Jason Hamborg - Storyteller and Founder of 6ix Sigma Productions

Dale Spangler:

Welcome to Pit Pass Moto, the show that brings you deep dive interviews with the motorcycle industry insiders and racers that make the sport move.

I'm host, Dale Spangler, and this episode's guest is Jason Hamborg, dirt bike loving storyteller and co-founder and executive producer at 6ix Sigma Productions.

This episode is brought to you by MotoAmerica, home of AMA Superbike Racing and North America's premier motorcycle road racing series. Watch every round of the 2023 series with MotoAmerica Live+ video-on-demand streaming service, or visit the MotoAmerica YouTube Channel for race highlights and original video content.

For the complete 2023 MotoAmerica schedule, head to motoamerica.com or follow MotoAmerica on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for real time series updates. Let's get started.

We'd like to welcome to Pit Pass Moto, Jason Hamborg. Jason, how are you today, and how much snow do you have in Prince George, British Columbia?

Jason Hamborg:

Hey, Dale. Yeah, thanks for having me. I am doing well, coming off the weekend here. And yeah, staring at probably four or five feet in the backyard right now, so it's been a big one for winter this year.

Dale Spangler:

Wow. Well, I grew up dealing with winters myself, grew up in Northeast Ohio on Lake Erie, but nothing like Prince George, British Columbia. So, how do you deal with these long Northern Canadian winters? I mean, you're definitely like in a pretty isolated spot, a little bit inland from the ocean. And tell us about how you deal with these long winters.

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, when I was a kid, you deal with them by complaining about them, I guess. I grew up like skiing and snowmobiling and all that sort of stuff. But over the last, I would say like five years or so, it's kind of you realize that complaining doesn't get you anywhere, so you got to kind of just embrace it.

And in the last, yeah, like I would say four or five years we've started to just stud our bikes. We used these little things called grip studs, which just like screw right into our knobs and yeah, we just keep riding.

Kind of depending on snow conditions and the weather, I would say over the last few years, I've kind of averaged like 20 to 40 hours on my bike over the course of the winter. So, definitely a lot less than spring, summer, fall, but still enough that you can deal with it and still stay in a good mental place.

Dale Spangler:

Well, as a result, it seems like you've sort of gathered a bit of a following on Instagram and probably even YouTube as well. These sort of short clips that you have of yourself out riding in the snow.

And so, what's just fascinating about is kind of like extreme enduro but in snow with studded tires. I mean, this stuff's really great. You've gotten like over 40 something thousand followers now, as a result.

So, let's kind of back up though. How did you get your start in motorcycling and why? Was it a family sport or how did you get your start?

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah. So, I got my start really early. My dad came home one day with a PW50, I think I was probably about three. And yeah, just kind of riding around in the backyard. And my dad yeah, he was never like into it super hardcore, like grew up on farms like riding dirt bikes, but it wasn't a sport to them, it was just kind of a way to keep me busy doing something.

And over the years, that kind of hobby turned into more of a passion. Like my dad made the mistake of taking me to the local dirt bike track one time, they were having a race. And from that point on it was like all other sports are off the table, like, “We're going racing,” sort of thing.

So, probably from the time I was about seven or so, I raced until I was 18 and then hit a bit of a crossroads where school and like real job was taking up a lot more of my time. And my little brother started to basically like — he was faster than me all of a sudden because he was three years younger than me. So, still riding all the time, kind of getting involved in like training and stuff.

And I'm like, “Dirt bikes is no longer fun for me. I'm losing and I'm tired and I can't do it the way I want.”

So, took some time away for school and did a bachelor of commerce degree and then when I got done school I kind of started to get the itch again and bought a little, like an old 125. And just from that point on, it's been kind of like an all-in endeavor, just having a lot of fun with it.

Dale Spangler:

I think it's interesting, I wrote down what you said there, like, “Before it wasn't a sport.” And I just think that's really interesting. I've never really had anybody say that before during an interview.

But it's a pretty interesting statement because all of us have been there. Before it was a sport, it was just something to go out and enjoy and just pure joy riding a motorcycle, it wasn't a sport. So, touch on that a little bit more because a lot of people I think go through that where when it does become a sport it becomes a little too serious and it takes some of the fun away.

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, totally. Like I said, I mean, I grew up, it was gravel pits, backyard power lines, like that sort of thing. And I think that's how a lot of us get started.

And yeah, like I think when it becomes a sport, it can definitely still be a lot of fun and super enjoyable, but it's only fun and enjoyable when you can actually like put in the necessary energy to treat it as such and be in good shape and be getting better and all of that sort of stuff.

And that was really one of the main reasons when I got out of it, to kind of just focus on school and going to the lake and girls and all that sort of stuff. It went from a sport to like a job that I couldn't even do well. So, yeah, I was kind of real with myself and took a step away.

And now, that I'm back, like I still do treat it like a sport probably even more so than I ever did as far as like really trying to use it as a way to get in good shape and that sort of thing.

But I'm also, not locked into one particular box of riding. Like my big thing and bringing it all the way back to hard enduro on studs in the middle of December, I kind of have this idea of like I call it like ride it all. Like don't necessarily paint a box around yourself to say, “Oh, I'm only a moto guy, I'm only an off-road guy.”

Like I want to just ride my dirt bike and have a lot of fun with it. And the fact I can burn a bunch of calories and have a beer at the end of the night is like even better.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. It's kind of like just a mindset change or a perspective, just looking at it differently. Like I wrote down, I love your little quote where you said while most people were being responsible adults and snow clearing, you are riding your dirt bike.

And it's just like turning a negative into a positive and instead of shoveling snow, you're out there like throwing snow on your dirt bike. So, I just love that you're kind of embracing your perspective and I'm sure it's long winters and dark days living where you live up in Northern Canada.

Jason Hamborg:

Yep.

Dale Spangler:

So, cool to see what you've done with your perspective though on riding in the snow.

Jason Hamborg:

Thank you, yeah. Yeah, and I think tying it back into like that growth that I kind of saw in my social channels, my business partner is like a really, really high-end mountain bike rider and he was having a little bit of success on his Instagram with some growth and kind of seeing him get some support from sponsors and that sort of thing. And I was like, “Oh, I'm going to try one last real push.”

And it just so happened that that push kind of aligned with my first winter really taking like the stud riding seriously. And I think it is pretty unique so when people see it, they engage with it. It's kind of weird and quirky and that I think is what helped kind of increase the traction that I was getting on some of my channels.

And I was a bit of an anomaly, but have also continued to try to not just be like the weird novelty guy, try to still be a legitimate rider that isn't just chasing the trends and that sort of thing.

Dale Spangler:

Before you finish today's episode, first, we have a word from our sponsor.

Let's talk a little bit about your day job, 6ix Sigma Productions, a full-service content production company where you are a co-founder, if I'm not mistaken. So, tell us about how the idea came about to start 6ix Sigma Productions.

As I saw where you started out, looks like you have a certification in HR and some project management and some sales background, but so, how did you decide to go all in on this 6ix Sigma productions?

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, I met my business partner when I was still in high school actually, and it was a really nice fit. In the winters, we would film each other's skiing and then in the summers he could come and film me dirt biking, I'd go film him mountain biking.

And we kind of just made projects together over the course of like my time in university and his time at college and ended up kind of getting close to the end of graduation and realizing that there was potentially an opportunity like in our local kind of region to maybe come in and do a little bit of marketing content, video stuff.

And when we started the company, it was still at a time when video wasn't this like powerhouse that it is now. Like I think Instagram maybe you could have like little 15 second clips. But the algorithms weren't pushing it the way that they are now.

We actually thought we were going to compete against like the local news network or whatever. We thought that was going to be our way in doing like local TV commercials.

And then yeah, since then we've kind of just rode the wave of the growth of social media and the growth of video content and have kind of just adapted and adjusted as we've kind of grown and figuring out what people want or what people need, that sort of thing.

But yeah, I mean, I came from the inspiration for both me and Glenn, my business partner has always been skiing, mountain biking, skateboarding, dirt biking. Like that sort of filmmaking and then trying to bring that into the commercial space.

Dale Spangler:

Well, it seems like clients have certainly found you. I saw where I think you've done some stuff for some endemic brands like Leatt and Oakley. And then I think you've done quite a bit of stuff with British Columbia tourism.

In fact, you guys even won a Micro-Business of the Year award in 2014 from Prince George Chamber of Commerce. So, yeah, you guys have been … I mean, for being isolated like we've talked about, people seem to have no problem finding your work.

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, we're really trying to have a go of it. Like Prince George for reference, for people to understand, like there's about 80,000 people here, so depending on who you talk to, that's a big center or that's a small center. Like it's kind of a matter of perspective.

I would say in the production space, it certainly has its limitations being in a smaller community. Vancouver is about eight hours away. Places like Calgary or Toronto out east. Like those are kind of the big players in the market in Canada.

But at the same time, Prince George allows for a lot of things that we try to embrace, like access to some really interesting geography. And honestly, just the cost of existence here, like it would be very unlikely that I could do what I'm doing on the dirt bike side and also, be like a full-time content producer and trying to run my own business, if I was somewhere where the cost of living was like three times the price.

So, I'm trying to embrace what we do have and minimize the impacts of some of the things that make it a little challenging to be here.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, it's pretty amazing what you have right out your back door as far as sets for shooting photos and video. And so, I mean, that's where I see the huge advantage for you being where you're located at.

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah. And that's something that we're trying to embrace and you spoke about doing some of the work, like we do some work with Leatt, who's also like a sponsor of myself.

And I've been on a bit of a mission over the last year or so, to kind of try to blend those two worlds. Because I see some stuff that's getting made in the motorsports industry and you can always tell when something had a really big budget, but no one on that production team has ever really been involved in the sport. It's just like really subtle stuff that most people wouldn't notice, but as passionate members of the community, like we pick up on right away.

And so, I've been trying to leverage myself as a producer who has access to this like higher end production company while also, being like someone who's pretty core to the industry and isn't going to put four-stroke sounds over a two-stroke dirt bike in the ads sort of thing.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. How many times have you watched a movie and you're just like, “This is so out of context with the sound.” They'll put like a street bike sound with the dirt bike.

Jason Hamborg:

Totally. Yeah. I remember in it was like one of The Terminators, he's on that XR200 and just shifts up like 400 times. Just keeps shifting up as he's … like, “What is happening? Come on, guys.”

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, it's like the budgets are so big, but yet they can't take the time to even research that. It just blows my mind.

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah. It's just so many moving parts and in the end it's obviously not a priority. But I mean, it even happens in the commercial space where you see like a new bike launch and maybe it's not as bad as getting the wrong sound or something.

But even just something as simple as how a bike is loaded up into the back of a truck or how someone puts their goggles on, it's things like that that if you don't have somebody who really knows the industry who's involved in those things, it can kind of take you out of the experience, for sure.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, it definitely comes across as inauthentic too. Like you could definitely spot that type of stuff right away.

Let's talk about digital marketing like broadly here. Now, that we're in the roaring 20s, (I'm going to start using that again, so a hundred years later) what is your take right now on digital marketing and what do you think works right now above everything else?

Like we're talking social media, digital ads, print ads. Like where is it at right now, as far as content creation?

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, I think the big thing that our team has been focused on in communicating to clients, both in the motorsports space, but just kind of in general, because we do stuff like you said, lots of tourism stuff, lots of B2B type stuff.

One of the biggest things that we are really trying to communicate to clients is just like trying to get their head wrapped around the sheer volume of stuff that is being made right now, and the importance of doing something that hasn't necessarily been done a thousand times.

So, if somebody comes to us wanting the talking head with some slowmo B-roll, I'll oftentimes try to push them away from that into something that's in any way more interesting or more unique. Just because when you launch that video that you've been working on for however many weeks, well, guess what? You and 10 other companies are launching the exact same video.

So, really I guess trying to push what's expected is important to us. And then I think it's about, we went this through this phase where likes and engagement and everything on social platforms was cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap. And it's definitely the way the algorithms have been adjusted over the last couple years.

There's still a ton of advantages to those ad buys and the digital space just in the amount of data you can collect and how precise you can be with where you're putting that stuff. But at the same time, I think that we're seeing a little bit more need for a broader approach to the marketing mix.

It can't all be boosted Facebook or boosted Instagram. Like there needs to be kind of more interesting ways of engaging. So, whether that's circling back and thinking about the long form content and maybe investing in supporting some mini docs or that sort of thing.

But having ways to pull some of that content out and then put it into shorter form stuff. Or investing in print but keeping your print and your digital kind of aligned creatively, so that when someone sees the print and engages with your brand elsewhere, they're seeing a consistent message.

I think, yeah, we're just seeing (at least for the clients that we're working with) a little bit of a resurgence of a more broad approach to the marketing mix rather than all the eggs going into that social media basket. Because yeah, it's just very, very saturated and it's also yeah, not as cost effective maybe as it used to be.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, I would agree. It's like we've all heard that term, content is king, but when is it too much? Like I feel like we're at a point now, where it's so saturated and the life cycle of these pieces of content is just shorter and shorter to where you're having to produce more. But I feel like less eyeballs are getting on those pieces of content.

So, I don't obviously have the solution, but that's just an observation I have. Have you seen likewise?

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, I think so. And it's funny for us because we're in a tricky spot where the way that we're aiming to position ourselves in the market is definitely at a more high-end level. I kind of create this separation between like videography and film production.

And I associate videography with kind of the one, two-person band. A lot lighter on pre-production and planning and all of that and a little more organically created. Whereas where we're trying to position ourselves is definitely in the more bigger teams, more complexity in what we're shooting. Obviously, larger budgets.

But the biggest thing that's important is that if we're going to do that, really need to be creating something that can extend out those life cycles. Because it makes no sense to have a company like us come in and drop all this money on something that is going to die off in a week.

So, that's where the focus that we've been kind of trying to think about is definitely a lot more on the approach that can build out a campaign that can work for a company or work for one of our clients for a year to two years and we can continuously be kind of repurposing and shifting how we're using that content.

And then just being very upfront with our clients when their need is more in that reactive short-term approach to say, “Hey, we're probably not the answer. Like it sounds like you need the person who just can be at the event or capture that quick little edit and let it be a less complex thing that lives for a shorter amount of time.”

Dale Spangler:

Well, it seems like no matter what, visual storytelling seems to be where it's at. Also, a lot of brands are finally coming around to that where they need to be able to tell their story.

So, for you personally though, because I know you've embraced this in some of your documentaries, you've created, what is it about storytelling that is just such a powerful marketing tool?

Jason Hamborg:

The example that I always like to talk about, in maybe 2017, we got like a little bit of money from our local municipality to produce this series that we pitched to them called Hidden Heroes, which was seven or eight outdoor adventure sport athletes in a whole bunch of different sports in our community.

And they were people who were doing these activities at a pretty high level but weren't necessarily out there for the recognition. They were just out there because they were stoked on it.

And the makeup of our team, lots of us come from the background of like sport and that sort of thing, but our main director, Dan, he's very much like filmmaking story narrative is like where he prioritizes. And one of the things that he challenged our team with right from the very beginning was, how do you make the person who doesn't care at all about fly fishing care about this fly fishing piece?

And in the end, it boils back down to the fact that if you're telling a good story, and I think a story that is true to an emotional state, it kind of is the broadest thing that any audience can understand. Everyone's felt joy or elation or sadness or fear.

And if you can tap into those like core fundamentals and then tie back in the realities of whatever sport it is you're covering or whatever subject matter, if you can tie that back into these core things, I think that's what really pushes the needle and helps people engage with the stories.

And I call it branded content, it's those little mini docs that are obviously funded by a brand. But what you see a lot of is I think people get that mix wrong where they have too much of the cell or too much of the really, really high level stuff and they very briefly dip into that human emotion and then dip back out because it can be uncomfortable to have conflict or to introduce conflict is something that maybe we're not comfortable using in our commercial work.

But we almost try to do the opposite where it's like, “Let us get as deep as we can into this and afterwards, we'll find a way to tie in the cell.” Whether the cell is in a tourism place, it's about what makes that location beautiful or in the action sports realm it's using a fly fishing rod or a certain tire or whatever that is.

“Yeah, let's start with the human emotion because that's the thing that's I think the most broad and most understood by the whole audience.”

Dale Spangler:

I completely agree. It's like those pieces that tug on your heartstrings, they're not afraid to show some emotion. One that comes to mind to me. I always use it as a great example as 805 Beer and I just feel like they do such a great job of the very minimalist product, if at all, in those videos.

And it's just all about celebrating, whether it's surfing, riding or dirt bike. They just do such a good job of kind of like making you believe in that brand just because of what they stand for.

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, for sure. And there's a lot of them out there who are doing a great job of it, but they're making art first with the commercial relevance of it second. And I think if you do it right, you still can definitely be very strategic in what that commercial piece is and ensure that it is kind of checking the boxes that you need.

But when you do it the other way and you set out to make a commercial and kind of just glaze over that storytelling aspect, it's when you get something that kind of lands flat.

And I see it mostly in the tourism space, like I say, we do a lot of tourism work and lots of the stuff that we see, it's scary for clients to commit to any sort of conflict or they almost always want it to be entirely positive right from the very beginning. And no real storytelling works well in that sense.

Dale Spangler:

So, one of these pieces that you've done recently is a piece that ended up in Vahna in the magazine and also on their website as a video. It's called Full Circle, a motorcycle film by 6ix Sigma, and explores the unique relationship that motorcycles can create between a father and son.

Absolutely gorgeous cinematography. Again, we kind of touched on at your region up there. I think this particular one was shot near kind of in the Jasper region of British Columbia, if I'm not mistaken. Tell us about how this came about because it's amazing film packed full of just like what we were just talking about, that emotional appeal. Tell us a little bit more about him.

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, it was it was shot east of Prince George out towards a place called Valemount. But yeah, you're correct, it's kind of right on the British Columbia side of the Rockies.

That project kind of came together. We have a client that we work with pretty closely over the last several years called Route 16 and they're a municipal motorcycle tourism like collective. So, a lot of the municipalities and regional districts along this Highway 16 have kind of come together, kind of put some marketing dollars into a cohesive effort.

Because like Prince George is the largest at 80,000, but we have a lot of communities that are 2, 3, 4,000 people. So, if they can get a part of this collective, they can kind of build a budget that supports these things.

And we've worked with them for a number of years and I kind of pitch the idea of maybe kind of trying to tie myself in a little bit as much as I cringe at the thought of it, to a degree, with the audience that I've been able to amass over on Instagram, like I would be an influencer in some regard. It's an easy way to get that messaging out there through my channels.

And I just pitched them on wanting to do something and we kind of gathered our thoughts around the type of audience we were kind of trying to go for, which is the adventure touring market. It's really strong up here. We get a lot of people kind of trying to make their way either up the Alaska Highway or out towards the coast in Prince Rupert.

I kind of pulled together this idea and to be honest with you, the Full Circle kind of title and the nature of the piece was very organic in how it kind of came together. I knew that I wanted to do something with my dad because recently, he's been getting more and more into adventure sport riding.

So, I asked him if he wanted to be involved, but we almost shot the piece and then I kind of discovered the narrative after the fact and just used the trip as a way to really come to terms with what I wanted to talk about in the narrative of the film.

So, yeah, it was cool. It allowed me to kind of explore some things that I actually hadn't even realized about my relationship with motorcycles and my relationship with my dad. And I think the same thing goes for … I remember showing him the first time and just kind of like some of those connections that I was able to make, he hadn't really thought of, but they were definitely there lingering in the subconscious.

Because when he saw it was I think like pretty powerful for him. And the feedback that we got was excellent. Like being able to partner with Vahna and have them come on board as a distribution partner was huge for us.

And I think it's something that more and more brands should be or could be looking at is finding these places that already have well-established qualified audiences that can help them push that messaging out. And that's what Vahna did for us.

And we got a ton of really good feedback, both personally, Route 16 as well as Vahna, from people who just had those similar experiences with their relationship to motorcycles and the people who got them involved in them.

Dale Spangler:

Well, it looks like that first project, Full Circle, led to a second project that I just saw came out in January called Unpaved: Finding a Path Forward with Golnoosh Namazi.

And another amazing cinematic piece. Looks like it's about a woman rider carving her path in adventure riding. Tell us a little bit more about that one.

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, and I think it was nice because Full Circle I think was the first time that the client really extended the leash to the degree that it's at now, where, “Here's the money, here's the audience we needed to talk to. Go ahead.”

So, when we came into this new year, we knew we wanted to do something similar. We were trying to work with Vahna again and create something that aligned with them. And one of our clients at Route 16, she had mentioned that she had heard of this adventure rider up in the Terrace area, which is about six to eight hours west of us.

And we started to kind of check her out on Instagram and she is just an absolute powerhouse, man. Like the stuff that she does and the approach to how she thinks about motorcycling is super, super inspiring and like super, super impressive.

Some of the stuff even when we were interviewing her and kind of talking about the challenges that she faced, I knew I was certainly guilty of it. I think our industry is a little bit slow to catch up to some of the things that are happening in the world around like social consciousness and that sort of thing.

And having her talk about some of these challenges she was facing was cool because it not only allowed me to think about it as a director, but also as a rider, and it kind of shifted my approach to interactions that I was having with people since shooting it.

So yeah, Golnoosh is super rad. We actually are going to be releasing a written story and a whole bunch of photography in the summer edition of Vahna. And then we'll re-release the film at that time too.

So, it'll be cool to again, kind of give it another breath of air into the sales and yeah, hopefully, more people kind of can see it and check it out.

Dale Spangler:

Well, I love it because it's giving just another unique perspective. I don't think anybody's done any videos or pieces in Vahna that come from that part of the world and Northern British Columbia. So, I think it's pretty cool what you've done already since I've met you.

And I love, I'm going to read a quote from your website that I think just kind of sums up where you live and what you're doing with 6ix Sigma. It says, “Being based in Prince George has given us access to places and people others cannot reach, as well as a restless work ethic to push past the expected.”

So, I just think that just goes back to again, like you're taking advantage of just the beauty around you where you live in Prince George and using that to your advantage and creating just unique authentic content.

So, just wanted to say, keep up the great work with it at 6ix Sigma. Where can people find you at though online? Where can they find these videos? How can they follow you on social media since you are a dirt bike influencer?

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, well, if I play my cards right, hopefully you guys can share our links because when we made our company back in the day, we decided to spell it really weird with a number six, which ultimately, causes all sorts of frustrations when trying to give people my emails.

But yeah, the easiest way to find us would be 6ixsigma.ca. But it's spelled 6-I-X-S-I-G-M-A.ca. And then yeah, on Instagram or YouTube like my personal stuff, I'm innowayfamous. Which kind of has its own origin story, but yeah, you can find me there on YouTube and Instagram.

Dale Spangler:

Well, thanks a lot for your time today, Jason. Everybody out there, go find Jason's stuff and check out his videos. It's amazing work. Definitely inspirational.

Jason, again, thanks so much for your time today. Really appreciate it.

Jason Hamborg:

Yeah, thanks so much, Dale.

[Music Playing]

Dale Spangler:

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow Pit Pass Moto on your favorite podcast listening app so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, please rate and review our show. We'd appreciate it.

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This has better production of Evergreen Podcasts. A special thank you to Tommy Boy Halverson and the production team at Wessler Media.

I'm Dale Spangler. I hope you'll join us next week for another episode of Pit Pass Moto. Thanks for listening.