On July 2, 2021 AvePoint rang the closing bell at Nasdaq and became a publicly traded company. This is a process that started for the company well before I joined in 2017, but certainly one I was deeply entrenched in for the months prior to our IPO announcement. This included pouring over supporting documents and materials, building presentations for roadshows, and setting up live broadcast for our CEO’s media spots.
A few weeks before our bell-ringing ceremony the project became very interesting. Not only were we getting our contracted ad time on the Nasdaq-owned screens in Times Square, but we decided to buy out all the main signage so we could lock down visuals - including Thomson Reuters and One Times Square (that’s the one from the New Year’s Eve ball drop). For those keeping count (certainly not me) that meant 12 screens of looping AvePoint animated content.
So of course when they came to me to help sign contracts and get this show on the road I said, “yes absolutely I will create custom animation for Times Square - and you want them in a couple days? You got it.” Besides the obvious time crunch and pressure of holding the creative visuals of this momentous occasion on my shoulders, there was the challenge of simplifying our messaging for a broad, target-less audience. We have gotten good at telling our “about us” story IT admins - but a 10 second loop in the tourist capital of the country? Not so much. Between myself, a handful of key marketing leadership, and lots of trial-and-error we came to a content conclusion. Simple and accessible messaging supported by clean, colorful visuals was the winner.
On July 1st I hopped on a train and headed up to New York to spend the day of our bell-ringing ceremony at the Nasdaq building to assist with media interview production for our CEO (the live grind never stops). The day was a blur - spending time inside their studios, ringing the closing bell, and of course marching out into Times Square and letting my animation light up my face across three of the more iconic billboards New York has to offer. One for the bucket list… enjoy this ridiculous photo of a very tired, but proud me, cheesing in front of the Nasdaq Tower.
A good day and a great project. These videos were also eventually broken down into social media snippets as well as used in clip format for communications projects throughout 2021 and into 2022. If you want to see more of my traditional animation projects please check out the videos section of my portfolio here.