Where The Buffalo Roam Imparts a Chill Vibe for Customer Communication Hub, Front

Some days, managing your inbox can feel like climbing up an endless mountain. Customer communication software provider, Front, knew it had the solution to this and other all-too-common workflow problems, but how to quickly and succinctly convey something so intangible? Enter full-service production company Where the Buffalo Roam (WTBR) with the creative solution -- The Oneness: a chill, vibey place where people float on clouds, play weird 4D chess, and oh yeah, route thousands of emails automatically without lifting a finger. WTBR brought this concept to life with a four-spot digital campaign that takes Front’s incredible list of streamlined email functionalities and informative customer communication metrics and distils them into the software’s most important quality: Front makes work happier. 

Each spot showcases a different Front feature as a dreamy, psychedelic metaphor. Using a combination of live-action actors set against a mixed media collage background and an ASMR-esque voiceover, rather than detail everything the product can do, The Oneness campaign invites viewers to imagine how using Front would feel. Go from the quickly shifting kaleidoscope that is data spread out over siloed apps, teams and spreadsheets to the clarity of an alpine lake (folding onto itself Inception-style, natch) once Front has been introduced, and you’ll be in The Oneness. 

“It isn’t easy to sum up everything Front does in one campaign, nor to bring happy, calming vibes to B2B software, but Where the Buffalo Roam immediately aligned with our goals and found a way to bring our whimsical ideas to life,” says Front head of brand marketing Heather MacKinnon. “They were a true creative partner, and we are thrilled with the out-of-this-world results of 'The Oneness.’'

The brief was a surreal mix of ‘Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy’ meets David Attenborough nature doc meets Adventure Time with puppets thrown in for good measure. Ultimately, though puppets were pitched, they didn’t make the final cut. Instead, the result is an over-the-top, meditative zen-for-business campaign that differs from previous Front creative in almost every possible way: from the tone and performances to the colour palette and the hallucinogenic visuals.

“The folks at Front were great collaborators. They were willing to take big tonal risks and encouraged us to take it further,” says WTBR CD/copywriter Brian L. Perkins. “I really have to hand it to [Front content marketing manager] Matthew Klassen and [brand design lead] Dala Botha and the rest of the team at Front -- they were really willing to run hard and fast into the weirdness.”

The first of the four spots, ‘Mountain,’ is now airing with the rest of the series rolling out over the coming months. The campaign will run across media channels and streaming services including Discovery, Univision, Fox International Channels, Vox Media, and Verizon Media. 

WTBR kept the messaging high-level, balancing the humour with the informative, which Perkins attributes to the Front team trusting their other communication streams to articulate the software’s specifics and understanding the purpose of short-form video. 

“I can’t give you a complete tour of this insanely robust piece of software in 15 seconds. No one can. We can only pique your interest,” says Brian. “So we needed to grab you by the eyeballs with something visually unique, then tell you something very quickly.” In this case, co-workers are literally floating on clouds because the @ mention function is so dope.

Perkins credits director Adam Avilla and CG Artist Simon Mowbray with bringing the wild ideas to life. “When we wrote these, I knew it was in Adam’s wheelhouse,” says Perkins. “He has a strong, unique directorial voice perfect for these scripts. And Simon is such a CG magician. Anytime he gets a chance to really spread his wings, it’s always mind-blowing. Watching the two of them work together was just spectacular.”