Pho By Night2M views
Boutique short-form case studies
See how our boutique team grew two Ottawa businesses.
Two focused stories unpack the strategy, content, and real numbers behind millions of views, pulled straight from TikTok and Instagram.
- Views
- 6.9M+
- Engagements
- 310K+
- Videos on this page
- 20
Pick a story.
The numbers are live.
Two clients, two stories. Every figure is derived from the posts on their own Instagram and TikTok accounts.
Case 01
Pho By Night
@phobynightottawaOttawa's late-night Vietnamese spot.
- Followers
- 2,450
- Account likes
- 290K
- Videos
- 232
ChallengeWhere they started, and what was in the way.
Pho By Night serves some of the best late-night Vietnamese food in the city, but online they were invisible. A quiet feed, nothing to stop the scroll, and weeknights that didn't reflect how good the food actually was. The product was there. The audience just couldn't find it. The job wasn't to make prettier food photos, it was to give people in Ottawa a reason to stop, laugh, and remember the name the next time they were hungry at midnight.
StrategyThe thinking, before a single video was shot.
Instead of treating the restaurant like a menu to advertise, we treated it like a character people would want to follow. We built the whole account around one idea: relatable, replay-worthy comedy shot right at the counter, with the food as the punchline every time. Quick negotiation skits, customer-moment bits, the kind of clips you send to a friend with "this is so us." Then we ran it like a system, not a lucky streak: TikTok-first because that is where the format travels fastest, the winners re-cut for Instagram Reels, and every caption written for Ottawa so the reach turned into orders instead of faraway views that never walk in the door.
Comedy people actually relate to
The core format was negotiation and customer-moment skits, everyday situations anyone who has ordered food recognizes instantly. Relatable beats impressive: people share what feels like their own life, and that sharing is what carried the reach.
A recurring character, not random clips
We leaned into the staff and the back-and-forth at the counter so the account had a familiar face and a running joke. Familiarity makes people come back, follow, and treat the next post like an inside joke instead of an ad.
Built for how people watch
Shot vertical, paced to be watched twice, and always landing on the bowl in the first few seconds. Platform-native pacing earns the rewatch, and the rewatch is what the algorithm pushes.
Reach aimed at Ottawa
Local captions and intent-driven hashtags (#ottawapho, #ottawahalal) kept the views close to home. The goal was never a big number, it was the right hungry person, in the right city, ready to order.
The contentOne consistent format, posted on repeat.
The videos that did the work. A few of the top performers - tap any of them to watch the original.
- Counter-comedy skits as the core format - short, native, and always ending on the food.
- TikTok-first posting, with the winners re-cut for Instagram Reels.
- Local-intent captions and hashtags (#ottawapho, #ottawahalal) so views became Ottawa orders.
- A steady cadence that kept the account in rotation and let one hit feed the next.
Content mix4.1MNegotiation skits · 6 videos1.4MCustomer-moment skits · 4 videos
ResultsLive numbers, pulled straight from the platforms.
5,499,359 views and 275,822 engagements across the 10 videos featured here.
- Total views
- 5.5M
- Total likes
- 272K
- Total comments
- 460
- Avg views / video
- 550K
- Engagement rate
- 5.0%
Want similar results?
We'll build you a content engine like the ones above - strategy first, then the videos that perform.
Case 02
Zero Latency Ottawa
@zerolatencyottOttawa's free-roam VR arena.
- Followers
- 12,900
- Account likes
- 358K
- Videos
- 201
ChallengeWhere they started, and what was in the way.
VR is hard to sell in a caption. Zero Latency Ottawa runs a genuinely fun free-roam VR experience, but a still photo or a feature list never captures it, and "you have to try it" is a hard thing to ask a stranger to take on faith. They needed people to feel the energy of a session, the panic and the laughing, before they ever walked in the door, and they needed first-timers to trust it was worth booking.
StrategyThe thinking, before a single video was shot.
We stopped trying to explain VR and started showing what it feels like. Real sessions became short, funny moments, the panic, the betrayals, the in-arena reactions, so the fun landed in three seconds without a single feature being listed. From there we built for two different viewers at once: gameplay highlights for the players who want to see the action, and social-proof moments for the skeptics who need to see other people loving it first. Everything was kept platform-native across Instagram and TikTok, and every post was anchored to Ottawa with a clear booking line, so attention always had somewhere to go.
Show the feeling, skip the explanation
A free-roam VR session is impossible to sell with a feature list. We turned real in-arena reactions into short comedic clips so the experience sold itself, no explaining required, the way a friend describing a fun night out does the convincing.
Two viewers, one feed
Players want to see the gameplay; first-timers want proof other people had a blast. We made for both, mixing highlight clips with social-proof moments so the same account spoke to the curious and the committed.
Trust before the booking
A first visit is a leap of faith. Watching real groups panic and laugh together does the reassuring that an ad never could, lowering the risk in a stranger’s head before they ever reach the booking page.
Ottawa-local, always bookable
Every post stayed platform-native and tied to Ottawa with a booking line in the caption, so the reach turned into reservations instead of views from people who could never visit.
The contentOne consistent format, posted on repeat.
The videos that did the work. A few of the top performers - tap any of them to watch the original.
- In-arena reaction skits that sell the experience without explaining it.
- Gameplay-highlight clips for the players who want to see the action.
- Social-proof moments to build trust with first-time bookers.
- An Ottawa booking line in every caption, so reach had somewhere to go.
Content mix1.1MIn-arena skits · 6 videos154KGameplay moments · 2 videos106KSocial proof · 1 video46KPromo & booking · 1 video
ResultsLive numbers, pulled straight from the platforms.
1,449,641 views and 34,677 engagements across the 10 videos featured here.
- Total views
- 1.4M
- Total likes
- 34K
- Total comments
- 122
- Avg views / video
- 145K
- Engagement rate
- 2.4%
Why these results happened.
What every successful campaign had in common - the repeatable system behind the numbers, not the luck.
A content strategy, not just content
Every account started with a thesis - one format we believed would resonate - then the numbers refined it. The wins weren't lucky clips. They were a system doing what it was built to do.
Relentless consistency
Reach compounds when you stay in rotation. Posting steadily kept each brand in front of the algorithm and the audience, so one hit fed the next instead of starting from zero.
Platform-native creative
We made content that belongs on TikTok and Reels - shot vertical, paced fast, built to be watched twice - instead of polished ads people scroll straight past.
Hooks that earn the first 3 seconds
Nobody owes you their attention. Every video opens on a reason to stay, because the first three seconds decide whether the other twenty ever get watched.
We understood the audience
Local captions, local humor, local intent. The goal was never just views - it was the right people, in the right city, ready to order or book.
Trusted by businesses across Ottawa.
Pho By NightZero Latency Ottawa
Mosaic Medical Spa
Mosaic Convention Centre
Family Dental Care
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