When we pitched Mobii tech to anybody, we were always met with a resounding “Wow that’s a great idea!” Mobii’s success was solely dependent on convincing major brands to adopt our platform, to create partnerships with them, and to saturate the market with our brand. Therefore, B to B was our primary focus for many years. Due to the importance of these business relationships, I was positioned by our CEO as a key contributor to all sales efforts. I worked closely with our executive team and sales team to assist them in anything they needed to make these relationships happen. I personally created hundreds of presentations, sales videos, demos, and more, all in an effort to saturate the market with our brand. Above is a leave-behind pitch video explaining our technology.

High level, Mobii UX / UI is fairly simple. Detect an offer, display the offer, save the offer. Much like Shazam, Mobii is a utility application. Its purpose is for the user to quickly open their app and to search for an offer in whatever environment they were in. That being said, the path to world domination took longer than expected. So, in an effort to help retain users while building an audience, we decided to add on a feature called Daily Scratchers.

Daily Scratchers was a feature where a user would receive 10 scratchers a day. Each scratcher was either a randomized offer, a prize or information. We created an interactive function, where the user would “scratch” off a layer to reveal an offer. This proved effective. So effective, Daily Scratchers became a focal point in the app itself, as well as business presentations.

I worked closely with developers and product team in the early development stages of each iteration. One of the many tasks that required my assistance, was the pleasure of designing and building prototypes for each of these iterations. Having an extensive animation background, I of course championed animation/motion graphics, subtle as mobile animations are, but nonetheless, a big fan.

Inspired by the subtle animations of the most popular applications in the world, I designed these to enhance the overall impression of the app to a user. In my opinion, fluidity, and motion is a key differentiator in polish and quality for a user. Below and above are a few samples of the prototype transitions and animations for the reimagined Mobii 4.0.

Splash page prototype animation for Mobii 4.0. Being a utility app, this loading screen needs to be quick to get the user to the detection page.

Tooltip animation. As simple as Mobii was, it still had a learning curve due to behavior people were not used to. Our tooltips helped the user learn about the app as they navigated through it.

User retention goals also led us into creating a web show called Mobii Live. Doubling up as a user retention tool as well as an ongoing marketing campaign, users could play along with our two lovely hosts to try to win prizes on a weekly basis.

The focus of branding for Mobii, much like all branding goals, was to create a name that was catchy and easy to remember. My initial goal was to create a name along the lines of Netflix, a name that is catchy, but also defines what the product is. Not to say that names that have “no meaning” are any less successful, but a personal goal nonetheless. The team agreed with Mobii. A fun, simple, two-syllable word. To this day, my mind still races...

I find designing a logo oddly easier than coming up with a name. Having an extensive animation background, the initial logo design was built around motion which had orbs flying to the center of the primary icon to signify the offers and prizes the user was receiving. The multicolored orbs represented offers, prizes and more.

Once we decided on a final logo, I animated the main “bug” of the logo. The “bug” is an important element of the brand because it was the lower third call out for a viewer to know that the commercial had an offer attached to it. I created a handful of versions in order to allow the brand options to choose a bug animation that best fits the composition of their commercial.

The animation had to be quick and simple. Quick, because it must appear fast enough to let the viewer know an ad was “activated", and simple because it could not take away too much attention from the brand/commercial itself.

The version above is the simplest iteration of the animated logo.

Focus group testing of the Mobii platform.

Working closely with ACTV8 sales team and executives, we pitched Univision of the concept of adopting our technology to enhance their viewer’s experience. The concept was to enhance Univision’s viewer’s experience by adding interactivity with the programs they already know and love. We pitched two ways ACTV8’s technology could enhance their experience: 1. Shop what they watch. If they see an item/product on air that they liked, Mobii would give the user the ability to buy what they see. 2. Send viewers offers and prizes with a fun interactive spin to win game wheel. Univision loved both concepts, sustaining a 2-year long national campaign partnership that aired on both ‘Despierta America’ and ‘A Primera Hora’ morning shows.

Gira Y Gana (spin to win), was one of the primary marketing tools to grow our userbase. An interactive, fun prize wheel segment that viewers could interact with live, and have a chance to win cash prizes, offers, and more. Above you can watch one of many nationally aired promotions teaching the audience of this new exciting addition to their show.

Above is an example of one of the many spin to win wheel segments that aired nationwide. These wheels were an undertaking, to say the least. When this concept came to, and I realized how many different variations needed to be made per day, my eyes widened. Let me explain.

Each spin to win segment had 3 wheel spin daily on 4 different tv shows. Being a digitally animated wheel, I had to animate each spin and dictate where the wheel landed. Depending on the week, x offer was available. For example, one week we had Gap, Sephora offers available, the next, Best Buy and Home Depot. Of course, variety in the wheels was necessary for the sake of entertainment, needless to say, I had to make many many wheels.

Not only did I have to design and animate these wheels, managing the logistics of these wheels and the tones (audio triggers) assigned to each was a feat on its own. I’m proud to say, we executed this partnership flawlessly.

Its Jojo! Jojo is a lively and very talented host for Univision. He led a few of our key marketing ads to help teach Univision fans how and why to use Mobii.

I worked closely with Univision to supply its talented production team with our messaging and creative assets.

This was one of many social media marketing campaigns teaching viewers of Despierta America the shop while you watch feature using Mobii. I animated this ad and many more, all in an effort to get the word out.

Throughout our campaign, we analyzed all the data received to make adjustments where necessary. Our dashboard collected data proving our product and marketing efforts.

Working closely with ACTV8 sales team and executives, we pitched AMC of the concept of adopting our technology to enhance their viewer’s experience. The concept was to enhance AMC’s viewer’s experience by adding interactivity with the programming they already know and love. AMC loved the concept, creating a 6-month long, national campaign.

Above is one of the many commercial spots we created for the AMC campaign. In this particular spot, I was asked to write, design, and animate to ensure AMC’s team would understand exactly what points needed to be made to paint a clear picture for the viewer. Using this nationally aired commercial spot as a guide, we moved forward and executed marketing and the remaining commercial spots flawlessly.

Software I used to create this spot: Adobe Illustrator, Sketch, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Audition, Adobe Animate, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Premiere.

Above are In-app “story cards”. These were cards/images that would be in circulation in the home screen of the Mobii application. When a user would open their app, they would see cards that were swipeable, usually contained information on upcoming promotions or shopping tips. These cards, in particular, were made to inform current users that if they watch commercials on an AMC Network, they could interact with them.

An alternate design once we have established that the viewer understood the behavior of the Mobii app.

Fat Kid Ninja Character Development

Testing mouth phonemes with the final character design. Pretty standard stuff in terms of art, but what was a challenge was getting his head movement to look right because he did not have a defined head/neck.

Walk cycle of the enemy “Corn”

Suicide bombing enemy “Tomato” . In Fat Kid Ninja, we had a total of 15 enemies.

Game logic documentation for overseas developers

Pencil test animation of the enemy “Garlic”. We had an array of enemies, all different sizes so we had to test speed, hitboxes, attack patterns, etc.

Because we had overseas developers, we had to create very detailed questions like this one, to ensure we were all on the same page.

Fat Kid Ninja background art

Flow of the free version of the game

Fat Kid Ninja app flow

Episodes were designed in a simple format: Generally, bookended with a gag, while the main, middle segment did the recapping. With a talk show, podcast vibe, the show was a marketing success that led to more partnerships with FOX. One of my favorite projects by far that I hold dear to my heart. Every individual had a pivotal role and everyone executed these recaps flawlessly.

If you haven’t been a part of a professional recording session, I highly recommend finding a way into witnessing one. I love all phases of an animation studio production, but recording sessions are by far my favorite. Filled with side-splitting laughter, each session with these two gentlemen was nothing short of pure joy. Henry Dittman(Ron) and Chris Wilde(Jon) were just amazing to work with. Their talent and professionalism, paired with their bottomless pit of creativity, made working with them a privilege. The most difficult task with this project was while editing audio, choosing which take to use because they were all so hilarious.

One of the most enjoyable tasks in the animation world is character design. There’s just something so rewarding about creating a character and bringing it to life. From a sketch to choosing the right voice talent, to animating, character development is a journey that is a joy to be a part of from start to finish.

Above is my original art of the initial pitch to FOX for Ron & Jon Can’t Dance.

Due to the quick turn around nature of this campaign, animation timelines had to be short and efficient. Being a weekly show, we had to ensure our team delivered on time. I designed the animation in a talk show format where the setting never changed nor did our two host positions. Each show had our two fellas hanging out on the couch just like the audience at home would be. We used Illustrator, Photoshop, Animate, and Premiere.

Episodes were designed in a simple format: Generally, bookended with a gag, while the main, middle segment did the recapping. This show was a marketing success that led to more partnerships with FOX. It was great to see fans of the show fall in love with our characters.

Henry is one of the most talented VO actors I’ve had the pleasure of working with, which includes Tara Strong and Tom Kenny! He did almost every voice for this popular series - the Agent, Mr. V, Agent Johnson, and more.

Every episode was bookended with a funny segment. This was one where the agent had to go undercover…

Due to the quick turn around nature of this campaign, animation timelines had to be short and efficient. Being a weekly recap show, we had to ensure our team delivered on time. This animation set the tone for the rest of the recap shows. I designed the animation in a talk show format where the setting rarely changed nor did our agent’s position. Later, once our animation libraries grew, we introduced other characters and settings. We used Illustrator, Photoshop, Animate, and Premiere.