Built with Purpose

Clif Builders product, social, and e-commerce rebranding assets.

An inside look at how we crafted a marketing campaign ecosystem for the re-launch of Clif Builders Protein bars, featuring modular elements for creating digital, print, and video assets.

Services

Pre-production

Creative direction
Producing services
Project management

Production

Creative direction
Production management
Studio shoot
Reference photography

Post-produciton

Video editing
3D modeling/texturing
3D animation
Compositing
Motion graphics
Animation
Color grading

Overview

Clif Bar came to us when they decided to update the packaging across a number of their products. They wanted to revamp the look and feel for nearly their entire product lineup and Builders Protein was the first to get the treatment.

It would act as a testing ground for developing a creative ecosystem from which they could develop numerous marketing assets, and would then apply the same approach to their other products.

We teamed up with Clif's internal creative team to bring their vision to life, in the form of creative building blocks like 3D packaging renders and typeface, and final assets like product videos and HTML banner ads.  

Their storyboards called for photo-realistic bars, wrappers, and boxes that had freedom of movement in a composite space made of photographed ingredients and solid colored digital backgrounds.

This style would be the foundation for an ecosystem that would be carried over to future spin-off products like Builders Minis and Builders Caffeine.

Approach

We broke down Clif's storyboards and narrowed our approach down to two possibilities–photographing the products and packaging in-studio or building 3D models.

In the interest of maximum flexibility, we opted to build in 3D. If the Clif team ever wanted to see anything at a different angle or with different lighting, it wouldn't involve a costly re-shoot, rather just a tweak in post-production.

We did still execute a smaller-scale studio shoot to capture reference material of the products for our 3D artists, and to capture the hand movements that Clif's storyboards called for.

Things were pieced together as we went, and final assets were inserted where needed as they were approved by Clif. Once all the elements were final, the individual deliverables were packaged as a mini-asset library that the Clif team could pull from to create their marketing materials.

Results

When all was said and done, we delivered a fully fleshed-out marketing campaign and its component elements, helping to realize the unified look and feel Clif envisioned to attract Builders' core audience in a way their old approach simply wasn't doing.

Clif Builders Protein

Product Video

Great Tasting, Hardworking

Looping E-Commerce Page Marquee

Clif's creative team also had the means to build upon the themes and ideas for future marketing assets, knowing they'd remain consistent regardless of the platform or placement.

Big thanks go out to our partners on this project–Clif's amazing internal creative team, our ever-reliable partner, K8C Studio, and our go-to 3D studio, Fox and Lion Digital.

Builders Protein Minis

Product Video

Builders Relaunch

Coffee Collection

Renew Life Gummies

"Our go-to agency"
Axes is our go-to agency for a full range of video and production projects. They consistently deliver top-notch quality work and are a reliable, collaborative partner–like an extension of our internal creative team. They bring a calm, positive attitude to everything we work on together, and I know I can rely on them to solve any challenges that come up while always delivering on time and on budget.
Julia Mitchell, Creative Program Manager, Clif Bar & Co.

Team

Mackenzie Mathis

Production supervision, animation

Robert Burns

Art direction

Ashley Andrews

Concept design, world-building, social strategy

Kate Chuang

Concept design, world-building, social strategy

Julia Mitchell

Project management

Brandon Hall

3D modeling and texturing

Tony Hocevar

3D lighting and animation

Dan Juenemann

Studio lighthing

Alex Harvey

Copywriting

Janice Whang

Hand modeling

Take the first step toward building a better brand.

If any unanswered questions remain, we're here to answer them. We practice radical transparency and want our potential clients to dive in eyes open and with the right expectations. Seriously, ask us anything.

Let's collaborate

Whether you have a kernel of an idea or a fully fleshed out plan, we want to work together to express your vision and help your brand project its true self. Reach out and let’s schedule a virtual meetup.

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