We make documentary, branded, and performance-driven work locally, nationally, and internationally.

Ready to Tell Your Community's Story?

Whether you are a chamber of commerce, economic development organization, municipality, or corporation with a community impact story to tell, we have the access, coordination skills, and storytelling chops to bring it to life.