Was it all for naught?
When Todd lost his punch and all hope, animation played its tricks.
Another evening consumed by work. Another sleepless night that followed. But Todd didn’t mind.
Right away when he left the corporate world three months ago to run his own consultancy, he enjoyed the freedom, creativity and the refreshing absence of red tape.
With more than 20 years of marketing expertise under his belt, he felt more than equipped and ready to offer his experience by consulting businesses that didn’t have the marketing skills.
And like proof to his decision to freelance, he was offered his first consulting project during a marketing association event. Him receiving an award for his voluntary work there certainly created an extra stage that night.
Qanora Inc. was on the verge of a major launch of an entire new solutions portfolio of virucidal coatings for medical devices but, as a scale-up in their 7th year, their marketing department was inexperienced in such launches and understaffed.
Claire, their business development VP wanted him, after a good two hours discussion in the hotel bar, to define a full blown campaign to launch three brand new, disrupting solutions and to embolden the Qanora brand along the way.
As exciting as this was, time was of the essence and he competed with another consultant that had already presented successfully to the company’s CEO, Gail Frazer.
So, Todd spent every waking moment (and all too often into his sleep) on this opportunity. Despite some rather sad moments when his wife Alvina ventured out with friends on her own, while he created buyer personas, customer journeys, wrote value propositions and put launch plans together, aligning all the touch points and deliverables, calculated campaign costs and established a return of marketing investment KPI framework along the sales funnel.
To his surprise, Claire pushed back at one of the milestone presentations: “You gotta simplify it Todd and you gotta tone it down. Gail won’t have a lot of time and patience to review this rather complex marketing engine that you propose. I know where you’re coming from and your rich experience landed you this opportunity, but you’ll only have 15min tops - including Q&A, because the other consultant already has her foot in the door.”
This catapulted Todd straight into panic mode: with under two weeks to go, his whole concept crumbled.
How could he possibly simplify and ‘tone down’ an entire marketing program, launch campaign and brand re-positioning to present in a handful of slides within a few minutes? And still earn the trust and support of the Qanora management that was possibly already sold on the competing offer?
He was devastated and frankly quite lost and frustrated, also scared. He had poured all his resources and heart into this opportunity, but now he ran out of time and energy. He missed his friends, his family and Alvina also showed signs of sadness and frustration. He knew all too well what was at stake: pretty much everything that he had built over the years: a cozy home, strong relationships and exciting perspectives.
What if he wouldn’t land this project?
What if the next projects proved as difficult to get?
What if we was in all honesty not cut out for this career as a marketing consultant?
How could he have been so naiv to put all his eggs into this one basket? Was there even any other way, will this always be like this?
All of a sudden Todd felt small, vulnerable and incapable of acting. His engine seemed to have stalled somehow.
And then, he received the news: Claire - his supporter and protégé - Qanora’s VP of Business Development, would leave the company - within days.
All hope was lost.
We - animated!
“Edutain them!”
Alvina surprised him when Todd opened up about his frustration and anxiety.
“How?”, he asked as he wasn’t able to connect the dots yet.
“Look honey, that CEO - Gail her name? - she seems to be three things: uneducated on marketing, incredibly busy and in real need of something that truly works. Especially since her VP of business development just left.”
“But what do you mean by ‘edutain’?”
“Remember when you looked into freelance platforms after you started your own business? And do you remember about that one whiteboard animation by Fiverr, explaining their whole ecosystem?”
“Yeah - they really made it easy to understand the process and … WAIT A MINUTE!”
“Exactly” - Alvina smiled.
She was right!
What Todd wanted to present and ‘sell’ was quite similar: a business process not unlike a market place ecosystem. With that one whiteboard animation Todd felt excited and well informed to take a decision: to join and offer his services at Fiverr. This five minute clip convinced him, that he needed exactly this program.
Wasn’t this exactly what he wanted to deliver to Gail?
“But it’s no use! How can I possibly create such a video that transports all my presentation content in a little less than a week? To find an agency, brief them, production, review, etc. will take ages. And it will also take a big bite out of my budget.”
“It can’t be done!”
“Listen to yourself babe: you are talking about a proven success and the solution lies immediately within!”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you immediately sign up? Aren’t there a ton of freelancers that offer exactly this kind of work, right in Fiverr?”
Right AGAIN!
Todd went straight to work at Fiverr and found five freelancers right away that showcased impressive white board animations, two of which with a strong marketing background. So they would have no trouble understanding his content: a marketing campaign and brand expression. The pricing was surprisingly fair and they selected one artist who even offered a very simple but effective scripting template they completed together while sipping on a glass of wine together - something they had not done in months.
The next days Todd and Alvina pushed that white board animation explainer video over the finish line. It was one of the most inspiring experiences they had together in a long time.
“Come with me”, said Todd the night before the presentation.
“Are you serious?”
“Sure, this video is your brain child, you know it inside out after scripting and refining it. And who knows, Gail might like you better than a nervous over-thinker.”
The Qanora managment team was impressed and they awarded the project to Todd - and Alvina.
Six months later, after Todd had successfully established and executed the marketing program at Qanora, the company offered two more projects for an even bigger product innovation. Alvina joined Todd’s business and they use Fiverr now for most of their business needs. Be it designs, mar-tech software, research or even drop-shipments.
