“In an industry
driven by creative,
how do you tell
the story of
the business behind that?”
Mark Egmon,
VP Marketing, the Team Companies
A new branded video for The Team Companies brings life to the history of their wide-ranging business services through a colorful animation featuring paper cutouts created by Flavor.
While referencing events that occurred during Team’s evolution — specifically, the space shuttle’s launch into orbit and return to earth — the 90-second narrative explains how the group expanded from a payroll company into a multi-functional business partner that supports clients in the touring, entertainment, advertising, and music industries over a journey of two decades.
The Companies’ particular expertise in guiding clients through complex union rules and labor laws is just one stop in the groovy, retro-hued Peter Max kind of trip.
TEAM COMPANIES BRANDED VIDEO BY FLAVOR
“We were looking for something that told a story but also gave a concise overview of what we do as a company,” recalls Team Companies VP Mark Egmon. “We’re talking about a comprehensive and diverse group of services in the creative industry.’
Egmon and his coworker Peter Whittleder wove the information into a timeline that not only matched the company’s ongoing lifespan but also ran concurrently with the era of the space shuttle.
Egmon says that it was a way to keep the script “engaging, informative, and stylish” without being “just a laundry list of bullet points.”
The motherlode of accompanying visuals prohibited the usual production routes.
“We used terms like ‘jungle,’ but we weren’t going to shoot in a jungle,” Egmon continues. “And if you licensed stock footage, all the images that aligned with the references it would have been very disjointed.”
Noting that, “Chicago is rich with creative talent,” Egmon and Team looked for ideas from a handful of Windy City shops, many of which are their clients. They were immediately attracted to one in particular.
“When this was proposed by Flavor, we found it intriguing,” Egmon remembers. “It was something that we hadn’t seen done as often as we had chalk animation.”
According to Flavor Creative Director Brian McCauley, the solution was a natural fit.
“We felt that since The Team Companies began as a payroll company, it was a subtle nod to the paper paycheck,” he explains. “Also, most creative endeavors begin on paper, like sketches on napkins or song lyrics in a notebook, so we really liked the idea of unfolding their history in this concept.”
The video’s paper elements were created digitally and based on the traditional material, but they change along the course of the story. McCauley likes how the technique matches Team’s development as a company.
“Something that was interesting was trying to come up with a way to visually evolve the style as the spot progresses,” he says. “Just as The Team Companies moved beyond payroll services, we wanted to show that the style changed.”
“Kudos to Flavor,” says Egmon. “It took many iterations to get to the crux of what we do and come up with something that people pick up on.”
CREDITS
TEAM COMPANIES
Script: Mark Egmon, Peter Wittleder
FLAVOR
Creative Director: Brian McCauley
Design & Illustration: Mack Neaton
Lead Animator: Colby Capes
Animators: Brad Backofen, Adam Kohr
Send your creative news to Reel Chicago Editor Dan Patton, dan@reelchicago.com.
