The saying that ‘trust is the foundation of a strong and successful relationship’ couldn’t be more true. It is the sentence that pretty much sums up one of our most recent projects completed for Hoya. We started off on mutual grounds and we both knew that something extraordinary is already on the horizon. Prior to contacting us, Hoya’s marketing team had already reviewed our portfolio and was absolutely sure that we were the right team for this job. It is a big challenge for everyone to tackle a responsibility without feeling pressure, especially when you are contacted by a big brand with a mindblowing history and you simply don’t want to fail. Don’t get me wrong, in the past we already used to service a lot of big entities, but the bar is always set higher when you don’t want to disappoint somebody who instantly trusts you for no reason.
As a result, we gathered up all our concentration and devotion to live up to the expectations, trying hard to push the bar up at every production step. After the creation of initial deliverables (storyboard, character concept) we collected very positive feedback and introduced only minor amendments – this undertaking was meant to be a success from day one!
About HOYA
As a global manufacturer of spectacle lenses, HOYA is constantly striving to improve optical technology innovation with the aim of finding only the best vision solutions. HOYA has been a partner to eye care professionals for over 75 years, enabling them to give people the greatest gift – the gift of vision. 36,000 employees in more than 30 countries and regions strive to provide indispensable products and services to contribute to create a healthy and prosperous society.
The process
The production schedule was expected not to exceed 6 weeks and despite tackling some of the processes in a very slow and gentle manner we finished the project on time. What is really important is that we never felt any sort of pressure coming from our partner’s team.
It took quite some time to complete the illustration design process due to the introduction of horizontal panoramic frames, but the overall results boosted our confidence:
We spent a lot of time testing different technical solutions, enriching illustrations with effects that create depth, having a lot of internal brainstorming sessions devoted to the introduction of 3D environments/objects, ending up with the addition of classic character animation. We were a little bit afraid about the final outcome as we actually never blended so many approaches together. The animatic seemed to be quite good, with the help of RPM (our partner sound design studio) we re-recorded the voiceover many times. trying to shorten less lively explanatory scenes and it’s true- the assessment of the final outcome proved that we had made some mistakes at early production steps. Enthusiasm caused by the achievement of this specific artwork complexity cheers us up however and we believe everyone makes mistakes while taking the goals to the next level.
Lessons learned
#1. Trust your designer. It’s not just about Hoya trusting our team, it is also about us trusting the artists that we closely work with. A little longer wait never killed nobody and very often it’s really worth it.
#2. Experiment as much as you can. Blending different techniques and approaches may only enrich the project and give you a feeling that there’s nothing that can’t be explained with animated content.
#3. The devil’s in the details. The more time you devote to enhancing even the simplest objects in an illustration, the better the outcome. We’ll get back to that soon in our next blog series created by K&C’s top designers.
Customer Experience Summary
“Our goal was to create an animation that would explain the technology behind Sync III relaxing spectacle lenses with BlueControl protective coating. The results created by K&C surpassed our expectations, they provided us with educational content that makes you want to watch it again. The whole production process went by rapidly and we were fully supported by the studio at every step of the way. What personally struck me as positive during the execution of this project was K&C’s openness to our needs and instant implementation of required changes. They’re great listeners too and we always managed to create a friendly atmosphere while working together. The animation is used in our social media channels and in optical shops, as a part of our customer communication strategy. “
Maja Kornacka | Hoya Lens Poland Marketing Team
The influence of COVID-19
The world has suddenly gone digital. More and more companies are striving to stand at a stable position in the market, which requires creative and innovative approaches. Fortunately, animated content has proven to be a powerful communication tool for many of those who wish to stay in touch with the target audience. We’re not sure if it is the true reason that led Hoya to contact us, but they just sought fresh content for their customers just like everyone else these days.
Dear friends at Hoya, we can’t wait to start our next joint mission.
Yours,
Mateusz Kubicki
