2025 Newsletter
Hello 2025! In this issue of our quarterly newsletter, we would like to share some company updates and creative highlights from Q4 2024. As always, we would like to thank our business partners for their endless support and flexibility. Cheers to another great and successful year! We love creating for you.
New Partnerships
This November we announced a partnership with Soundwave Digital. Through this partnership, we will be expanding our offerings to include media planning and programmatic buying. We are excited to work alongside Soundwave Digital to meet our clients’ advertising and marketing needs. Visit our blog page to learn more about this partnership.
Team Spotlight
We had two wonderful Animation & Illustration Sprouts join our team. Meet our interns, Anthony & Laura.
Our internship and co-op opportunities give aspiring creatives an opportunity to collaborate 1-on-1 with a small team on client projects. Anthony and Laura worked closely with our creative team to create a variety of digital experiences for brands such as The Smurfs, Strawberry Shortcake, and Betty Boop.
Meet Anthony:
Anthony is a talented animator, designer, and storyteller. Polished and whimsical—we are so grateful to Anthony for sharing his complex, thoughtful design POV with us.
“My favorite part about working at Bare Tree Media is the people. Everyone here is incredibly approachable, reliable, and supportive. I was incredibly nervous given that this was my first time doing any sort of remote work, but once I realized that the team was all in it together, I understood exactly why everyone at BTM seems so happy!”
We pride ourselves on providing our interns with a space to create freely and push boundaries. While at Bare Tree, Anthony & Laura worked on a number of personal projects.
“While I found fun in every project I worked on, I’d definitely go with the First Day of Fall social media post. I was looking forward to it for the majority of my time working here. My speciality is 2D, hand-drawn animation, so it was a welcome return to what I love doing the most. Plus, I love compositing animation.”
Check out Anthony’s “First Day of Fall” post on our Instagram page!
Meet Laura:
Laura is a talented illustrator from the Greater Boston area. She would describe her design style as playful and bold with a handmade quality.
“Each project I have worked on came with their own set of challenges from which I was able to grow. Working on digital sticker packs was very enjoyable for me. It was a lot of fun working with seasonal designs (i.e., Betty Boop: Merry & Bright) and creating assets to accompany the main images.”
Laura also created an Election Day post for our social media channels and her own personal sticker pack entitled “Bagel Buddies.”
“For my PSP, I was inspired by daily life…bagels are always in my kitchen! Throughout this project I liked having the ability to experiment with different techniques and learn new animation skills. I’m happy to have been able to bring my own concept to life!”
To start the storyboarding process, Laura thought about various bagel puns. Once her expression sheet was completed, she sketched out imagery for each bagel and refined the illustrations based on feedback she received from our creative team. Adding another level of interaction and engagement, Laura animated her stickers in After Effects.
“This experience [working at Bare Tree Media] has provided me with an enjoyable work environment and has inspired me to continue growing my skills in animation and graphic design. My growth would not have been possible without members of the team being so willing to help me learn and giving me constructive feedback.”
Laura’s sticker pack will be on the Apple and Samsung Galaxy stores soon!
#TEAMWIMPY
We’ve been working with author Jeff Kinney and Wimpy Kid, INC. for 5+ years to bring fans of the best-selling book series unique digital offerings. As previously announced, our team will now create mobile messaging stickers and phone themes to help promote “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” To learn more about the partnership, check out our blog page.
Our Social Media Coordinator, Emily, worked with the Wimpy Kid, INC. social media team to create a reel to promote DOAWK’s first sticker pack: “Team Wimpy.” This reel featured our stickers in action on iMessage and included iconic moments, quotes, and characters from the series. This collaboration amassed over 4,000 likes and 100,000 views on Instagram.
“Team Wimpy” is now available on the Apple & Samsung Galaxy stores.
Our team attended the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hot Mess Tour” kickoff event in Plainville, MA. We love supporting our local partners. A reel Jackie created was shown at the pre-show! We’re so happy audience members got to experience our DOAWK digital offerings.
The Wild Robot
Our team had the opportunity to create rotoscope stickers for NBC Universal’s newest movie, “The Wild Robot.” These GIFs effectively capture the essence of the movie and promote it in a visually engaging and shareable way. We loved seeing Instagram users utilize our stickers on promotional posts and stories.
In October, our team watched the movie together. Great work, NBC Universal—it was a tearjerker!
Keep Calm & Tweet On
Our animators have been hard at work creating custom likes and branded hashtags for brands. These limited-time campaigns increase engagement for brands looking to market events and promotions on X. Check out some of our favorites below:
World Gold Council
Netflix: Paul .v. Tyson
Mountain Dew: Baja Blast
DraftKings
Traveling Around Town
Bob Ferrari (CEO) and Jackie Karnoff (Creative Manager) flew to Los Angeles to meet with our West Coast clients. We love catching up and brainstorming with our partners in person! Follow us on social media to receive updates about our new partnerships.
We also attended the annual Ad Club Media Innovation Day in Boston, MA. By auctioning off our creative services, we were able to support the local advertising community and Ad Club’s first-generation scholarship/internship program. Find our takeaways from the event on our blog page.
Motion Graphics Meet Marketing: Enhancing Brand Storytelling
To survive in the modern digital landscape, brands need to cut through the noise and capture the limited (very limited) attention of their audiences.
“Content is King”—the phrase followed by marketers around the world. However, most social media feeds are inundated with articles, advertisements, and social posts. While content is important, quality (over quantity) is king.
Incorporating motion graphics into marketing materials are a powerful way for brands to enhance their content strategies and reach potential customers. As a motion graphics studio, we may be a little biased, but our experiences creating super-slick promotional videos for brands (i.e., Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Interwell Health) have shown us first-hand the power of motion in marketing.
So why motion graphics? Read more below to find out.
What are Motion Graphics?
Motion design animates 2D/3D graphics using software to create a visual narrative. The technique emerged in the mid-20th century and is credited for transforming graphic design. Common examples include TV opening credits, digital adverts, news broadcasts, and explainer videos.
A Rise in Video Content
The number of digital video viewers worldwide is currently 3.3 billion (HubSpot). According to an article published by HubSpot, about 89% of consumers want to see more videos from brands they love. With video accessible on every major social media network, audiences use short-form videos (~60 seconds) to learn more about a brand, product, or service. Video marketing increases brand visibility and engagement as consumers are 52% more likely to share video content than any other type of content.
Aside from increasing engagement, motion graphics can benefit brands in three ways:
- Simplify a concept, product, or service
- Easily shareable
- Efficient & cost-effective
Explainer Videos & Motion Graphics
According to HubSpot, the most common videos that incorporate motion graphics are presentations (65%), ads (57%), and explainers (47%).
Explainer videos convey concepts, products, and services in a quick, clear, and concise way. Motion graphics used in these videos capture attention more easily than text. For example, Hank Green’s YouTube series “Crash Course” utilizes motion graphics to break down educational concepts in an entertaining, digestible way for students. The series has over 161.M subscribers on YouTube and is used in classrooms throughout the country.
Furthermore, explainer videos can introduce people to new-to-market products and services that may contain complicated features. Customers can make better-informed purchasing decisions, and in turn, conversion rates may increase. The onboarding experience for customers becomes more efficient, which can reduce customer support costs.
Motion Graphics & Virality
Motion design, like most video content, is inherently shareable. Marketers utilize video to generate organic growth across social media platforms. Videos containing motion graphics are more likely to go viral because they are visually engaging and perceived as higher quality by viewers.
In this 30 second advertisement, Porsche takes viewers through the evolution of the automobile and how their vehicles are integral to the automotive industry. Brands like Porsche use motion graphics not just to sell a product but to invoke a feeling and share an aspirational lifestyle.
Efficiency & Cost-Effectiveness
While engagement is important, the success of a marketing campaign is measured against return on investment (ROI). Traditional, live-action film shoots are expensive and carry greater risk than animated video. Because motion designers work in programs with highly-flexible capabilities, adjusting animations is a fairly simple, low-cost process.
Future of Motion Graphics
Video content will continue to evolve to fit new consumer needs, platforms, and trends. It is important to note that social media algorithms largely control what’s shown on a given platform. Short-form, motion graphic and explainer videos may be capturing the attention of millions now but algorithm shifts may change what kind of content becomes popular in the future.
How We Play a Role
Our experienced designers, animators, and editors work with brands to leverage motion graphics in their marketing and advertising campaigns. We’ve created campaigns for IFAW, BetMGM, and Samsung.
- To promote the new messaging stickers and Samsung Themes we created for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” we teamed up with WimpyKid Inc. in 2024 to create a digital offerings promotional video. The “Hot Mess” book tour kicked off in October and our video was featured before the show at every stop and on their social media account.
- At Bare Tree Media, we love using our design and animation skills to raise awareness for important causes. We collaborated with the Healthy Ocean Coalition (HOC) to create an animated explainer video that outlined the importance of protecting our oceans, mitigating climate change, and improving access and distribution to nature around the United States.
Interested in something unique for your brand? Reach out to our team!
Bare Tree Media is a full-service creative studio and digital publisher creating super slick, mobile-facing content! We would love to bring your brand’s ideas to life through digital animation and AR. Check out our Animation & Video page to see motion graphic experiences we’ve created for brands.