Stanford University’s New Generation of History Assessments
We created this animation for Beyond the Bubble which unlocks the vast digital archive of the Library of Congress to create a new generation of history assessments. Developed by the Stanford History Education Group to “go beyond the bubble” by offering easy-to-use assessments that capture students’ knowledge in action – rather than their recall of discrete facts. Having George Washington take a multiple choice test to show “What would George do?” was a fun but informative way to introduce Beyond the Bubble to elementary, middle, and high school educators, faculty and administrations across the country. You can learn more about Beyond the Bubble and the Stanford History Education Group at: beyondthebubble.stanford.edu
Client Testimonial:
Viewers love the video that Adelie Studios created to promote the launch of our website! It delivers important information about our materials in a funny, engaging manner. It was also a pleasure to work with Eric and his team. They were responsive to our requests, had great ideas, and did high quality work. We would definitely work with Adelie Studios again.
— Sam Wineburg
Margaret Jacks Professor of Education Professor of History (by courtesy)
Director, Stanford History Education Group
Stanford University
Mojo Motors – How to Buy a Used Car
Animation for Mojo Motors to show how you can save a bunch money, avoid lengthy dealer negotiations, all the while staying anonymous when buying your next used car online. Working with their existing brand standards we created an animation to highlight their simple system allowing buyers to post anonymous requests and dealers respond with competitive offers.
5 Jedi Mind Tricks to Keep Viewers Watching Your Business Video
One of the best things to cut through the online clutter and get your business noticed whether it is big or small is utilizing online video. With online video, you don’t need to be the next George Lucas directing Star Wars, you just need a strategy and a plan. Getting started with online video may seem daunting but there are online marketing video specialists who can help you. Here are a few tips to help you make the most out of your video marketing:
1. Keep It Short
One of the shortest Star Wars characters was Yoda, he was also arguably the most smartest. Key takeaway: short = smart. It’s important to remember that nobody cares about your brand as much as you do. So the less the viewer is familiar with your brand, the shorter their attention span will be for watching your video. If some one clicks to watch your business video they want one question answered:
What’s in it for me?
Will your product or service help them? Speak to that. If you can’t answer that very simple question quickly…they are gone. In fact more than half of online video viewers leave after one minute. So edit, then when you think you’re done…edit some more.
2. Stay on Target
The words “Stay on target” were aptly spoken by the fighter pilot Porkins in Star Wars right before he was blown to smithereens in the rebel attack on the Death Star. But I digress. The point of this was to stay on target. Before you begin even writing your script it’s critical that you define who your target audience is. Man? Woman? Just starting a family? Newly retired? The more targeted the better. Then once you’ve defined your audience, script to the main benefits – show how your product or service will solve their problem, save them money, or improve their efficiency at doing a certain task making their lives easier. Every aspect of your video has to communicate these benefits rather than just describe your product or service. You’re not selling your product or service, you’re selling a solution to their problem. Create videos that the viewer can identify with and the problems they face.
3. Be Creative
When George Lucas was pitching his idea for a space saga, most studios questioned the feasibility to make a film with all those action sequences and imaginative landscapes that had never been done before. Through some creative film-making, he revolutionized the way movies are made. You don’t need to revolutionize your industry with every video, just be smart and clever about the content you are producing. Your business videos should be creative and entertaining but keep the message focused. Make videos that your target demographic influencers, decision-makers, and co-workers will want to watch over and over again but, more importantly, will want to share. If you create boring content, no one will want to watch it…much less share it.
4. What Did He Say?
C-3PO was always quick to point out that he was “fluent in over six million forms of communication…”. The point is to make sure your message is clear, no matter who is watching. Nothing ruins a great video more than bad audio. Spend the money and hire a professional voice over person, it will make a world of difference in the end product. Also it’s important to consider that some businesses have policies against audio being played in the work place, so create captions or subtitles for the video. A final thing to keep in mind in regards to effective communication, is if you plan to distribute the video internationally, it’s a lot easier to produce a foreign language version if the English version is an animation with off-camera voice over. Then all you need to do is replace any onscreen text and get a new voice over audio track made. Much simpler than creating a whole new video.
5. Include a call to action.
When Luke Skywalker was in battle to destroy the Death Star he heard the ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi speak to him and say “Use the force, Luke.” You can’t ask for a more direct call to action than that. Many businesses create great videos and don’t tell the viewer what they’d like them to do next. If you want clients to fill out a form to download a white paper or share it with a friend, ask them. Be as direct as possible. Make sure whatever the next step is, make it as easy as possible for the viewer to take action. If you want them to share, make the sharing buttons easily accessible or built in. Want them to sign up for a newsletter? Put the form right on the page next to the video.
So the point is…
You don’t have to be the next George Lucas, not even close. Just keep these five tips in mind when you are planning the strategy for your next online video and you’ll at least be starting out on the right path toward success. Let the force be with you.
Calling Freelance Flash Animators!
Are you either a full-time or part-time freelance animator? Would you like to pick up some project based marketing animation work? Well…Adelie Studios is looking for a few reliable animators with great personalities and insanely creative animation skills to work with.
What is Adelie Studios all about?
We are a virtual organization – we work with freelance animators, voice over artists, writers, musicians and character designers all over the country for projects on demand. This allows us a lot of flexibility when quoting projects because we can keep our overhead costs very low.
What skills do I need?
- We are looking to work with animators who have a strong background in Flash animation.
- 1-2 years freelance experience producing Flash animation.
- Used to communicating, working independently and meeting deadlines in a virtual environment.
- Experience producing animated marketing videos or a strong interest in producing marketing animations.
- Creativity oozing out of every pore and not afraid to speak up as everything we do is collaborative.
- Sparkling personality to match is a must.
That sounds like me, how do I find out more?
Excellent! Please contact us and include a link to some of your animation work you have recently done. We look forward to speaking with you and hopefully working with you on a project soon!
Should I Use Animation or Live Action for my Marketing Video?
Seldom do animation and “live action” video blend as seamlessly as in the 80′s video by A-Ha “Take On Me”. Would it have been as effective with just real actors or all animation? I don’t think so. However in business there are specific instances where one or the other is the best solution to get your message communicated clearly.
Imagine that you were going to create a video for a company that manufactured gear assemblies primarily marketed to engineers. Rather than show the gear assembly in action using slow motion filming or animation, you instead choose to have the CEO fumble through showing how the gear assembly works by moving it around in his hands. Now add that the CEO doesn’t exactly have the most dynamic personality for video. Doesn’t sound like a good fit does it? If you were an engineer considering this gear assembly, would you rather see it in action or watch someone move it by hand completely removed from the environment that it would be operating in?
There is a little truth in the above scenario. We had consulted with the company’s marketing agency who pitched this idea and we adamantly advised both the company and the marketing agency against doing this. Thankfully this didn’t come to fruition as the clumsy result could have been a complete waste of the company’s money and worse yet – unusable. The truth is live action film and animation both have their strengths to convey very diverse messages and achieve different objectives.
Live Action
Film or Live action is great for communicating sentiment. One of it’s greatest strengths is forming a bond between the viewer and the person onscreen. When you have someone onscreen who has a captivating personality whether that be the CEO, a charismatic engineer or a testimonial from one of your brand advocates, that passion can easily be sensed and felt by the viewer. If that personal energy is palpable in the video, that can be a great way to personalize a company. Some great ways to use film include:
- Non-profit organizations: If you have a non-profit organization for children, wouldn’t you want to show how those children are helped by the organization? Live action does a great job of “tugging at the heart and purse strings” for online viewers. Using video with email is also a great way to increase donations for non-profits.
- Testimonials: How many times do you see a “testimonials” link on a website and then you click there and maybe read a few of them. You never read them all though, do you? Now imagine how powerful those testimonials would be if they were videos of real customers sprinkled throughout your site. It’s not only more engaging to the viewer but it puts a face to a testimonial which makes what they are saying more believable to the viewer.
- Company profiles: Putting a face and a personality to a company can help begin building that relationship between the viewer of your video to hopefully get them to become a future customer. Many people immediately think CEO, but that may not be the case. If you have a passionate customer service representative or a product engineer they may “speak” more to your audience than the CEO might. Just make sure whoever you choose has “camera presence” – speaking clearly and coming across honestly.
- Physical products: If you are in an industry where the viewer is buying a physical end product, showing the finished product in action will boost viewer engagement and their comfort level with the product. Products like this include things like automobiles, showcasing real estate properties or high end decorative ceramics. You can still animate segments, such as how that automobile’s engine is designed to be more fuel efficient, but when someone is researching a product, they want to see the finished product in action.
Animation
One of animations greatest strengths is it’s flexibility. If you wanted to film your CEO screaming from the mountaintop you’d have to hire film crews, helicopter units and loads of sherpas to bring all that film gear up the mountain. With animation you can animate that scene for a fraction of the cost. Your imagination is your only limitation. Animated marketing videos are also a fantastic way to communicate a message that may be difficult to explain other than by using conceptual animation. Some great ways to use animation in a marketing environment include:
- Software Services: Software as a Service (or SaaS) are typically very hard to communicate what they do with live people on camera; it’s almost always animation. This is particularly true because most software solves a problem or makes a task easier. Without illustrating an example of a problem solved by the software, chances are the viewer isn’t going to understand how it works.
- Branding: If your goal is to create a lasting impression while communicating what your company does with visual appeal, then there are few ways that are more effective than animation. With an animation you can get creative with your messaging but still keep all of the brand logo colors, fonts and “look” of the brand completely consistent with all of your other marketing including your email marketing.
- Greater Product Understanding: With animation you can get down to a granular level of explanation of a product that is very difficult to do with live action. People also prefer to learn through audio/visual methods so if they have the choice between reading a PDF document of the product specs or watching a short video that does the same thing. 99% of the time they will choose the video.
- The Fun Factor: Let’s face it…animation can be hilarious. Do you want to make a super hero fighting against banner ad wielding flying monkeys? You can do that with animation. When a viewer is laughing and having fun they are more receptive to retaining that information and possibly sharing it with family or friends. That sharing is the fuel that increases your chances of the video possibly going viral.
Conclusion
What type of video is best for your business? The answer is it depends on what you are looking to communicate as both animation and live action video have their own individual strengths. Your first step is to clearly identify your strategy and what the goal of your video is even before getting started. So what’s the goal of your web video – are you looking to build a personal connection between the viewer and the person onscreen or to communicate a complex message or service that may be more difficult to explain? Now go watch the A-Ha video, you know you want to.
Video Marketing Masters Series: Animation (Audio)
Last year I had the pleasure of being interviewed for the Video Marketing Masters Series. It was a lot of fun talking about the usage of animation for online marketing applications and having a great discussion on the topic. A few of the topics we covered were the best way to get your audience to see your animated videos through your email marketing campaigns and three major reasons your audience will want to pass on your animated video. I finally got around to editing the audio down to around 28 minutes from the original 45 minute audio podcast so it’s a quicker listen, click the link below & enjoy!
Video Marketing Masters Series Audio: Animation (0:28:01)
Mojo Motors and Adelie Studios Score a Win in 32nd Annual TELLY Awards
Mojo Motors, the new online car shopping site that offers members-only prices on used cars and trucks from local dealers, and Adelie Studios, an industry leader in online marketing animated video production, are the 2011 Online Video Bronze Winners of the 32nd Annual TELLY Award in the automotive category. The winning video, “The Best Way to Buy a Used Car”, was selected among thousands of entries for their entertainment and originality.
“This was an amazing animation to work on leading up to the launch of Mojo Motors,” said Eric Guerin of Adelie Studios. “Taking the essence of what Mojo Motors does, what makes it different and then condensing that message to an entertaining seventy second animation is what we love about marketing animations. Winning a Telly Award in the automotive category, where we were up against many of the largest automotive companies in the world makes the achievement even more satisfying.”
“We are honored to be recipients of this prestigious award which celebrates the very best in broadcast and online programming,” said Paul Nadjarian, CEO of Mojo Motors. “Especially when we discovered our competition was in the thousands! Also, with advertising moving away from one-way to two-way dialogue and engagement via social media, this online video becomes a great marketing tool to immediately attract potential visitors to our site. Let’s face it, we all love moving pictures, especially animation, combine that with the unprecedented value and service message of Mojo Motors and it’s a win win.”
Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and online film and video. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, interactive agencies, and corporate video departments in the world.
This year, the Telly Awards received over 13,000 entries from all 50 states and countries around the world. Silver and bronze medals are awarded based on creativity and outstanding achievement in a specific category.
About Mojo Motors
Mojo Motors was founded in 2010 by Internet and auto industry veterans to offer consumers more power and control over the used car buying experience. Using their experience working at eBay Motors and Ford Motor Company, Mojo’s founders created a site based on exclusive relationships with local used car and truck dealers. These dealers list discounted pricing information on Mojo that is available only to consumers who sign up for a free Mojo membership.
With Mojo, consumers have greater control as they shop for a used car. They visit a dealer armed with discount pricing that the dealer agrees to honor because of its relationship with Mojo.
Dealers enter and set their discounted pricing information through Mojo’s web-based inventory pricing software. This easy-to-use system allows dealers to set discounts that are competitive with other dealers in their local markets.
With Mojo, dealers know they’re reaching serious buyers who are ready to buy a car. Mojo collects marketing fees from dealers when Mojo members purchase a used car from them.
For more information, visit http://www.mojomotors.com
About Adelie Studios
Adelie Studios specializes in creating animated marketing videos and tutorial animations to promote your marketing message online in an engaging and entertaining format. Adelie Studios producer Eric Guerin has previously won five Telly Awards: two in 2011 for HubSpot’s Captain Inbound Animated Series, one in 2010 for JCSI and two in 2009 for Waste Management and Open Pages. See more animated videos and tutorial animations they have created at http://www.adeliestudios.com
HubSpot & Adelie Studios Win Two Telly Awards for Captain Inbound Animated Series
June 24, 2011 — HubSpot, the leading inbound marketing platform and Adelie Studios, an industry leader in online marketing animated video production, were honored to be the recipients of two Telly Awards for outstanding achievement for their original short online videos. The winning videos, from the Captain Inbound Animated Series were selected among thousands of entries for their entertainment and originality.
“It’s not every day you get to work on a series of animated shorts starring super heroes and villains,” said Eric Guerin of Adelie Studios. “It was great to work with HubSpot creating Captain Inbound because they live and breathe strategic content marketing like these videos every day. Winning two Telly Awards for the project was really icing on the cake.”
“Rather than bombard people with cold calls and spammy emails, you should attract them to your company using inbound marketing by creating interesting content and optimizing that content for search, social and mobile channels,” said Mike Volpe, Chief Marketing Officer at HubSpot. “HubSpot is a pioneer in inbound marketing, and the Captain Inbound videos are an example of the type of marketing which companies should be doing a lot more.”
Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and online film and video. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, interactive agencies, and corporate video departments in the world.
This year, the Telly Awards received over 13,000 entries from all 50 states and countries around the world. Silver and bronze medals are awarded based on creativity and outstanding achievement in a specific category.
About HubSpot
HubSpot, Inc. offers an all-in-one marketing software platform for small and medium sized businesses. Over 4,500 companies in 31 countries use HubSpot software to increase the number of visitors to their website and convert more of those visitors to leads and customers. Applications in the software platform include website management, blogging, search engine optimization, lead management, marketing analytics, email marketing, landing pages, and social media monitoring. HubSpot is also the developer of the popular website analysis tool, WebsiteGrader.com, which has over 3 million users. HubSpot, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Find them at http://www.HubSpot.com.
About Adelie Studios
Adelie Studios specializes in creating animated marketing videos and tutorial animations to promote your marketing message online in an engaging and entertaining format. Adelie Studios producer Eric Guerin has previously won three Telly Awards: one in 2010 for JCSI and two in 2009 for Waste Management and Open Pages. See more animated videos and tutorial animations they have created at http://www.adeliestudios.com.
RELATED LINKS
Captain Inbound Episode 1 on YouTube
Captain Inbound Episode 2 on YouTube
Buzzworthy Wednesday: Adventures of Captain Inbound: Episode One
Originally published on the Inane Ramblings of Eric Guerin Blog.
This week’s Buzzworthy Wednesday is an animated video created by HubSpot for the “Adventures of Captain Inbound: Episode One“.
Full Disclosure: I may be a bit biased here since I was the writer and animator on this project. While I tend to be hyper-critical of my work (is any creative person not?) I am more impressed with the strategy behind the branding video carried out by HubSpot.
They didn’t just create the video and throw it out to the whims of the internet, they had a plan. In the word’s of the Episode “Guru” of David Meerman Scott “Create exceptional content that people will want to share, and point the world to your virtual doorstep.”
So the video was posted on their blog, they built a custom landing page for the series to reside (oh yes…there will be more), started a fan page on Facebook and launched a Twitter account for Captain Inbound. Practicing what they are preaching. The video was also mentioned as a great example of how “Content Rules” on the MarketingProfs blog today by Ann Handley. Enjoy!
Producer Eric Guerin wins a 2010 Telly Award!
Eric Guerin of Adelie Studios, an industry leader in online marketing animated video production, was honored as a recipient of a Telly Award in the professional services category for their short online video animation developed for JCSI (a recruitment consulting company specializing in sourcing and screening passive candidates) The video was selected from thousands of entries for its entertainment and originality.
“Winning a Telly Award is a wonderful affirmation of the quality of work we bring to animation projects,” said Eric Guerin of Adelie Studios. “Knowing that the competition is judged by some of the best industry professionals lets us know our creative direction and leadership in online animated video production is appreciated not only by our customers but also by some of the finest producers working today.”
Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and online film and video. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, interactive agencies, and corporate video departments in the world.
This year, the Telly Awards received over 11,000 entries from all 50 states and countries around the world. Silver and bronze statuettes are awarded based on creativity and outstanding achievement in a specific category.
