Marketing Message
BizTrumpet wanted to convey the message that it helps existing business go online quickly and in the process saves them a pot-load of money which might otherwise get spent on B2B marketing, designers and marketing consultants.
How we approached it
The biggest challenge with this video was that it was on a close deadline. We had to get the video done in one-week flat. Even as we took up the challenge, we knew it was going to be tough, but we were up for it. The script had to explain a lot of “technical” difficulties, yet we needed to make it so that it did not go overboard. As our target market was people who were not yet into online marketing or those into online marketing but actually unable to make much of a headway in the online business game, we did not want to overwhelm them with all the “Geek speak”. This video had to run for two minutes—longer time than what we are usually given. The extra time helped to really bring out all the problems faced by a newbie in all its aspects.
Style
The client gave us a lot of creative freedom in terms of style. He wanted a cartoonish video. But we were allowed go a little whacky. Hence we came up with the fresh style, that looked like a classic cartoon, used cute characters and outlandish elements to pepper it with craziness.
Colors
In this video we used the brand colors of BizTrumpet. The blues and the brownish orange had to be used in a manner that they gelled with the story of the video and mixed naturally with the theme.
Characters
The character were tiny, almost elfish and incredibly cute. They looked like grown-up men but were like the childish embodiment of adults. The characters had no legs or neck- just feet and a face, which were not connected to the body. The main character was a businessman— who had to look accomplished but lost in this online marketing world. The other two characters— the web designer and the online marketing consultant had to look confident. The designer had to have a younger tech-savvy look. He was given a funky hairstyle, in-keeping with this. The consultant had to look a little older, wise and knowledgeable. The consultant was given a pair of spectacles and a professional hairstyle.
Visualization
The video called for a humorous, cartoonish animation. The visualization was done accordingly. We decided to exaggerate and stretch reality. To take the meaning of the script and push the realms of creativity- so you get a building that takes money from the client, a building that bombs the client with technical terms, money raining over the main characters, etc.
Animation
For a script like this, voice over is of extreme significance. The voice over had to sound authoritative, without being bossy, it needed to have the tone of someone reviewing BizTrumpet, not someone trying to “sell” BizTrumpet. This voice over became the foundation for the animation. The animation, as mentioned earlier, were on a swift deadline. It had to be done fast, without any mistake. Thankfully for us, our client was quick with feedback and was encouraging with creative details. His helpfulness made the process move faster. As we were using simplified characters, the difficulty in animation reduced— though definitely not eliminated. We concentrated a lot on the facial expressions. As the video had to be funny the facial expressions had to be funny too, but because the characters were not really from the real world, we needed close to realistic expressions to make them seem believable. The video also needed to focus on the sounds, comical sounds had to be added at key points to lend humor to it and also to make it engaging. Sound effects had to enhance the quality of the video.
Well, you might think that having faced the challenge of creating a high quality video for BizTrumpet with a deadline on our heads, we would falter at some point, but that was not the case. We managed pretty well. If we were not so modest, we would say, we even triumphed here…wait a minute, did I just throw all modesty to the wind and say we triumphed? Reckon, I did. But, that is the truth. We met the challenge head-on and triumphed. Yippee!
Team Involved
Animations : Mahesh
Script : Vimida
Creative Direction : Anil Kumar
