Zaxby's Loyalty

Our friends at Tombras tasked us with creating a series of animations that would serve as a fun and enticing call to action, encouraging consumers to download the Zaxby’s mobile app where they can earn points and redeem them for a wide variety of tasty offerings through the Zax Fanz Club rewards program. Although the initial ask was that these spots would be for social use only, the success of the campaign quickly opened the door to a broadcast rollout as well.

Our challenge was to find the perfect balance of 2D elements and photo-realistic assets, like the app and food photography, while remaining true to Zaxby’s brand aesthetic. We were also conscious of the amount of information we needed to fit into these relatively short spots. Keeping that in mind, we set out to create visuals that were engaging, but that wouldn’t overwhelm or overpower the key messaging that we needed to convey.

Using a hand-drawn style for the 2D elements, we created a vast mixed-media campaign that is loaded with texture and personality, but slightly structured with the use of grid-like vignettes throughout. In order to achieve this look, we combined the use of Toon Boom Harmony for the cel animation, and Adobe After Effects for the remaining animation and compositing. The result is a series of mouth-watering animations that take mobile rewards to a whole new level, guiding viewers through the plethora of tasty offerings available to members of the Zax Fanz Club.

In addition to this series of animated spots, we also created an animated campaign end tag for use within Zaxby’s current and future live-action pieces. The goal for this end tag was to give our client the ability to tie in any of Zaxby’s promos into the cohesive overall look that we established with this campaign, thereby extending its range and lifespan.