and action | animation studio

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was a project manager for a recruitment project at Ukrainian Leadership Academy. It’s the biggest NGO in Ukraine working with teenagers after school, helping them to have a productive transition between school and university. I was in charge of creative work and promotion for a recruitment campaign.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AND ACTION?

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we weren’t able to conduct any offline recruitment as we’d usually do. In previous years, we’d go to schools around the country and work with students directly, but we had no way of doing that this year. We had to make an online campaign, and we also wanted to target a different audience. We usually worked with more extroverted students, and we wanted to get some smart introverted ones this time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

AND ACTION conducted a brief research with our potential students, based on which they drafted the creative concept of the campaign. They developed the key visuals and adapted those for different online channels. They also made a promotional video to be used on a few platforms, including social media and our website.

What is the team composition?

We worked with their CEO and with the creative director. We weren’t in touch with any other employees.

How did you come to work with AND ACTION?

They were recommended to us by another organization. Given that it was during the lockdown, we were looking for people who could create graphic videos, not just live-action ones. AND ACTION had a strong and modern portfolio, encompassing different styles and approaches. They were willing to experiment, and so were we, so it was a perfect fit.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost was below $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with AND ACTION in March 2020 and the project finished in June, after which we rolled out the campaign.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our team was satisfied with AND ACTION’s work. It was the first time we’d tried to do a whole campaign properly, and we liked this experience a lot. We received the same number of applications as in the previous year, which was important for us given the uncertainty caused by COVID-19. The online campaign worked as well as our previous offline ones, and the students who participated in the program were touched by the key visuals and the promotional video. The quality was very high.

How did AND ACTION perform from a project management standpoint?

They were ahead of the deadline, so we were happy with the time management. AND ACTION always proposed different ways of doing things, and they were proactive in asking for feedback. We felt that they were really interested in the project, and weren’t just working as an external team. They met all our deadlines and expectations. We communicated through Zoom and messengers. The project wasn’t that long, so we didn’t need to use Trello or any other scrum tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Creative agencies will usually just listen to the client and won’t be willing to push them to different ideas. AND ACTION brought some ideas that we weren’t ready for at first, but they proved to us that those would work better. They were persuasive in a good way, and they proposed very innovative graphic styles that we hadn’t considered in the beginning. They engaged in a professional discussion and didn’t just do what the client wanted. Their aim was to make us better.

Are there any areas they could improve?

After we had the script and everything else approved, we had 2–3 weeks of quiet time during which they made the video, and we didn’t receive any updates on how things were going. There was no communication, and we were a bit nervous. Communication during the project is something that could maybe be improved.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They should trust AND ACTION, relax, and enjoy the project. They really do everything in order to give the client the results they need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of Intellias, a software development company headquartered in Ukraine.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AND ACTION?

We were looking for a company that could develop great video content. We operate in the automotive industry, and we always need to communicate to employees and candidates our key value proposition, referral program, and how our company differentiates itself from others.

Ukraine is a quite competitive market, so we always need to communicate the benefits of our company to future employees, as well as explain different processes to current employees, and how they can refer friends to the company. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

AND ACTION provided video content for recruitment purposes, employee engagement, communicating our key value proposition and referral program, and so on.

They’ve produced animated content for most internal use, to explain how different processes work. When it came to external needs, it was mostly filmed content featuring our employees. We’re a global company with 30,000 engineers across the world, and we’ve produced videos at each of our offices, in Japan, China, the US, India, Mexico, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland.

What is the team composition?

We’ve done several projects with them, with varying team sizes. The referral program had a team of 20 people, including a producer, operators, copywriters, and editors.

How did you come to work with AND ACTION?

It was through a referral. We ran a tender and considered multiple companies. AND ACTION won based on their references from other companies and pricing. It was important for us to make a global picture, and not a local one.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve had different projects with them, from €5,000 to €100,000 per video (approximately $5,500 – $110,000 USD)

What is the status of this engagement?

We had our first project with them 2–3 years ago. The planning started at the beginning of 2018, and the execution was around February. It was a small project for internal communication, followed by the referral program. Right now, we’re working on a project about the employee value proposition. It’s a big project, and the video will be used both internally and externally.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I’ve gotten very good feedback from my colleagues in Ukraine in terms of quality, creativity, and return on investment.

How did AND ACTION perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a dedicated account manager driving the process at all stages. They’re quite agile in changing requirements during the project. I’m satisfied with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

 Their creativity is very impressive. They’re probably not the fastest, and they’re probably more expensive compared to other studios in Ukraine, but what they deliver is much more high-quality.

I’ve had experience with other studios, and I’d say that AND ACTION stands out in terms of quality of work and their understanding of what kind of message we want to deliver. They become part of the team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As I mentioned, they’re probably more expensive than other studios, and they don’t work as fast, but I can understand why. They’re probably not the best for small, fast projects intended for small audiences; they’re very specific and want to understand all the requirements. They talk to the stakeholders in order to define the roadmap.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to define the final message or goal you have for the video. If they understand the goal of the video, the result will be great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Chief Marketing Officer a software product development service company, specialized in Computer Networking, Embedded Development and the Internet of Things.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire and action?

We have hired And Action for the production of a compelling corporate video.

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal was to create a powerful video story, reflecting the company's new brand positioning and image after the significant re-branding.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I had a successful experience of collaborating with this agency when working for a previous company. That collaboration resulted in an award winning project, recognized by Ukrainian Design: the Best Of, as the best one in the Video category. My former team and I enjoyed the collaboration, so I decided to select this agency again for the new project.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail.

Once this agency was selected as our partner, they started learning about our business: our positioning, differentiation, service portfolio and the goals of the video. They drafted the initial script, and we used their structure, but had to rewrite the script significantly at own efforts.

Further on, we collaborated on the storyboard and selected the music. The end product was a 1.5 minute long, creative promotional video that we used for our website and social media.

Their team provided a couple of actors but mostly our company's team was filmed which served as additional internal motivation. We used our brand new, well-equipped office as the main filming location. The filming process was long but exciting for our whole team.

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

They provided a full filming crew and an animator for the post-production work. We have worked together on making the changes in the final video, and their turnaround was rather quick. I couldn't say that we always agreed on anything, but the discussion was always productive and pleasant.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The launch of the new video resulted in increased traffic to our website and activity on our social media pages. It also allowed us to illustrate our new positioning for our key audiences and we have received a lot of positive feedback on how well it reflects our unique brand, both from our team members internally, from our valued customers, partners and external communities.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The account manager on the agency site was easy to communicate with and always provided a clear and detailed status. We had a project timeline that was followed and all of our questions were answered promptly. The whole crew was very responsive and the collaboration was productive and pleasant. The filming process at our office was carefully planned and scheduled so it did not disturb any work and the order was quickly restored. Our team was satisfied with this collaboration.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

This is a very professional and creative team, easy to communicate with, always open for comments and suggestions. They are always looking for new ways to deliver more value to their customers by trying to understand their business goals and objectives. I'm impressed by their strong focus on continuous improvement of their service.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We have ended up with higher budgets than expected, in both projects I've collaborated with them on. This created some inconvenience as some heavy "internal selling" had to be done on our side to get that extra budget approved. However, we were aware what the additional charges included and were not willing to sacrifice the video quality, so we have agreed to this option prior to starting the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a product manager at a digital product design firm. We help startups and enterprises design and market their digital products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire and action?

We hired and action to produce a series of three promotional videos for one of our client’s public launch campaigns.

What were your goals for this project?

We set out to create engaging videos that would be consistent with an established brand voice.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We’d already developed visuals and a strong tone-of-voice, so we needed a partner that understood the product’s specifications, audience, and main value. and action’s team and portfolio looked much better than those of other references we received.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail.

We provided and action with a general script vision and asked them to validate it. Then, they dove into storyboarding, basing their concepts on the visual guidelines, illustrations, and other brand images we’d already developed. We chose the approach that worked best for us, analyzed proposed animations and illustrations, and started production. Once the videos were done, we gathered feedback from the client and had and action implement it.

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

They had a lean team. Khrystyna (CEO, and action) helped us identify the best approach during the discovery process while Vitalii (Co-Founder, and action) handled communication. Despite us being a little bit slow with feedback (there were a lot of stakeholders within our process), and action was responsive and proactive.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

General feedback from the stakeholders has been really good. After several sessions, we’ve decided to make some minor changes, but and action handled them quickly. We’re about to start the campaign and expect the videos to work well.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It’s been very natural. We use Skype for day-to-day communication and Google Docs to collaborate. They also have internal project management tools I believe.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’re both responsive to feedback and confident in their own ideas. If we asked them to change something, they would always explain the logic behind their initial choice. After, if we still wanted the change, they would make it. This helped us avoid mistakes multiple times. This process didn’t sacrifice either speed or quality.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can’t think of anything specific at the moment. They did a good job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The Lviv Film Commission is a municipal organization that provides information and assistance for production companies and independent filmmakers from all around the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire and action?

We needed support to create a promotional video for the Lviv Film Commission.

What were your goals for this project?

Our objective for this engagement was to produce an outstanding video to promote both our services and the city itself as a filming location with developed infrastructure.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We chose and action based on the balance of services and pricing they offered. 

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

and action worked independently based on our order and proposals. They 
completed every task according to the timeline we set out for the project.

What was the team composition?

The team included less than seven people.  Two people from our company helped adjust the concept and communicate our ideas to and action.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our promo video is said to be one of the best in the field.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our communication and timing with and action felt very comfortable. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Not only is and action the best and most professional team in Lviv, but they also offer an extensive range of competitively priced services. Their passionate team members contribute at every stage of production to meet the priorities of your project. and action’s creative attitude and individualized attention resulted in a unique audio-visual product.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everything worked fine.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive Creative Director of Playsense.agency

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

PLAYSENSE is the agency of digital creative nomads focused on the entertainment industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire and action to accomplish?

• Screenwriting
• Storyboarding
• Production 30+ short animated videos

SOLUTION

How did you find and action?

Referral

Why did you select and action over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from and action were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Develop the first season of a corporate cartoon movie — 30+ episodes. Key deliverables for us (from start of the project till current stage) were: 

1. Project Blueprint with scope, workflow, timeline and budget inside.
2. Several iterations of the script development.
3. Concept art for characters, environment and animation.
4. Storyboards.
5. Animation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Views were improved.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Excellent. Always on touch, always on time. Very flexible and responsible at the same time. 30+ animated videos — nice stress test for the new vendor ;-) 

What was your primary form of communication with and action?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their flexibility was highly commendable.

Are there any areas for improvement or something and action could have done differently?

Stay you, stay true! 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Business Development Manager of a software company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're a specialist technology company, we provide both consumer and commercial lending origination platforms to deliver application capture, decisioning, case management and loan completion.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire and action to accomplish?

• Video

SOLUTION

How did you find and action?

Referral

Why did you select and action over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from and action were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

And Action produced a high-quality explanatory video that met all our goals.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

A great quality video was produced within the agreed budget and met all the expectations.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Project Management team was always in touch with us, provided updates on project status, and reminded us regarding the deadlines. Everything was under tight control.

What was your primary form of communication with and action?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We were impressed with their creativity, responsiveness, commitment, quality of work, and friendliness.

Are there any areas for improvement or something and action could have done differently?

n/a

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Manager of Sonovate

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Invoice funding for recruitment agencies, consultancies and labour markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire and action to accomplish?

Create an explainer video

SOLUTION

How did you find and action?

Referral

Why did you select and action over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from and action were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We asked AndAction to create an explainer video that combines animation and our software screencast and is under a minute duration. They did an extremely good job.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Ability to fit into the deadline, speed of response, quality and engagement metrics of the video – all excellent.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Fast responses, the project was professionally organized on Google Drive.

What was your primary form of communication with and action?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Speed of feedback and changes, "easygoingness", creativity.

Are there any areas for improvement or something and action could have done differently?

Nah, no complaints at all.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Moon Labs Enterprise LLC is a company focused on developing an ecosystem of partnerships and products exclusively beneficial to holders of our token. My name is Blake, and I am the Owner of the company. Over the last 7 months we have began to employ a team of over 10 employees with the efforts to build a sustainable brand with continuous growth.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire and action , and what were your goals?

Since our initial preparation to launch, we have been working alongside and-action. They have provided us with a series of advertisement based marketing videos, as well as other graphics to go along with our social media marketing campaign.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to many different companies and individuals who essentially focus on freelance based graphic design. After conducting many meetings, we felt And-Action was the best choice based off both their enthusiasm about the project and there ability to execute behind the ideas provided.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

Initially we discussed the goals behind our company and how we plan to achieve them. Afterwards we went over the details of how And-Action can provide the necessary services and any insight they were able to provide. Lastly, the team started working on all of our graphic design needs immediately, while keeping us updated and on the same page through their job board.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have worked with many members of the And-Action team. Directly, we work with Vitalii who is very good at keeping us in the loop and communicating about any ongoing work. and action has a team of designers and animators who have helped provide high-quality results for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

So far, our community is very impressed with the many graphics and results we have shown them, and are excited to continue providing amazing content.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Throughout the process of working together, we have stayed in touch with near weekly updates, as well as meeting whenever necessary. Also, as any developments were being made, the company has made sure to keep us in the loop, and ask for feedback.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The company is very good about being transparent throughout the course of working together, and also providing beneficial input to make sure we are prepared in all aspects.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

So far, the company has continued to impress us, and we have nothing to critic.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founder

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire and action ?

We hired Vitali's team to complete a 15 second animated advertisement video for our NFT project.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Vitali's company through Upwork and continued the conversation externally

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Create a 15 second video within an extremely tight 15 day time frame.

What was the team composition?

We worked closely with Vitali and his creative team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We're extremely impressed with the quality of the video and the punctuality/dedication to our projects timelines. We had a very short 15 day time frame and Vitali's team managed to deliver on time and with an extremely high level of quality. This included full sound design. They even overdelivered and finished a 30 second video!!! We cannot recommend them enough.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They were very punctual and worked well to provide us regular updates and work around our opposing time zones (Australia - Ukraine)

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Communication, punctuality, feedback, general artistic quality and brilliance.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

I couldn't find any fault in their practices for this project. We would be using them again given the opportunity!