Created as an homage to Saturday morning cartoons, this animated series features a cast of personified video gear characters who help marketers think creatively
In its most ambitious brand campaign to date, Wistia—a leader in the video and podcasting hosting space—today launched the first and only comedic cartoon for B2B marketers. The show, Gear Squad vs. Dr. Boring, follows a group of hard-working and eager video equipment who come to life to defend a B2B business from the sinister villain, Dr. Boring, whose mission is to suck the creativity out of all marketing. In partnership with Lobster Pot Productions, Gear Squad vs. Dr. Boring is the latest original show from Wistia Studios, born from the constraints of remote production during the pandemic.
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Created as an homage to Saturday morning cartoons, the series evokes a feeling of nostalgia, complete with a catchy theme song and a “good versus evil” plotline, mixed with educational content for marketers to defeat their own boring campaigns.
“Gear Squad vs. Dr. Boring originated from our team’s love for creatively telling stories, having fun, and the reality of our production plans needing to shift during a global pandemic,” said Dan Mills, VP of Marketing at Wistia. “We hope the series inspires B2B marketers to embrace a human-centered approach to their marketing strategy, giving them permission to be creative and not fall victim to boring content that can often be associated with B2B brands.”
The five episodes take viewers through scenarios where the characters (like a confident camera and an evil watercooler, for example) come to life and battle over the fate of marketing campaigns. Can the scrappy Gear Squad defeat Dr. Boring and his accomplices at Dull Corp. to save marketing? Here’s what you can expect from the series.
When the humans leave at the end of the workday, the Gear Squad springs to life to experiment with creative campaigns. In the first (of several) pun-filled episodes, we meet the cast of characters as they take on the task of backing up video footage for a new email drip campaign. While Archive starts the backup, Dr. Boring spies on the Gear Squad from his aptly named headquarters, “Dull Corp.” To foil their plans, he sends Watercooler, one of his evil accomplices, to fry the Gear Squad’s archive backup.
The second episode features the Gear Squad setting up a live stream to tap into a niche, highly engaged audience—which happens to be people who enjoy watching flowers bloom. The Gear Squad jumps into action to set up a live stream of a night-blooming cereus while Dr. Boring sends his calculator, Buttons, to multiply the threat level and turn the live stream into a “dead stream.”
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In episode three, the Gear Squad gets tricked by a trojan horse. Sent by Dr. Boring, the flirtatious Green Screen traps our scrappy squad in a never-ending void. They’re superimposed on places that have come and gone, including Fry’s Electronics and even a dump. Trapped in an illusionary world, the Gear Squad characters begin to go mad until Sticks, a trusty tripod, rescues his friends by slashing open Green Screen, freeing them from their madness.
Free from the green-screen void, the Gear Squad is eager to collaborate to make the best video podcast studio they can muster. But Dr. Boring tasks Phillip, the drill, to use the spinning motion of his drill to hypnotize the Gear Squad team to turn against each other. Their communication skills go out the window as they become combative and hostile towards one another until—again—Sticks swoops in to save the day, restarting Cam to knock them out of their evil hypnosis.
The season one finale concludes with the Gear Squad discovering that Dr. Boring has done more than just send in his evil accomplices. He’s actually been spying on them this whole time with his nosy minion, Webcam. Webcam drags the Gear Squad into Dull Corp. where they confront Dr. Boring and his entourage, only to discover he might not be as boring and evil as he thinks he is.
“The pandemic has changed the way people consume content and they’re looking to be entertained not only in their personal lives but in work, too,” said Sydney Rutman, Senior Manager, Development & Operations at Wistia. “B2B brands don’t need to be boring. Whether brands are looking for real tactics that drive engagement and creativity or just inspiration—which could even include something as simple as marketing puns—Gear Squad vs. Dr. Boring illustrates what’s possible to make creative breakthroughs.”
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