Developed in Apple Keynote, movie features straight-forward visuals and text to convey changing state of today’s workforces and what is required of businesses to properly manage them.

Challenge | In preparing for its annual user conference, workforce management solution provider Kronos wanted to develop a cutting-edge communication tool that accomplished three main goals:

1. Increase understanding of workforce management and why it is a critical business solution.
2. Promote Kronos as the leader in workforce management and communicate the trends that are shaping their vision for the future.
3. Enhance the perception of Kronos as a cutting-edge company employing the latest communication and social media tools.

Action | Having worked with XPLANE | Dachis Group on previous communication projects, Kronos automatically turned to the team again for its latest need. Kronos was working against an aggressive timeline and needed a creative partner that would be fast-paced yet highly collaborative and flexible — traits that XPLANE had demonstrated during prior engagements. Given the short timeline, a traditional Discovery Session wasn’t held, but instead a series of short brainstorms between the XPLANE and Kronos teams. Kronos developed the concept for what the tool needed to achieve, and turned to XPLANE to recommend a final deliverable that would meet those goals in a clear, compelling and visual way.

Out of the brainstorms, XPLANE developed the idea of creating a short movie as the visual communication tool. Both teams conducted research for the video’s content, and XPLANE developed a forward-thinking storyline that exuded personality and brought the message to life. XPLANE also leveraged existing Kronos visual style and color palette to ensure brand consistency. Created with Apple’s Keynote software, the five-minute video uses simple visuals, text and music to depict the changing state of today’s workforces and what that means for employers.

Results | The final video, “How Will You Manage?” was introduced at the Kronos 2009 user conference with much success. Since then, Kronos has added it to YouTube where it has received more than 13,000 views. Sales personnel also utilize the video as way to introduce new prospects to Kronos, while educating them on the state of workforce management in a way that is different and engaging.

The level of collaboration and two-way communication with XPLANE crushed all expectations. Regardless of the day or hour, I could count on XPLANE to be available, responsive and eager to deliver in a fashion that consistently left us excited about the next step. I look forward to our next collaboration.
—Ken Volk, director, creative, Kronos