iTrade recently asked us to help them showcase their new transit services with an innovative marketing video series. This particular video was the second in that series.
iTrade Freight offers a revolutionary amount of insight to store owners and other bulk food buyers around how their food is shipped and handled. To iTrade, a global shipping company, it was paramount that their investment in their tracking capabilities paid off.
We were more than happy to leverage our innovative marketing ideas to their advantage.
The Start of Our Video Marketing Quest
iTrade’s product iTrade Freight does several things. With iTrade Freight, both large and small markets are afforded the ability of transparency in the shipping of goods at opportune times to maximize their margins.
The point of the iTrade Freight explainer video was to drill down and describe how iTrade impacts the actual physical shipping – and tracking – of goods from point A to point B. The more creative we could be with our video marketing ideas, the better.
This unique combination of factors led to several interesting challenges with some innovative marketing ideas.
The Marketing Challenges We Faced Along the Way
The first challenge we had was video length. If you’ve ever made an explainer video about a technical topic, then you understand our challenge. The more information we had, the harder it became to create a clear and comprehensive video that was enjoyable to watch.
We had 90 seconds to tell iTrade Freight’s entire story with 3D animation… That’s a big task – especially with a story as complex and multifaceted as this one.
Second, we needed an engaging way to be creative with our animated storytelling that wasn’t unnecessarily distracting or complicated. What’s more, the client wanted to work with us to create a branded “look” or “style” in 3D that they could use for their company moving forward.
The Innovative Video Marketing Solution We Came Up With
How did we fill 90 seconds of video in an informative and fun way?
Surprise, surprise, we told a story, the most powerful tool a marketer has! In this case, adding a narrative framework to our marketing video helped us structure our narrative flow.
Even though our narrative wasn’t directly referenced in the animation’s voice-over, we were able to take timing cues and direction from the visual story that we crafted alongside it.
So, how do you connect a fantastical visual story to an unrelated narration?
The Rising Action & COnclusion
You use several narrative tricks like the 3-act structure, visual metaphors, and bold creative leaps to build a bridge between what the video’s audience expects and what you eventually present to them.
We opened the ad with “Jane”, our character profile of iTrade’s preferred customers (although they are many and multifaceted). Right off the bat, anyone watching our marketing video should start relating to the main character.
Next, Jane is gifted magical powers by a fairy godmother. She’s now a wizard and, even though the voice-over never mentions the transformation, the truth remains (so don’t question). Jane is now an animated magical hero. The association between magic and heroism is so deeply ingrained in fantastical cinema that it’s hard to consider anything else.
Finally, Jane gets a challenge to overcome… A dragon has delayed her food shipment! (Oh, those pesky dragons!) In the next scene, the dragon flies away, and the food is delivered. Even though Jane never defeats the dragon on screen, she’s still a wizard, so she – and the video’s target audience – are the heroes of the day.
By using creative marketing to blend reality and fantasy and to time visuals to narration, we created a cohesive video for iTrade that’s creative without sacrificing any informational value.
If you would like to have us direct your next innovative marketing video, please reach out.
