HZDG
Here’s the rub: You have a new motion graphics department, you want to get new motion graphics business, but you don’t have the projects you need to get the projects you want. This was the situation HZDG faced. “We wanted to show off, but we didn’t have a lot of motion to show,” says Karen Zuckerman, president and executive creative director. The solution? Take still work already done for real clients, and just go for it. “We took our print and web work and animated it,” Zuckerman explains. “Most of the animations on the reel were created just for the reel. This became our first motion piece.”

Full of motion it is. The reel hits hard with rapid-fire imagery, distorted, upbeat music and visuals that pop, bounce, leap, spin, jump, fly, do splits, play pool and throw toy airplanes in the sky. “It’s wild and loud and geared toward the clients we want to win,” Zuckerman says. “We’d rather have our clients tell us to tone it down than pump up the volume,” adds Jefferson Liu, senior art director. When you have no client-imposed limits on your creativity, the job then becomes one of selection and editing. “We chose projects and clients that we could animate well,” says creative director Tamara Dowd. “We showed clients that were good to show off. We didn’t want this to be a case history; we wanted to create something that would make people want this to be their video.” As would be expected with something this energetic, the motion snippets are targeted to entertainment-oriented industries—such as sports, restaurants and retail—and real estate. “The reel shows the range of what we can do,” says Zuckerman. “It’s not one certain style. It’s just energy.”

While the reel has created the hoped-for buzz among current and potential clients, there have been some unexpected and unanticipated results as well. Initially the reel was given out on a jump drive as part of pitches; now it lives on the agency’s home page. “A lot of our clients are seeing this and wishing they had video like this,” Zuckerman reports. “And a lot of people are surprised that we can do all this in-house. It gives them the idea that they can explore doing this for themselves.” The piece has also served as a recruiting tool, giving motion designers a strong sense of the creative atmosphere at the agency. But perhaps most surprising was the reaction of the firm’s most conservative client: It saw the reel and immediately turned over all its interactive work. Laurel Saville

HZDG | CREATIVE DIRECTORS: KAREN ZUCKERMAN, TAMARA DOWD | ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER: JOHN WHITLOCK | MOTION DESIGNER: DAVE GLANZ | WWW.HZDG.COM