By Barbara Basney, vice president global advertising, Xerox
We set out to tell the story of what Xerox does today, while honoring what everyone knows Xerox for — the invention of the plain paper copier. To tell this story, we created a new and unexpected video about Xerox.
ARVE Error: need id and providerSo, what is unexpected? Certainly paper is not unexpected – but what is unexpected is using paper to tell a story about the Xerox you don’t know. A story about the services we provide to businesses and governments around the world, that touch you in ways you never imagined. Things like healthcare solutions that help doctors and hospitals provide better patient care, anti-counterfeit packaging to ensure you are really getting the prescription prescribed, solutions that enhance the public transportation you rely on, and instant pop-up call centers that provide critical communications for victims and their families during natural disasters. These are a few of the ways Xerox is helping simplify not only how business, but the world works.
The videography uses a unique approach to tell this unexpected story in an unexpected way. It was a labor of love on the part of Xerox, our lead agency partner Young & Rubicam, and our production agency Psyop. It required two weeks in a windowless, lightless concrete studio to create a special technique that brings our story to life. The technique was based on a manually intensive process of printing, folding, cutting, crimping, air blowing, rolling, stacking and pasting individual pieces of paper by hand – in order to create an effect of animation that isn’t animation, but is actually stop-motion. Because it is hard to imagine this process, we captured some behind the scenes footage so you could see the Y&R and Psyop team in action.
ARVE Error: need id and providerIn addition to all the work we anticipated, we even had a few natural disasters of our own…with the studio flooding a few times – not a good thing with all of the cameras, computers and electrical equipment! But, we all emerged unscathed, albeit with a bit of a Vitamin D deficiency. But also with a feeling that we had created something truly special that delivered against the objective of telling the story about the Xerox you don’t know — the new Xerox of today, that is helping simplify how the world works.
When she isn’t looking after the global advertising for one of the world’s most iconic brands, Barbara is known for her love of all things energetic, athletic and organic.
