Photo & Video Campaign for Scythe Robotics
When you walk into a startup office, there’s a certain energy that hums in the air. Ideas move faster than time, resources stretch in every direction, and every small decision has the weight of shaping the future. That was the environment at Scythe Robotics when they brought me in to lead a visual branding campaign.
Scythe wasn’t just another tech company. They were, and are, one of the most ambitious startups in the outdoor robotics space, building machines that could fundamentally reshape an industry. They had capital, they had vision, they had technology. What they didn’t have was a cohesive visual identity to match their momentum.
That’s where I came in. My job was to help them translate their mission into photos and video that could live everywhere from their website rebrand to their sales decks, press kits and advertising. In a world where credibility often rests on the first impression, these visuals would be their handshake to the market.
About Scythe Robotics
To understand why this campaign mattered, you first need to understand Scythe.
Founded with the mission to transform how outdoor spaces are maintained, Scythe builds fully electric, autonomous commercial-grade lawnmowers. On the surface, that might sound like a niche product. But zoom out, and you see the bigger picture: they’re tackling labor shortages in landscaping, reducing carbon emissions in an industry that traditionally runs on gas, and creating a safer, more efficient way to care for the spaces where we live, work, and play.
It’s robotics meeting sustainability. A solution for both the economic and environmental pressures shaping the future.
Scythe isn’t tinkering on the margins, they’re reimagining the industry. For a startup like that, image matters. While on the surface, they are just selling machines, they’re also building trust in emerging technology: trust that their technology works, trust that they can deliver at scale, and trust that they’ll be around for years to come. Visual branding is one of the fastest ways to build that trust.
The Challenge
Scythe had the kind of momentum most startups dream of. Backed by significant venture capital and already catching the attention of big players in landscaping, they were in a growth phase. But their visuals hadn’t kept pace.
The photography on hand was a mix of quick snapshots and fragmented images. Some worked for product demos. Others had the raw energy of a press moment. But together? They didn’t tell a cohesive story. Their new website was in development, and their marketing manager needed a full library of assets that could tie everything together.
The challenge wasn’t just about taking photos. It was about distilling their identity into a set of visuals that could:
Build credibility with investors.
Inspire confidence with potential customers.
Give their team a unified brand presence across digital platforms.
And they needed it done without the endless rounds of back-and-forth that can bog down a young company already stretched thin.
My Role and Approach
When I stepped into the project, I wasn’t just hired as a photographer/videographer. I was trusted as a partner.
The marketing manager at Scythe had a clear understanding of the brand’s needs but limited bandwidth to oversee production in detail. That meant I had to step in and own the process end to end: discovery, creative direction, execution, and delivery. For a lean team, this level of delegation was critical. They couldn’t afford to babysit a vendor. They needed someone they could hand the project to and know it would come back as a finished, cohesive asset library.
That trust was one of the biggest values I brought to the table.
Startups don’t have time to micromanage. Their teams are fighting battles on multiple fronts - product development, investor relations, hiring, scaling. Visual branding can easily fall to the bottom of the list, even though it’s crucial. By stepping in and saying, “I’ll take this off your plate and deliver exactly what you need,” I gave Scythe the space to focus on their core work while still elevating their brand presence.
The approach was simple in theory but nuanced in execution: translate Scythe’s technical innovation into images that felt both polished and approachable. The visuals had to highlight the precision of robotics while keeping the human element front and center. These weren’t photos for an engineering journal. They were assets meant to inspire trust in real-world customers and resonate with decision-makers in boardrooms.
The Process
The campaign began with a discovery phase. I spent time with their marketing manager digging into not just what the images needed to show, but what they needed to mean. Who were these images speaking to? Landscapers considering adopting robotic mowers? Investors scanning pitch decks? Visitors landing on the homepage for the first time?
The answer, of course, was all of the above.
That meant every shot had to work double- or triple-duty. A mower in action needed to look strong enough for a hero image on the website, technical enough for an investor pitch, and versatile enough for a social media post.
From there, I mapped out the creative direction. The themes came into focus:
Sustainability - highlighting the electric, emissions-free power of Scythe’s machines.
Precision - showing the engineering detail that made these mowers capable of autonomy.
Innovation - framing Scythe as a forward-thinking leader rather than a scrappy upstart.
Trust & Community - incorporating human operators and crews to show the human benefit of the technology.
On-site, I worked to capture three layers of imagery:
Product in Action - crisp, dynamic shots of the mowers at work in real environments.
Human Element - lifestyle-driven images of landscaping crews interacting with the machines, creating relatability.
Detail & Design - close-ups and polished visuals of the machines themselves, elevating their craftsmanship.
The shoot itself was streamlined. With a lean team and minimal disruption to Scythe’s schedule, I created a broad library of content in a short window of time. That efficiency was critical. For Scythe, the ability to walk away from one shoot with months of usable assets was a huge return on investment.
Post-production was where the campaign came together. Every photo and video needed to feel like part of the same visual language, no matter where it was used. I developed a cohesive style that could carry across web, social, and print.
When I delivered the final library, Scythe had exactly what they needed: a visual identity that matched their mission.
Commercial for Paid Advertising on Social
Alongside the photo campaign, I created a short commercial that became the foundation of their paid advertising on social media. It was designed to stop people mid-scroll and capture the essence of their mission in a single, cinematic glimpse.
Home Page Banner
Since branding is so important to a startup, I created this video for Scythe’s website rebrand, designed to immediately capture attention the moment visitors land on their site. The piece set the tone for the entire brand experience - polished, forward-thinking, and rooted in the mission to redefine outdoor robotics.
The Results
When the final assets went live, the difference was immediate. Scythe’s new website no longer felt like a placeholder for a startup still finding its footing. It felt like a brand stepping confidently into the future of its industry. Every hero image, every product shot, every detail worked together to tell a single story: Scythe was a leader, not a follower.
Their marketing team now had a library of photos and short video assets that could flex across campaigns. Instead of scrambling to repurpose old images or relying on generic stock visuals, the team had a unified toolkit that could serve them for months.
The results showed up in more than just aesthetics. Investor decks carried more weight because they looked as polished as the story they were pitching. Press coverage landed stronger because editors had professional, high-quality images to work with. And potential customers, landscaping companies considering robotic adoption, saw visuals that made Scythe’s innovation tangible, trustworthy, and real.
The visuals weren’t just decoration. They were proof.
The Value of Cohesive Visuals for Startups
Startups often treat visuals as an afterthought. There’s always a new feature to build, a fundraising round to close, a fire to put out. It’s easy to forget that the outside world sees only what you show them.
For Scythe, cohesive visuals became an accelerant. Instead of having to explain who they were and what they stood for in endless words, their brand was communicating instantly through images. The professionalism of their photography matched the professionalism of their robotics.
That’s the hidden power of visual branding: it creates alignment. It bridges the gap between what a company knows about itself internally and what the world perceives externally. For Scythe, that alignment meant their marketing, their investor materials, and their public presence were finally telling the same story.
And in the world of startups, where first impressions can determine whether a customer signs a contract or an investor writes a check, that alignment can mean the difference between growth and stagnation.
Why Trust Was the Key Value
Looking back, the real value I brought to Scythe wasn’t just the images themselves. It was the ability to take a big, complicated need off their plate and deliver it without unnecessary friction.
Startups live and die by their focus. The Scythe team didn’t have the time to manage a multi-day shoot, track down shot lists, or field endless rounds of review. They needed someone who could be handed the challenge and come back with a finished solution.
That’s why the collaboration with their team worked so well. They didn’t have to split their attention or micromanage. They could trust that the campaign would be executed professionally, efficiently, and in line with Scythe’s brand values. This entire shoot took 6 hours and they got 3 videos (2 for website banners, one for advertising) and 75 photos.
That value was earned not just through technical ability but through understanding the startup environment. Efficiency mattered as much as creativity. Delivering a broad library of assets from a streamlined shoot gave Scythe an outsized return on their investment - one shoot, countless uses.
Cohesion as a Competitive Advantage
There’s a reason this case study matters beyond just Scythe Robotics.
In today’s technology landscape, the companies that rise above the noise are often the ones that look the part. Cohesive visuals don’t guarantee success, but they create a platform where success becomes possible. They let innovation be seen clearly, without distraction.
For Scythe, that cohesion translated into credibility. A landscaping company considering whether to take a risk on robotic mowers doesn’t just weigh specs, they weigh trust. Investors don’t just evaluate product-market fit, they evaluate whether the brand looks strong enough to carry their investment into the future.
By giving Scythe a unified, professional visual identity, the campaign helped tip those scales in their favor.
Reflection
For me, the Scythe project was a reminder of why I love this work. I wasn’t setting out to make art, I was aiming to solve a problem that had real business stakes.
I wasn’t there to tell a poetic, documentary-style story. I was there to deliver clarity and to turn a fragmented visual presence into a cohesive one, to take something that was holding the company back and transform it into an asset that propelled them forward.
The experience reinforced a simple truth: high-quality visuals aren’t a luxury for startups. They’re a necessity. They’re part of the infrastructure that allows a company to grow, just like a product roadmap or a hiring plan.
And when a startup like Scythe puts that trust in me, my role is to deliver not just beautiful photos, but business value.
Closing Thoughts
When Scythe’s mowers roll out into the field, they represent the future of sustainable, autonomous landscaping. Every person that saw us shooting this campaign was pulling out their phones in wonder. They have a bold vision and bold visions deserve visuals that can carry their weight.
The campaign we built together gave Scythe more than a set of images. It gave them a way to show the world not just what they make, but what they stand for.
For a startup with big ambitions and a lean team, that kind of cohesion is priceless. It turns first impressions into lasting impressions. It turns a product into a brand.
And ultimately, that’s the value of the work: creating visuals that don’t just decorate a website, but accelerate a mission.
You may notice in this behind-the-scenes photo that the grass isn't as green as you see in other photos. The magic of editing :)
Let’s Connect
I’m Roo Smith - a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker and photographer based in Boulder, Colorado. I’ve spent the last decade crafting stories that move people, working with brands like Patagonia, The North Face, Microsoft, Outside Magazine, and Netflix to tell grounded, human stories rooted in the outdoors.
But I don’t just make beautiful films, I build full campaigns that help brands grow. I partner with impact-driven companies to plan, shoot, and launch story-first content that performs across web, social, and paid media.
Whether it's a short doc, a commercial with soul, or a campaign built for conversions, I’m here to take the creative off your plate and deliver something that works.
When I’m not behind the camera, you’ll find me songwriting, swimming in alpine lakes, and trail running.