How to Tap into Emotions (PowerUp by Lexia)

Lexia Powerup Literacy: Opening Doors to New Possibilities

This was a fun project.

Lexia wanted a hype video for PowerUp, their literacy acceleration platform for grades 6-12. They’d already been promoting the product benefits and providing the market with lots of reasons to adopt. They needed us to help tap into the emotional side of the PowerUp value proposition. Students who fall behind and read below grade level miss out on important aspects of their educational experiences, negatively impacting their chances of living fulfilling lives. PowerUp is instrumental in helping students reclaim opportunities that seem lost.

The marketing team at Lexia, Jaclyn Elkins, Caitlin Powers George and Chara Pantazi, MSc know their products and markets inside and out. Our challenge was taking their insights, and translating them into a visual story that communicates the urgency around getting kids back on track.

We landed on a concept that follows 4 students, chronicling their literacy struggles—low motivation and confidence, social isolation, and being left out of extracurricular activities. We then frame, without dumping a bunch of screen shots and features on the viewer, ways that PowerUp helps educators address the students' learning challenges. And finally, you get to see the students back on track.

There are a couple of interesting details I’d like to point out. First, in order to accentuate the life changing potential of reading at grade level, we got creative with the color grading, making the world before PowerUp colder and less saturated. Once PowerUp is introduced the light becomes warmer and the colors pop, particularly the Lexia brand purple. And second, I’m in the video! We were short one extra, so I got to “direct“ myself. Don’t blink or you’ll miss me, and my rapidly receding hairline.

Anyway, check it out and tell me what you think. And if you’re looking for a video team that takes the time to understand the problems you’re trying to solve and the people you want to reach, hit me up.