Sarah Alberg

Case study: Google Chromebook feature launch videos

Google Chromebook is an operating system used on laptops and tablets by Lenovo, Samsung, Acer, and more. During 2024 Google had updated AI-powered features planned for Chromebook systems. The Chromebook team had been tapping multiple agencies – Monks being one of them – to handle different aspects of these feature launches leading to fractured workflows and subpar results. As I joined the project on the Monks team, I immediately looked for efficiencies we could put in place asap.

Roles

Cycle 1

Each cycle of Chromebook feature releases would include static and demo-style video assets showcasing the new features being used on the Chromebook platform. These assets would be shared at key launch dates with retailers, like BestBuy, for use on ecommerce websites and blogs to promote new Chromebook products.

By the time I joined the team working for Chromebooks in Spring 2024, deliverables for Cycle 1 were considered nearly complete. However, there had been a lack of support for design and production within the team, so while the deadline could be met, the quality of the motion deliverables were not where they could be. And unfortunately, signs of the clients' lack of satisfaction were showing through. As they appeared to be losing trust that we could handle the project, there were internal concerns that Chromebook wouldn't want to proceed with Cycle 2.

EXECUTION

In addition to completing the project on-brief, as Associate Creative Director I quickly implemented several changes:

Advocated for more support for design and pre-production to remove blockers in the storyboarding process
Implemented a presentation workflow for sharing deliverables in various stages of production with clients to get buy-in before proceeding to the next step, saving valuable feedback churn time at later stages
Began developing a formulaic way of working to use the client's UX Figma assets to create vector files to then turn those into animation

With these changes, the creative output began up-leveling and the impacts were felt quickly. Our clients at Google, the Google UX team, and their motion design team all recognized the turnaround in the quality of motion design and accuracy to the original Chromebook UI.

Cycle 2

With the success of Cycle 1, the clients at Google Chromebook committed to Monks taking on the next Cycle in 2024, leading up to a big press launch event in October. They also signed on for a new scope of work to produce marketing animations for newly announced features for 2025, to be revealed at the press launch during a keynote presentation.

Keeping up with the changes made in Cycle 1, the team built on the success by adding:

Consistent and frequent connection with Google's UX team and motion design team at the storyboard and pre-production stages
Onboarded project management support to liaise between pre-production and animation
Moved animation reviews to Frame.io to improve feedback efficiency with overseas animators

Cycle 1 + 2 deliverables

Cycle 2 brought more wins, as the client extended the assets we created to the Education and Enterprise managed devices teams, and used the creative to promote Chromebook on Google's blog and their Chromebook marketing site.

By the end of Cycle 2, our team had managed more than 300 individual image and video files and folders for just 12 features, all organized for easy retailer access.

Below are a few of the feature video assets we delivered.

Early announce 2025 features

Three new Chromebook features would be announced at the October press event during a keynote presentation, but the animations for these needed to be more brand and personality-driven than the demo-style videos we had produced in Cycle 1 and 2 in order to excite the press audience.

I led a team of 4 with design, copywriting, and video production backgrounds in a 3 day sprint to develop concepts, followed by 1 day to polish and prep. Despite the extremely tight deadline, the team composed multiple high-level concepts to drive the messaging, look and feel of these videos, and created a polished slide deck to present them to the client. Rounds of internal feedback with account management during the process helped narrow down the strongest options.

Once the client had selected a direction, the animation team worked tirelessly to produce the final animations and met the strict deadline.

The press event was a big success and the client once again asked Monks to continue managing a greater scope by having Monks manage not just the upcoming cycles but also the entire retailer toolkit for 2025, with contributions from multiple other agencies. A big win for the Monks team that I was proud to spearhead.

EARLY ANNOUNCE deliverables

The animations below were presented at the October press launch event.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR + DESIGNER