Applied Fiber needed a way to stand out in a world of generic product shots and dry brochures. My answer? A 60-second animated commercial that felt more Pixar than PowerPoint.
The Challenge
In telecom, the pain points are real: overpriced gear, endless delays, and the feeling that the “big guys” don’t care about the smaller crews building broadband in rural America. Applied Fiber’s promise is the opposite — equal or better pricing, faster service, and support that actually shows up.
The task: turn that story into a one-minute animated spot that was lighthearted, entertaining, and most importantly — visually consistent.
Not easy when the toolset included AI engines that each had their own quirks and blind spots.
The Approach
Script and Storyboards — Used Grok AI to help shape a narrative arc: frustration → solution → happy ending. Built storyboards that mapped every beat of the 60-second ad.
Moodboards for Consistency — In MidJourney, I built moodboards to nail down a Pixar-inspired style. Big noses, expressive faces, saturated colors — all consistent across shots.
Bringing It to Life — Tried Runway and MidJourney’s own animation tools, but Kling delivered the best balance of movement and fidelity.
Technical Accuracy — MidJourney gave me style, but DALL-E gave me accuracy. I trained it on real product photos so fiber reels, jumpers, and gear looked like something an installer would actually recognize.
Manual Fixes — When AI stumbled, I stepped in. Logos tracked onto trucks in After Effects with Mocha AE, uniforms branded in Photoshop, timing adjusted in Premiere.
Final Polish — Voiceover generated in ElevenLabs, paired with a royalty-free track retimed in Premiere to lock the whole piece at 58 seconds.
The Result
The finished ad looks like it could be a short pulled out of a Pixar reel, only this one is about fiber cable instead of flying houses. It pokes fun at industry frustrations — tangled gear, late deliveries, frazzled crews — before flipping to Applied Fiber as the hero.
The consistency of style, the balance of humor and clarity, and the technical recognizability of the gear impressed even seasoned video pros I showed it to. More importantly, it gave Applied Fiber a piece of marketing that doesn’t just explain their value — it entertains while it sells.
