Going National.

World.

Your

Ah, 2021.

A simpler time.

As Gelia geared up for the concepting phase of our the 2022 Retail Awareness campaign, we were met with some pushback. No, not for the merits of our creative. And not for the metrics from the last two years either. But for how we would move forward.

See, Hello, Operator was a verifiable success from our standpoint and our clients'. But the economic and logistical realities of COVID still lingered like the smell of a wet dog.

So, what to do?

Why! Keep going.

Again, of course!

But this time, two years after launching our previous Retail campaign, at least we'd get to have a shoot. But traveling to customer jobsites was off the table. So was hiring a remote crew. Not to mention, ongoing supply chain issues continued to be a thorn in everyone's side.

But I guess I like the challenge of limitation.

brief insights

target

OWNER/OPERATOR

  • Owns 1-3 machines

  • Intimidated by Cat and its dealers

  • Incentivized by cost

goals

DEFINING SUCCESS

  • Flexible enough to last two years with 3 refreshes

  • Produce content w/o travel

challenges

THE UNEXPECTED

  • Rethinking production

  • Supply chain shortages

  • Post-production pipeline

Don’t Get Any Big Ideas

CONCEPTING

Yet another refresh.

Concepting began under the impression that this would just be another refresh. Hello, Operator 3.0, if you will.

So we began tinkering.

We knew we wanted to maintain the tone but shift the style as dramatically as possible. And whatever solution we came to, we'd have to contend with limited access to new assets. We came up with some solid solutions, and some concepts still make me wonder "what if"?

Any one of them would almost certainly have proved easier than where we landed.

Either way, as concepting progressed, and feedback was absorbed, we started to hone in on a unique solution. What if we could streamline production all while targeting specific regions, demographics and industries?

Real machines. Real people. Illustrated backgrounds.

Too easy.

Parlaying The Foundation

PRODUCTION + LOOK AND FEEL

Setting a new template.

We approached Remedy with an idea, a timeline and a budget. They must have thought we were really cool, because they said yes anyway.

So we got to work developing a rig. One big enough to cover the machines so we could rotoscope them in post, and small enough to do it all locally. Then we still had to wrangle a variety of machines as dealers couldn't stock them fast enough. And we needed a location.

Like I said before. Too easy.

But it all came together eventually. Over some fairly challenging months that are directly attributable to my current hair count. But regardless, I'm immensely proud of what we were able to achieve. And challenging as post-production would prove to be, we set ourselves up for success, given that we had to keep this thing fresh for another two damn years.

Built To Scale

MEDIA ASSETS

And we’re live.

#Blessed.

Because this creative team was truly an embarrassment of riches. In both talent and tenacity.

While our production partners hunched over their computers for weeks on end bringing our TV spot to life, we kinda did the same thing. Through a painful run of trial and error, led by a hungry young Art Director, Ginny, and brought to life by our in-house illustrator, Jo — we devised a production pipeline that enabled us to pump out unique pieces under consistently increasing demand. To my knowledge, we never missed a deadline.

Might have written off a few budget overages, though.

Remixed Media

CAMPAIGN EXTENSIONS

A solid outline.

Again, this was all meant to last for a couple years. So a having a few refreshes and offshots were always on the menu. When we were given the go ahead to do another shoot at the start of year two, we wanted to up the wow without upping the diffuclty. The biggest downside to our first go was that the content often felt a bit static.

Job 1 for year 2 — move more.

Tricky. Especially given our spacial limitations. But once again Remedy came through. The resulting TV spot featured more movement than an under-60 spin class, and the photos we captured breathed new life into our static executions.

The Real Dealer

OFFERS + INCENTIVES

Incentive is a four letter word.

Throughout the Retail Awareness campaign, offshoots like National Offer and Conquest came to Gelia with unique needs and goals. We continually revised and tailored the look and tone of Your World to satisfy each.

Dealers noticed. So did their customers.

And as the economy started picking back up, we were there to back dealers with the same expertise and support as before, but with a fresh new coat of paint.

It Takes All Types

LETTERING + TYPOGRAPHY

An illustrated approach.

In general, Caterpillar is pretty flexible when it comes to type. They've got their brand-approved fonts, sure. But it's a pretty big sandbox.

According to the brand guidelines, one way to speak directly to (and sometimes for) the customer is to utilize a hand-drawn font or lettering.

And utilize we did.

From custom, 3D lettering to simple manipulation of same handwritten fonts, the illustrative nature of this campaign gave us a fresh foundation for wordplay.

A Weave Of Their Own

MINI EXCAVATOR CAMPAIGN

The mini goes mega.

Caterpillar's product groups often like to develop their own unique campaigns, whether for product launches or more general awareness. In this case, the Cat Mini Excavator team loved what Gelia was doing elsewhere within their division. They set out to create a campaign and TV spot that touted the products USPs, all while upping the wow factor once again.

A one-shot oughtta do the trick.

And holy cow, was this one tricky. Whip-pans and quick-zooms galore. All compiled to give the illusion of one long take that moves seamlessly from jobsite to cab, and everyhwhere in between. And to really up the difficulty, we developed a flow that would work seamlessly as 8 second shorts for each USP.

Social Butterflies

SOCIAL SWEEPSTAKES

Drawing a following.

The Mini Excavator offshoot campaign was a pretty big deal.

Certainly the first time we'd ever done an entire TV spot for a single product line. And on the social front, that offshoot lead to another — The World's Greatest Worktrip, a social giveaway that promised to bring 4 crews out to Caterpillar's Clayton, North Carolina training facility for 3 days of operator training, culminating in an impressive grand-prize.

More fun for us though. With clients wanting another illustrative twist, we gave them a set of souvenirs to remember.

Speaking Of Results

CAMPAIGN METRICS