Santa Barbara has a way of connecting people, whether longboarding at Rincon or stopping by Handlebar on a Sunday morning. For Drew Rasmus, founder of Viminal Media, that connection has shaped everything from documentary filmmaking and surf culture to video production, photography, and brand storytelling for outdoor-focused businesses like Clean Ocean Designs.
Drew first met Oliver Parker at the Santa Barbara Surf Film Festival, where Drew’s award-winning documentary, Beyond the Streets | Sammy Baptista, premiered alongside Some Like It Classic, featuring Oliver Parker. The festival brought together filmmakers, surfers, artists, and ocean-minded creators, creating a unique, local community moment that often happens every day in Santa Barbara.
For Drew, the documentary was more than a documentary or video project. It was an intense creative effort that he directed, filmed, edited, and distributed himself. That hands-on approach is extremely similar to how he built Viminal Media, a Santa Barbara video production and commercial photography company that focuses on helping brands tell stories through cinematic marketing campaigns.
From Documentary Films to Brand Videos and Storytelling
Viminal Media is based in Santa Barbara and works across the Central Coast, including Montecito, Ventura, Ojai, Goleta, and surrounding California communities. Drew’s work blends documentary-style filmmaking, brand videography, commercial photography, drone videography, social media content and more into a cohesive, authentic style that is tailored to each project.
For Clean Ocean Designs, their creative partnership has helped transform the visual content and DTC marketing for their Mariner Mats. Drew has helped create photo, video and drone content for COD while also managing a comprehensive Meta advertisement campaign that drives sales across the United States. The work combines two things that matter to growing outdoor brands: strong visual identity and performance-focused marketing.
"We love working with Drew and the team at Viminal Media. Their rare combination of exceptional creative talent, strategic thinking, and genuine humility makes them feel like an extension of our own company. Every project is approached with professionalism, clear communication, and a deep understanding of our brand. They don't just create beautiful content—they tell authentic stories that connect with people. We couldn't recommend them more highly." – Oliver Parker, founder of Clean Ocean Designs
That mix of creative production and distribution is a major part of Viminal Media’s approach. A video or photo shoot is not just about capturing something that looks good. It is about creating assets that can work across a website, email campaign, social media, paid ads, and new product pages that allows for consistent, long-term brand storytelling.
A Santa Barbara Videographer with a Documentary Approach
Drew’s background as a Santa Barbara videographer comes through in the way he films people, products, and outdoor environments. Instead of creating generic content, he looks for the details that make a brand feel tangible: how a product can be used, who benefits from it, and why people connect with it.
That matters for brands like Clean Ocean Designs, where the product is tied to surf, travel, overlanding, camping, and outdoor adventures. Whether the shoot is focused on the Mariner Mat in action, their updated Board Covers or studio product photography, the goal is to make the visuals feel natural, filmic and true to their brand.
For Drew, strong video production in Santa Barbara often starts with location. The coastline, mountains, beaches, downtown, harbor, and nearby towns all offer a cinematic backdrop. From Santa Barbara to Ventura and beyond, the Central Coast gives brands a visual language that feels very grounded in nature.
Building Content That Actually Works
Over the past year, Drew and Viminal Media have supported Clean Ocean Designs with visual content and advertising creatives designed for real use across multiple platforms. That includes product-focused photography, lifestyle content, social media videos, and paid ad creatives that help customers understand how COD products fit into everyday outdoor life.
A strong shoot can create more than one final video. It can produce website images, Instagram Reels, Facebook ads, product page content, email graphics, blog visuals, YouTube shorts, behind-the-scenes clips, and evergreen brand assets.
That is how Viminal Media approaches production with the full content ecosystem in mind. The best commercial video production and photography work does not end when the shoot day is complete. It continues through editing, color grading, sound design, copy, ad testing, and the unique strategy tailored for each piece of content.
What Makes the COD Partnership Work
Clean Ocean Designs sits at the intersection of ocean-centric lifestyles, sustainability, product design, and practical outdoor gear. That makes the brand a natural fit for Drew’s background in surf film, documentary video, and video storytelling.
“Working with Oliver and Clean Ocean Designs for the past two years has been such an awarding experience for myself and our company. I truly appreciate Oliver’s ethics and goals as product designer, business owner, surfer and Dad. This partnership has helped grow our video production to a new level and we wouldn’t be at this stage with his trust and support.” – Drew Rasmus, founder and CEO of Viminal Media
In July 2026, Drew and Oliver have another video shoot planned for Clean Ocean Designs around Santa Barbara, San Diego and Big Sur. The new video production will continue building COD’s content collection with fresh photos, videos, and campaign assets for upcoming marketing and advertisement push for the rest of 2026!
Looking Ahead
For Drew, Viminal Media is built around a simple idea: high quality content should feel cinematic, palpable, and impactful. The partnership with Clean Ocean Designs is a true example of this.
For brands across Santa Barbara, Ventura, Montecito, Ojai, and the Central Coast, Viminal Media helps turn stories into polished video and photo content that change the dynamics of tactical brand strategy!
Learn More Here https://www.viminalmedia.com/
