OUC "New Ways to Pay" Campaign
New Ways to Pay
Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) needed to disseminate news about major changes in customer billing and payment locations. The challenge: Two different campaigns for different markets, and a good deal of information to convey.
OUC hired Hooah Production Studios to create deliverables for both campaigns: a public service announcement (PSA) for its St. Cloud market (two versions, English and Spanish), and 30- and 60-second commercial spots in English and Spanish for the metro Orlando market. The timespan for the entire project was six weeks.
“Two Bills, Same Great Service”
OUC had intended the St. Cloud PSA as a 60-second video. After our creative process was underway, we determined that expanding the length would allow us to tell a story and connect with OUC’s St. Cloud customers rather than just deliver facts. Basing our concept on St. Cloud’s motto, “Celebrating Small Town Life,” the Hooah team enlisted well-known longtime resident Dan Wermuth to bicycle through town on the route we planned, passing local landmarks and OUC payment locations as they were mentioned in the voiceover narration Wermuth also provided.
We wrote the script to “sound like Dan,” informing people about the changes in a neighborly manner that emphasized their benefits to customers. Hooah pulled permits required for location shooting and other activities, planned precise location shoots based on lighting, time of day, the availability of local unpaid talent, and otherwise making as certain as possible to factor out any element of unpredictability during the outdoor shoots.
Interior location shots featuring actors as OUC customers ordering services and paying online and by phone were interspersed with the primary action of Wermuth’s ride, with the mention of these alternative payment methods as part of the narration.
Video equipment for the location shoots included VSLRs and GoPros. All post-production was performed in-house. The 3-minute video captures St. Cloud’s small town charm and leisurely pace of life while conveying the message that OUC is part of the community, and acts in the best interest of its customers.
“New Ways to Pay”
Hooah Production Studios created the concept and wrote the script for 30- and 60-second commercial spots announcing the closing of OUC’s walk-in and drive-through service centers and the addition of more than 400 new places for customers to pay their bill. The spots also were to be adapted as radio commercials in both English and Spanish. We held auditions at Hooah Production Studios, selecting talent who projected a warm, neighborly quality and represented the diversity of OUC’s customers.
The commercials were shot at five locations throughout the metro Orlando area. Each begins by establishing OUC as an approachable part of the community, with the voiceover narrator reminding customers that OUC has been providing reliable service for more than 90 years – as visuals of OUC workers engaging in such services as water utilities line repair unfold. The spots reinforce the convenience of ordering services and paying online or by phone, represented by brief scenes of the actors in various locations – in the park, at home, and in the supermarket – using their desktop computer or mobile device.
A related spot, “Online Services,” features a residential location shot of a family moving into their new home, having taken advantage of the convenience of going online to start, stop or move service.
As with the “Two Bills, Same Great Service” PSA, all post-production work for the commercial spots was performed in-house.
- Branding
- Cinematography
- Creative Concepts
- Creative Writing
- Editing
- Location Scouting
- Logistics
- Post-Production
- Production
- Scriptwriting