Concept
Our first step was to create a pitch idea alongside a sketch storyboard to present to the internal growth marketing team. Our only piece of direction was to focus on the word “Revolve” to reinforce our company tagline, “Treat creators like your brand revolves around them. Because in the Creator Economy, it does.”
My pitch idea (nicknamed “Solar System”) was to use GRIN circle/crescent shapes to animate/revolve like a solar system. While the main story beat was to highlight the many integrations that GRIN offered at the time. Ie. Gmail, Dropbox, Salesforce.
An early setback
Unfortunately, we suffered a major setback while in production. After the fact, we were not allowed to use notable logos like Google, dropbox, etc. Showcasing GRIN's many integrations was the major thread throughout the video, so we pivoted quickly and changed those integration moments to highlight some of our more notable clients, such as Cuts Clothing, MVMT, and Allbirds. What brand doesn’t like extra publicity, am I right?
Blush to the rescue
We would need stylized illustrations for some scenes to tell our story correctly. I was already spread too thin to create more assets, but luckily, we discovered Blush and had access to a library of artist-curated illustrations. They were perfect for our creator aesthetic. She has blue hair!
Brand Awareness Impact
A lot of twists and turns, but ultimately, we are proud of how this video turned out. It helps entertain potential clients in a fun and informative way, showing what GRIN can do for your creator management program in 30 seconds. Promo. We love and now use it as our main video on our Shopify app store and YouTube channel.
Results
As of March 18, 2023, this video has reached 2.6K organic views and 6.7K impressions. The average percentage viewed is 79%. Google calculates that the average view duration is between 50 and 60%. Any videos above 70% are performing extremely well.
Challenges
• This project was a real-time crunch for one person. In the future, projects of this scale should have a couple of designers and animators working in tandem.
• We had two major pivots while working on this video: 1. The integrations section being removed. 2. Adding a voiceover after much of the animation was finished. Better planning could help save us some unnecessary stress and save time.
Learnings
• This was GRIN's first voiceover project, and it helped the story shine. Going forward, we'll be looking to add narration to all promo projects from the beginning.
Wins
• Not only does the video continue to perform well on YouTube, but because of the animated explainer style it was created in, the video is evergreen. Which is a luxury in the product design/SaaS Technology world. We've been able to repurpose the video into trade show event backdrops, Shopify app store, and more.
Credits:
Script – Kelli Krenek
Creative Director – Todd Berkowitz
Storyboard, Design, & Motion – Ronald Cortez
VO Recording – Dacey Else
