HOW WE CREATED THE CHARACTER OF ORYX, THE SUPER COMPANION?
Case study for marketing campaign and character design
For ORYX Assistance, a leading roadside assistance provider, we created a marketing campaign and animated video designed to reinforce brand recognition. Read about how a likable antelope carried a successful project on her shoulders.
The ORYX Group, a member of the Zubak Group, offers first-class road transport services. ORYX Rent a car, ORYX Technical Inspection Station, ORYX Insurance Representation, ORYX Safe Driving Center, and ORYX Assistance operate under the umbrella name ORYX.
All members are linked by a distinctive brand identity based on the image of the “orik” (Latin oryx), a type of fast-moving, straight-horned antelope that lives in Africa and at Middle East. It has a heightened sense of smell and can reach a speed of 60 km/h when running. The oryx antelope is particularly adapted to living in extremely dry environments, so it can easily raise its body temperature to avoid sweating and water loss. Speed, adaptability and refined senses are key to performing well on the road, and the oryx’s character embodies and combines them brilliantly.
Challenge: An invisible market leader
ORYX Assistance is the market leader for technical breakdown services in Croatia and Europe. Although ORYX Assistance’s market share is almost double that of its main competitor, its market presence is much smaller.
Selling assistance services bundled with banking or insurance services brought strong business growth to ORYX Assistance, but the brand itself was not sufficiently visible and recognizable. Also, due to the seriousness of the service itself, which is called upon in the event of car accidents and casualties, ORYX Assistance’s communication was reduced to serious corporate content that often failed to attract the attention of the target group.
Our task was to make ORYX Assistance known again to the target group.
Your Super companion!
The ORYX Group’s umbrella slogan (was) “Feel free to have fun”. Its casual tone suited the other members of the group, but it did not fit the slightly more serious context of ORYX Assistance. Therefore, in terms of communication, we went for a more appropriate slogan that embodied the functional benefits of the service – “Fastest Roadside Assistance”.
As we thought about the service itself and the identity of the brand, we began to think of ORYX Assistance, including the antelope from the logo, as a companion to help us when a road accident happens. The extremely fast arrival time at the scene of the accident and the high level of professionalism inspired us to give the character the characteristics of a superhero, combining all the expertise and agility of the ORYX Assistance staff, from the call center employee, to the car mechanic on site.
And so the idea of Oryx the superhero was born, an animated character that combines professionalism and efficiency with humor and self-confidence. But what should a character look like that represents a serious company and service and at the same time entertains and fascinates the audience?
Character in the making
We decided to put the speedy antelope in the role of an employee of ORYX Assistance – enthusiastic, warm and energetic. We realized that turning all the qualities of ORYX Assistance into an animated character would be no easy task. So, we rounded up three illustrators and gave them the freedom to create their own vision of the character.
One character had mild facial features, extremely long horns and an almost childlike appearance. The other was a bit more stylized and a bit severe. The third suggestion was exactly the Oryx we were looking for, lively and cheerful, with an honest look and a broad smile.
But the first sketch was far from final. Our Oryx was going to be the star of TV ‘s commercials and appear on social media and billboards. So we put a lot of effort into working out the details of his character and the way he moves. We wanted our Oryx to be excellently groomed, so we came up with different stylings for Oryx; he had to look good in a shirt in the call center as well as in work clothes. The character had to be fully designed before the animation could be created.
What does Oryx sound like? His confident and somewhat teasing tone was perfectly portrayed by Croatian actor Rene Bitorajac. Oryx is a “guy next door” character, whose word carries weight and keeps all promises.
Integrated marketing campaign – Oryx and Owl at the World Cup
The campaign, which was to introduce the audience to the character of Oryx and ORYX Assistance, is planned for June and July 2018, during the World Cup in Russia. The fact that our football team Vatreni played better than ever, helped us a lot!
The campaign began with a series of posters that appeared in the busiest places in the city, as well as posts on social networks, where viewers could see the animated character Oryx for the first time. Oryx had the greatest visibility in a TV commercial that was shown daily during halftime of World Cup games.
But how can you talk about a reputable breakdown service while everyone is excited and happy? How can you talk about accidents and the importance of a roadside assistance contract while people are celebrating?
We decided to talk about the misfortunes that can befall us on the road through the cartoon character of an irresponsible drunk driving owl. Of course, Oryx is there to help the little owl, so by the end of the commercial, she’s already on the road to recovery.
The commercial was shown intensively over a period of about a month. Therefore, in addition to the 27s version, we also shot shorter versions of 20 seconds and 10 seconds.
Animated video commercials can sometimes take several months to create, but the commercial for Oryx was created in a short period of time. From writing the script for the commercial to airing it on TV, was only a couple of weeks.
It took about a week from the first version of the script to the production-ready version. Then an animator was hired to give the client a good idea of what the final animated video would look like. The illustrators worked on the character and backgrounds in parallel. Once the final animation and post-production were complete, the voiceover was recorded. And that’s how Oryx was finally brought to life.
The commercial, which begins with the statement “You had an accident with a drunken owl” and continues with a series of dynamic and funny animations, was hard to miss.
The animated video led to 50% more membership inquiries
During the campaign, 50% more online membership requests were made than the entire year prior. The ORYX Assistance website saw 70% more visits than the same period last year.
A post-campaign survey was conducted, which revealed that recall of the ORYX Assistance brand increased by more than 100%!
The meeting with Oryx, your super companion, was quick and successful!
Flexible Oryx – use in new campaigns!
ORYX Assistance offers a wide range of services, some of which are not directly related to road transport. The MobiExpress service, for example, offers users an express service in the event of a mobile phone breakdown.
Our concept of super companions should therefore be flexible enough to allow creativity for all the specific niche services that ORYX Assistance offers or will offer in the future. The diversity and high quality of ORYX Assistance’s services is also confirmed by the launch of Medical Assistance, which provides users with the necessary and reliable help in recovering from injuries or illnesses.
P.S. Check out our services Creative Solutions, Previsualization, Art Direction, Video Production and 2D Animation.
