Description

Wonder Workshop is an innovative toy company that designs robots and apps to teach kids about programming.  When producing video for startups, we are often tasked with creating video solutions which serve many masters.

Wonder Workshop needed a series of cost-effective marketing videos to introduce their line of toys and to inform parents and the press about the benefits.  The videos would be used in multiple applications: broadcast commercials, web spots, trade show video, sales video and PR video and video for social media.  They needed a smart and strategic video production approach that would stretch their budget and make the most of the footage we captured.  They also needed a Bay Area production company that could work quickly to complete the video production prior to the Christmas holiday sales push.  Wonder Workshop relied on our “soup to nuts” suite of video production services to pull together all of the elements needed for the commercial shoots.

We began by working with the Wonder Workshop team to develop creative concepts which would deliver on key marketing messages. We wrote scripts for different spot and, with their target audience in mind, we began casting on camera talent — 3 kids ages 10-12 and “Mom”.

The project required a high quality commercial production approach, so we pulled in our production team of experts, led by Bayside Entertainment’s Director and Director of Photography Steve Wynn: art director and set decorating team, gaffers, grips, makeup, wardrobe, a studio teacher for the kids and production assistants. Our location scout identified a home location that we could take over for two days of shooting.  We had a long shot list to accomplish with the additional challenge of working with minors who have limited time on set, so we needed the shoot to go seamlessly and efficiently.

Working with our client-approved shooting script, we shot video content for four different web videos during our 2-day shoot. The goal was to bring to life the personality of Dash and Dot — the cute, interactive robots — as the kids related to them in different scenarios.  We also needed to capture all of the different features and accessories in a fun and engaging way.

As it typical with startups, creative assets were still in development during the video production process, so we found workarounds and continued to be nimble during the post-production process to incorporate new elements as they became available.  We chose music and brought in narration talent to add the final polish.

The marketing videos were a huge success.  They used the web spots for ad buys on the retails sites where the products were offered (Amazon.com, Apple store).  The cute commercials helped their product cut through the noise and clutter of the busy shopping season and they sold out within weeks of the product launch.  They also used the videos for social media, building awareness among Mommy bloggers.  The videos supported their PR efforts as well.  The team used them extensively in their outreach to media outlets and at toy trade show events.

It was a home run project and the client was thrilled:

We couldn’t have done it without Joanie & Steve Wynn and the Bayside Entertainment crew! The entire team were great to work with from scripting to shoot to edits. Truly a first-class operation. Can’t recommend you enough to people looking to make great looking videos! Ned Ward, VP Marketing

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