Overview
WaiverForever is a product that offers electronic waiver signing platforms for its customers. The team considers an introduction video on their landing page a good way to promote their product.
Creative Brief
Problem
Although its landing has detailed feature introductions, potential clients are still confused about what does WaiverForever do and how could they apply it to their own businesses.
Objective
To help potential clients understand:
• What problems could WaiverForever help with
• How electronic waiver signing system works
• The features of the product
• The benefits of using the product
• The credibility of the product
Target Audience
They are mainly small business owners who need to use paper waivers for their customers. Based on their existing data, their target audience are most likely from the business areas of tours, sports, events, rentals, and entertainment. Their ages generally range from 35 to 55 years old.
Key Messages
As we communicate with the WaiverForever team, here are some key messages that they want us to put on its intro video to help with the product marketing:
• WaiverForever deals with the traditional paper waiver dilemma
• The waiver signing system is easy to use
• The management features could help your business to grow
• WaiverForever is a reliable product
Competitive Analysis
In our initial meeting with WaiverForever team, they showed us its biggest competitor SmartWaiver’s product introduction video. SmartWaiver and WaiverForever are two of the most biggest providers for electronic waiver systems in the market. Here we did a summary analysis of SmartWaiver’s introduction video.
Adopt
• Statement of problem with traditional paper waivers
• Feature introduction
• The reliability of the product
Not Adopt
• Signing process is not complete
• No emphasis on signing from mobile app
• Overall speed is fast
Concepts
To work out the concepts for intro video, with Waiver Forever team, we had a couple of meetings. Based on their marketing strategy and the research results, we decide to have seven scenes for the intro video as indicated by the mind map below.
Visual styles
Our client did not have a specific visual style in mind when we discussed the visual style. They wanted a visual style that was compatible with their branding and landing page design. To help decide the visual styles, we offered them four motion graphic styles from other motion design artists. In the end, they picked the second one. Considering the fact that their target audience are mostly 35 - 55 small business owners, WaiverForever team thinks that flat designed style with solid shape and low saturated color would be easier to be understood by their potential customers. It is also more compatible with their current branding.
Scripts
Voice acting
We created the scripts based on the mind map we agreed on previously. In order to make the video more smooth, we also add some transition between each scene. Then we sent the scripts to WaiverForever team. After several iterations and proof reading, the scripts were finalized.
The next step is to find a voice actor to read our scripts. Our client wants a female voice actress. We went to a voice service platform called VoiceBunny. We had three voice actress to test read (two scenes based on their policy) our scripts. After we got the test records, we sent it to the clients with our own recommendation. It turns out both the WaiverForever team and us are in favor of the same voice actress in terms of pitch and speed. We then got back to the voice actress and she soon sent us the entire voice records along with audio license.
Storyboard
STYLE GUIDE
B & W Illustration
Color illustration
Animation Design
Based on the sketches, we had a long discussion over the animation design including animation style, the motion design for each single step, and transition design from one scene to anther. We wrote a plan on animation design based on our discussions. We then made simple demos and showed them to our client. The WaiverForever team went through the demos, and offered us their opinions.
ANIMATION STYLE & TRANSITIONS
Iterations
First Round
For our initial demo, we haven’t not added sound effects and background music to this version. We showed this to WaiverForever team. They liked the overall graphic and animation style. They also suggested us to make the following changes:
There should be a short logo animation section at the beginning of the intro video
• S1-3: too fast, audience is hard to understand the meaning the visual elements convey
• S2-2: there is no need for extra scrolling
• S3-4: outdoor scene is too boring: there are only mountains in the background
• S4-1: no need for data, pace strange
• S4-2: the ball split effect is not symmetrical
• S4-3: there could be a mouse hits effect for the button “analytics”
• Transitions are not consistent across the whole video composition
• Video pace (rhythm) needs to be adjusted to go with the voice script
Second Round
For our second iteration, we made changes based on our initial review. Our client liked our changes for most part. They especially like the consistent transitions. They also suggested us to make the following improvements based on version one:
• The spinning mask transitions are too fast
• S3-1: The use of green only in several scene reduces the consistency of composition
• S3-3: Camera zoom too fast
• S4-1: no need for green check mark
• S4-2: Remove the search by time (calendar) section in scene 4, section 2
• S4-3: export to analytics transition not natural, need to be improved
• S4-1: no need for data, pace strange
• S4-2: the ball split effect is not symmetrical
• S4-3: the curve line above the bar chart seems to be redundant
• S6: client list need to be adjusted
• S7: remove some promotion information due to marketing strategy change
Second Round
For our third iteration, we added sound effects and background music to the intro video. Our client is
quite happy with the video part. Here are their final feedbacks for improvements:
• Some final changes on the rhythm of the video together with voice script and audio
• There are too many sound effects, might consider
removing some
• Background music is too loud
• Certain sound effects are uncomfortable and disturbing, needs replacement
After the iterations of the animation, we finalize the video part. Then we started adding background music and sound effect to the motion graphic video. We offered WaiverForever team three videos with three different background musics and same sound effects. The WaiverForever team picked one that fitted the pace and vibe of the video the best. They also offered us feedbacks on sound effects. After a few iterations on audio, we settled down the final audio part of the intro video.
