Link Logistics Case Study
Meeting the growing video needs of a growing client.
At Demo Duck, we love logistics. Just ask our team of punctual producers. Plotting out timelines, crafting call sheets, scheduling pitch presentations. And over the last four years and counting, we've figured out the video production logistics to craft videos for Link Logistics, an industrial real estate company.
"Link" is a leading operator of last-mile industrial and warehouse properties. And they've been growing, growing, growing—expanding their portfolio of properties and head count year by year. We've produced video content to help their comms match this pace, from educating and training internal and external audiences on new tools and initiatives, to building excitement for company news and events.
Educating While Defining a Visual Brand
Our partnership began in 2021, with the opportunity to create an animated video that reintroduces Link's core ESG initiatives. An exciting project, but a two-fold challenge. Accomplish their messaging ask, while also developing a design and motion style that takes their brand into the animated video space in a new, fresh way.
As usual, simple and clean is best. We used a crisp line art style and then breathed some life into their cool, calm branding by expanding their color palette a bit. Also, let's face it, exteriors of warehouses and buildings aren't always the most riveting to look at, so we used some angular exaggeration and colorful shading to give the structures extra visual intrigue.
Not only did we want to ace this first video, but we got the sense this could be a long-term partnership. So taking the time to think of a design and motion style for their brand would set us up nicely for potential video projects to come.
Making Product Walkthroughs Pop
Link has over 1,100 employees worldwide. And to keep them empowered and efficient, the company has developed a suite of internal software to use in their workflow. Link asked for our help to create a variety of videos that either walk through these platforms on a high-level, or dive into the operational ins-and-outs of platform functionality.
Software demo videos are part of Demo Duck's DNA. They're how we first got the "Demo" in our name, as they were one of our main offerings when the company was founded in 2011. However, as the years have gone by, we've utilized our skills in 2D and 3D animation and kinetic text to take our platform walkthrough videos to a new level. This elevation makes these videos more engaging to watch, and helps make information memorable too.
Sometimes, our clients provide versions of their UI in Figma, or they only have demo versions of the product with little time to record footage of the platform in action. If it's the latter, we roll up our sleeves and learn the platforms ourselves. For many Link product walkthroughs, our teams logged into demo versions of the tools and then screen recorded the correct flow to show functionality. We needed to consider different screen recording sizes or formats too, which meant getting flexible with new production tools on our end. After collecting the footage, we added an uptempo editing rhythm to inject excitement—and in the case of certain videos, added some helpful animated Link spokescharacters to walk through the tool's functionality.
Building Excitement for What's Next
Part of being a growing company is looking towards the future. It's getting staff excited for new tools and initiatives that are in development. And that can create the need to make an internal "Hype" video to tease what's new and next. We've had the chance to help Link in this department as well.
Creating a "Hype" video is an interesting challenge, as it's often hints of a product walkthrough or explainer, while also weaving in a larger marketing message. Something that speaks to more of an emotional goal, of driving pride or intrigue of what's to come. And of course, you want to anchor it in something real so it doesn't just feel like "only" hype. Our team has seasoned script writers who thrive within the traditional ad copywriting wheelhouse, able to think big and bold with that emotional benefit in mind. For Link, we melded a text-on screen script with big bold statements, hints at product UI and even stock and designed graphics to make it feel a little 'bigger' than just a new tool.
Adding Fun and Sizzle to Industry Events
Now this was a fun one. After proving how versatile we are with video production throughout our engagement, Link brought us a dream project. They needed a video to kick off their annual employee conference—Hyperlink—in an exciting and welcoming way. The only initial requirements were that they wanted it to bridge 2D animation and live action, and that we needed to feature "Sally Sue," an animated spokescharacter we had used in past videos. The video also needed to translate well to a big conference room screen and viewing environment.
Our team got to work crafting a story and script. Sally Sue starts in her native animated Link world (hello, design style we set!) and then walks into a magic warehouse and is transported to the live action real world. She meets Link's CEO who also becomes animated, and they race to Orlando for the conference in a climactic finish. Simple as that, right? We did a group read of our initial script to Link, formatted in a Hollywood screenplay style, and they loved it.
While storyboarding out the animated parts, we shot the live action footage of Link's CEO Luke Petherbridge (nice fellow) and coached him through his first acting gig. He's been in front of the camera, but he's never had to act directly to a then-non-existent animated character.We then worked on designing and animating the rest of the story, including a 2D animated version of Luke himself. We needed everything to feel BIG, so that meant sound effects, exciting music changes, action sequences, fun shot types and more—all adapted to the specs of the conference screen and sound system.
We've also helped outfit Link with additional graphics for conference presentations. Visualizing data, animating maps of properties across the country and more. Some events call for graphics to read "bigger" due to the venue, which is also a chance to elevate visuals past a traditional powerpoint.
A Partner that Adapts to Your Growing Video Needs
We pride ourselves on our long-term partnerships. It's an opportunity to show the variety of styles, ideas and production techniques we have up our sleeves. Hey, we can do that. But do you know we can also do that? With the right video partner, the relationship turns into a choose-your-own-adventure. Just ask the Link team. Whatever the need is, we can get it done. Especially if it's animating your CEO.
