Opinion: The only true failure at Icon 3D is their PR

Dear Icon 3D,

Engineering is hard.

Maybe harder than anything else in the world.

No reasonably intelligent person expects a brand new technology to work perfectly on the first iteration, hell even the 10th iteration.

Take a look at SpaceX for example (currently worth $350 Billion), I just went to a launch in Boca Chica, Tx and that thing exploded all over Turks and Caicos… but it was a success!

They captured the booster with Godzilla sized chopsticks and the crowd erupted in celebration not only in Isla Blanca state park where I watched it from, but around the world.

What does this have to do with Icon?

EVERYTHING! First of all they have a beautiful building down there at the ad astra school near SpaceX, perhaps the best printed building in the world and yet their trajectory is not quite parallel with SpaceX to say the least. Why does one company blow up rocket after rocket and still continue growing at breakneck speeds while the other had to let go of half their team?

It all comes down to PR.

A company sets their own goalposts with their PR. Icon went fast and cheap with their PR strategy. They checked all the boxes from a AAA rated Apple style marketing campaign from 2010. 60 minutes, CNN, NBC, CBS, Forbes, Bloomberg, Architectural Digest, TechCrunch, Wired, The Verge they did it all!

What did they use these platforms for?

Every single time all they did was sell the vision like it was the present.

Don’t get me wrong that’s a powerful move, one Elon himself has certainly used to inspire millions if not billions on his ambitions for mars but that’s the icing on the cake and you can’t live on icing alone.

A company cannot survive on junk food marketing.

SpaceX thrives after their $50 million dollar rockets explode into smithereens because they did a phenomenal job using their PR to set the right goalposts along the way: Launching a rocket, landing a rocket, reusing a rocket, catching a rocket with giant chopsticks from the sky!

I think you get the point but my criticisms do not end there.

Lets take another look at 2010. Back then people trusted the mainstream media because it’s all we had. You could debate whether you trusted CNN, Fox, or Reuters but that was the end of the story. Today we know all those companies are basically owned by the same people pushing the same narratives. Regardless of your political opinions its impossible not to acknowledge the damage that has been done to traditional media and the current political climate in America is a massive reflection of that. Big media burned the trust of the American people to the point where their word has become an anti-signal, perhaps the strongest one of all.

I saw this coming in 2019 that’s why I set out to build my own independent brand where nobody can tell me what to say. I don’t believe anything that I don’t see in person so I set out to travel the world gathering primary sources of things I am interested in.

That thing was 3D printed construction and construction automation and it still is.

My first videos were out of pure passion and curiosity. I never tried to cater my videos to a specific audience I just tried to film stuff that was interesting to me, low and behold other people appreciated it too. At first not that many people, I would sleep in my car to travel the country to all the very first printed buildings in America and around the world for 2 full years. Eventually I named the brand Automate Construction and made a real business out of it to the point I could afford an apartment to live in, a tesla as my noble steed and a motel 6 anywhere in the country so that I could be anywhere the construction automation was happening.

For 5 full years I never charged a company a dime. With the exception of my trip to Europe I never even accepted travel costs or accommodations because I wanted to preserve the integrity of the brand and it worked! Nobody could tell me what to say, I didn’t get rich but I was free and having a blast, still am!

I’ve reached hundreds of millions of people and grown an audience an order of magnitude larger than Icons itself with nothing but grassroots authenticity and an iPhone with internet connection.

I would have loved to keep doing this forever, I even said on multiple occasions I would never charge companies for my videos.

Icons PR team ruined that.

I moved to Austin Tx because it was the closest proximity to the most 3DCP projects, biggest of all was Icons. I would have filmed with them every week if they let me! I never would have charged them a dime.

SpaceX and Tesla were smart enough to recognize the downfall of big media ages ago. EverydayAustronaut (Tim Dodd), MKBHD, NASAspaceflight, LabPadre, What About it!? (Felix Schlang) Dr. Knowitall, Elle in Space, the list goes on. Sure Elon gave interviews to the mainstream media on occasion too but the coolest stuff all went to the independent content creators first.

This was the vision I had for my relationship with Icon but their PR team wasn’t having it. They wanted to control the narrative and they weren’t even good at it. In fact, I think the narrative created by the Icon PR team is the single defining feature causing them all the trouble they have faced in the past 2 years.

Icon hasn’t given me one opportunity to make a video in the past year. I asked countless times and on the rare occasion their PR team answered me they rejected every offer even though it was totally free to them and I even offered the opportunity to review and delete any segment they didn’t want published in advance.

This is the reason I had to change my business model. If I can’t film every company, especially one of my OG favorites then there is no point in doing it all for free. Because of Icons horrible PR team, I was forced to start charging for my videos.

This has turned out to be an amazing decision, after filming in my style for 5 years companies have come to really appreciate it and even though now they are sponsored videos the companies specifically ask me not to hold back and still give my true opinions. So far they haven’t even asked me to delete anything in the review process which has been super awesome. By charging a flat rate I ensure no company gets special treatment and returning visits to companies I have visited in the past are half off to keep the audience updated on their old friends and reward the companies who were kind enough to let me visit them in the past, some when I had virtually no followers at all.

Enough about me back to Icon.

I’m a big believer that if you aren’t part of the solution you are part of the problem so I am not going to just sit here pointing fingers.

Here is how Icon can fix their PR.

Obviously money is tight (I saw some incredible architects, materials scientists, and other 10/10 people were let go) Get rid of anyone who isn’t a Founder, Coder, Engineer, or Laborer. You don’t need frivolous BS everyone should be getting their hands dirty.

When Jason Ballard comes back, put a camera in his hand. Jason should be the true head of the company not just internally but externally. Post videos directly from his phone to social media, go live, host spaces and let every independent content creator who really gives a shit film stuff.

Authenticity is the name of the game. Don’t be reckless, consult with the lawyers in advance and think very carefully before speaking but DO NOT let the marketing people put their hands on it.

Talk about the monthly goals and let us see you hit them.

Let us see you miss them too.

Show us the spectacular explosions over Turks and Caicos. Sure, some losers will make dumb comments but the real fans like me will stand by you every step of the way through thick and thin. Apple style marketing from 2010 doesn’t work anymore we are living in 2025 and you are building the construction company of 2030.

With great love and admiration,

the Grossest