Case Study: Award-Winning Animated Video for Blue Yonder
We were commissioned by Blue Yonder to create an animated explainer video to highlight the benefits of Transportation Management Solutions (TMS), a product which can help enterprise-scale businesses evaluate the sustainability credentials of various modes of transport.
Blue Yonder is an American software and consultancy company headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and owned by multinational conglomerate Panasonic. With offices in nearly 40 locations in major cities in the United States, Asia Pacific, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East, with 5,900+ employees worldwide.
The Brief
We were commissioned by Blue Yonder to create an animated explainer video to highlight the benefits of Transportation Management Solutions (TMS), a product which can help enterprise-scale businesses evaluate the sustainability credentials of various modes of transport.
The objective of the campaign was to support Blue Yonder’s continued focus on sustainability and to promote how they help companies to decrease the negative environmental impact of their transportation operations by using their TMS software.
Our Creative Approach
Blue Yonder trusted us to create a video that was different from their usual output, delivering something more creative and eye-catching.
They wanted to illustrate the business benefits of the product at a high level, in a visually entertaining style, in under 2 mins 30 seconds, so that the video could be promoted directly on LinkedIn as well as directing more eyes back to relevant landing pages on the Blue Yonder website.
We worked very closely with Blue Yonder to capture particular visuals which reflected who they are, struck a balance between being creative and professional, and clearly communicated the underpinning message of sustainability.
By combining elements from the Blue Yonder branding with a collage appearance, we were able to create a bespoke aesthetic which depicted both the visual styling of the brand, and the eco-conscious messaging of the TMS software reflected in the use of animated recycled materials.
We wanted the animation to clearly communicate the functions and benefits of the software using striking, memorable visuals to illustrate their clients literally ‘weighing up’ their carbon footprint decisions. After the animation process was complete, we commissioned bespoke sound design to further enhance the visuals and add the finishing touches to the final animated video.
“It’s light, bright, cheery, informative but punchy, exactly how I wanted it. The Bold team were very considerate of our brand, and were proposing to mimic our usual animation style, but we decided to push the brand boundaries slightly. In the end I think this has really paid off and they developed a new style that was perfectly in keeping with the sustainability theme. The animation has a ‘recycled’ look and feel, by incorporating different media, in a collage style. We’ve received a lot of compliments, including from members of our own video development team.”
– EMEA CAMPAIGN & ABM MANAGER, BLUE YONDER
“I was really pleased with the overall look of the animation, but I was a little bit worried as to how it would be received since it wasn’t our typical branding. Having launched the campaign and seeing the response on LinkedIn, I am delighted!! We’ve achieved brilliant viewing stats and engagement with the video and static ads, I’m especially pleased with the 11% video completion rate of those people who have watched.”
– CREATIVE DIRECTOR, BLUE YONDER
The Campaign
We created a separate 15-second ‘teaser’ animation from scratch for their secondary target audience, to attract new clients, pointing back to the website and LinkedIn page via breadcrumbs throughout the internet.
• We designed a suite of static ads for a LinkedIn and 6Sense retargeting campaign, capturing initial interest in the first phase, so that Blue Yonder could continue to nurture lead generation.
• This also brought attention from Partners, Accenture and Microsoft to run joint sustainability/TMS campaigns with them too.
• Blue Yonder have continued to promote the video across various channels and it has now been translated into French and German, to be used in 1:Many and 1:1 campaigns. We have created bespoke, translated digital ads inspired by the animation to further drive landing page views and TMS interest.
Success
We smashed Blue Yonder’s LinkedIn view rate down to our creative use of visuals.
The LinkedIn statistics speak for themselves:
• 73% VIEW RATE
• 62K LINKEDIN VIDEO VIEWS
• 3.3K ‘TEASER’ VIDEO VIEWS
• 98.3K IMPRESSIONS
• 11.22% COMPLETION RATE
The animation has met, and exceeded, Blue Yonder’s objectives and expectations. The client stated that we interpreted the brief brilliantly and what could have been a very dry, product-focused script and visual, has been turned into a beautiful brand animation, that conveys the message succinctly in an eye-catching style. We’ve since been informed that the Corporate team would like to adopt the animation look and feel for the overarching Blue Yonder sustainability story.
Award Winner (ahem)
As an added bonus to a great project, the animation has gone on to garner critical acclaim. Blue Yonder and Bold Content won gold in the category for Best use of video from the technology, media, and telecommunications sector at the 2023 Lens Awards in February 2023 for the animated video, which is a real celebration of the success and creativity of the piece.
