Crawford’s digital holiday video has become an annual tradition. Each year, the creative team is tasked with topping the video from the prior year. In 2020, the challenge was even more formidable. The pandemic forced most of Crawford’s employees, including its marketing and communications team, to work from home at a safe distance from colleagues. But a little distance was no match for the creative chops of this group.
It all started with a little holiday inspiration — in June.
The creative team explored a variety of ideas and landed on the concept of a collaborative art piece, with the collaboration taking place remotely due to COVID-19. The plan was to have participants record their parts separately on their computers, and then edit the pieces together for the final product.
Once the team created a storyboard that gave context to their ideas, the they enlisted help from Lampstand Story Company, an Oklahoma-based, full-service production house, to help with the script and directional notes to use during filming. After the logistics of the video were worked out, the creative team began the process of selecting employees to represent Crawford & Company. Since Crawford serves clients around the world, it was important to choose employees that demonstrated Crawford’s global reach. Twelve employees were selected from Crawford’s offices in Georgia, Florida, California, Canada, the U.K. and Spain.
Due to the pandemic, video props had to be delivered by mail to each individual taking part. Each person needed their own paintbrush, some paint, three art boards and a special gift box for the final production of the video.
Filming began after each employee received supplies. Video shoots were remotely collaborative with our creative team and video production team connecting with each employee over zoom to work through through shots. This took a lot of coordination and communication to create a concise and accurate portrayal of what the creative team had originally designed.
After editing, the final video was handed off to our marketing and communications teams to be dispersed to over 40,000 recipients around the globe. A distribution of this size takes coordination and creation. Landing pages, communications, and distribution lists all had to be produced.
Six months of planning, writing, producing and directing went into creating the final result. It was worth it! Ultimately, the project represents — both literally and figuratively — how Crawford employees have persevered through the pandemic by staying connected and unified in their purpose of restoring and enhancing lives, businesses and communities.
See the final result by clicking the image at the top of this page, or by visiting the holiday video landing page.
A big thank you goes to Crawford's marketing and communications team and to all of the employee actors in the video. Also, thanks to all of our employees, for their hard work and dedication, and to our clients and partners who make everything possible.
From the Crawford family to yours — we wish you a safe and happy holiday season and new year!
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Featured in the video:
- Edward Archer (United Kingdom)
- Joseph Blanco (Georgia, US)
- Meredith Brogan (Georgia, US)
- Marc Cunningham (Florida, US)
- Marleny Dominguez (Georgia, US)
- Naomi Ikeda (California, US)
- Marvin Lara (Georgia, US)
- Heather Matthews (Ontario, Canada)
- Roberto McQuattie (Florida, US)
- Victoria Soto (Barcelona, Spain)
- Rohit Verma (Georgia, US)
- Vandetrica Wilkerson (Florida, US)
