Wal-Mart brings financial literacy to its employees with Operation HOPE
Many jobs offer benefits to employees, and obviously, all jobs pay. But not many jobs offer the benefit of helping you “make the most of your money” like Walmart and Operation HOPE. And they teamed up with us to make it happen.
Operation HOPE is the philanthropic brain child of John Hope Bryant, one of the most influential entrepreneurs and thought leaders of his generation. He’s been recognized as the “conscience of capitalism” by many prominent CEOs, and it’s his mission to educate underserved communities about finance, and aid people in creating stable futures for themselves and their families.
In short, he’s really cool, and we were excited to be a part of one of his endeavors.
In this case, the initiative was to provide Walmart employees with vital information to help them secure their financial futures. The approach was two-pronged: one part was story-driven, with actors playing Wal-mart employees speaking to each other, embodying common mistakes and offering advice; the other part was John Hope Bryant himself providing introductions and conclusions to each of the story vignettes.
We sent a small team to Operation HOPE HQ to capture content with John Hope Bryant, spearheaded by Director Alesso Graci and DP Sebastian Chamaca. The bulk of the videos, however, was shot in our studio against colorful set paper backgrounds. The colorful pastel palette kept the videos vibrant and exciting, even when covering less “interesting” topics like credit score. As opposed to shooting on a green screen, the practical set paper saved us time and money in post-production, as well as afforded us the opportunity to create a soft, natural gradient on the background.
Once we transitioned to post, editor Cameron Shaw took the reins and brought the videos to life. Lead Animator Seth Johnson provided the crisp, clean graphics treatment, which was a critical visual aid for the more complex financial concepts.
As creatives with analytical minds, we excel at taking topics often characterized as “dry” or “boring” and making them fun and eye-catching. Making someone say “Wow, I never thought that could be so much fun to learn about!” is a refrain we never get tired of hearing.