DDA had just designed and developed the US Supply Virtual Counter™, and comprehensive eCommerse website that allows the electricians, plumbers, HVAC specialists, and other building construction and maintenance workers that comprise US Supply's customer base the ability to flexibly purchase supplies on behalf of their companies. US Supply negotiates prices, credit, payment terms, and more with each customer, so each customer has a different experience in the eCommerce shop. The Virtual Counter is built with all the capacities to allow for effortless supply purchases and payment of tabs in a way that reproduces all the complexity of US Supply's in-person client relationships, with the same frictionless exchanges. But US Supply's customers are notoriously technology averse, so they needed a way to communicate the exceptional advantages of the new Virtual Counter eCommerce platform to a hesistant audience.
DDA and US Supply decided that an explainer video based on whiteboard animation would be the perfect way to succinctly summarize what the Virtual Counter does, how it works, and the advantages it offers to US Supply's customers. Whiteboard animations are able to simplify concepts into easy-to-understand images, while the effect of seeing these images illustrated in real time helps maintain the visual engagement necessary to ensure proper retention. DDA would work with US Supply every step of the way to ensure that the final result left US Supply's customers feeling confident that the Virtual Counter would meet all their needs on an online platform, helping to improve the efficiency of ordering and invoicing to the benefit of customer and US Supply alike.
DDA and US Supply worked together to develop an original script, and from their developed a storyboard showing how the script topics would be portrayed visually through illustrations in the 3-minute-long explainer video. DDA cast the voice-over talent for the video from its own Actors' Network of professional on-screen and voice-over talent, and recorded the narration at its own studios. DDA's professional animators then commenced to create the whiteboard animation by animating a simulation of a hand illustrating each of the main images that are the visual lynchpins of the explainer video. Once all the whiteboard animations were created, these were edited together with synchronized voice-over narrations into a complete whiteboard animation explainer video. Once finalized, the video was incorporated onto the US Supply Virtual Counter website, popping up immediately for first-time viewers to offer the perfect introduction to this groundbreaking new eCommerce platform.
The whiteboard animation has been successful in helping gain adoption of the Virtual Counter eCommerce platform by technology-resistant US Supply customers, and thus is a powerful example of how well-written scripts combined with clear and engaging animation can help companies realize their long-term goals.