We Helped a Fortune 500 Financial Services Company double its B2B audience… then double it again.

Driving Adoption & Engagement for a Digital Financial Platform:  Strategy, Production & Results

Writer/Director/Producer/Editor/Animator/3D & VFX Artist - Patrick Ortman
Voiceover - Jessica Rothert

Project Summary (Brief)

Client: MassMutual (Fortune 500 financial services company)

Project:
Digital brand films + 10 CTV and social media commercials to increase B2B adoption of a new financial planning platform among advisors and support their B2C efforts.

Audience:
Financial advisors and internal stakeholders

Timeline:
24 weeks in total (3x 8 week sprints over 20 month period)

Deliverables:
3 hybrid live-action and CG/VFX hero brand films with 3 social edits per, shot in NYC and posted in LA. 10 comedic live-action commercials in multiple formats and planned and shot in LA.

Channels:
Website, YouTube, LinkedIn organic + paid, META, email nurture series, large scale live advisor events

Budget:
$600K

Primary KPIs:
2x active monthly users YoY

Business Challenge

MassMutual had developed a new state-of-the-art digital financial planning platform but struggled to increase proactive adoption among its target users: internal and independent financial advisors. Internal metrics showed:

  • Platform usage was stagnant post initial launch
  • Engagement with other forms of content was low
  • Awareness of the platform’s value across advisor segments varied widely

Audience Barriers Identified:

  • Advisors were skeptical about switching workflows
  • Messaging was too technical and didn’t speak to real-world human-centered benefits
  • Lack of engaging, narrative content designed for professional audiences

Strategic Insight & Creative Approach

Audience-Led Insight

Research and interviews revealed that advisors responded strongly to human stories, real use cases, and outcomes. Not specs or features. Advisors needed to see themselves in the story.

Creative Strategy

We developed a narrative that:

  • Focuses on advisor success stories
  • Humanizes a finance product through relatable scenarios as well as comedic takes on common life insurance situations.
  • Balances brand credibility with practical value

With this insight, we structured the creative approach into multi-format storytelling, tailored to key channels:

Comedic Paid Social Ads (
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Shareable & funny takes on common life insurance situations, each tailored to specific audiences that MassMutual was trying to reach.

Hero/Tentpole Films (
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Brand-forward narrative centered on an advisor’s journey. Challenges, transformation, outcomes. These are high-gloss, hybrid productions including live-action, 3D animation and VFX.

Social Edits (10–30s)
Platform-specific punchy cuts optimized for LinkedIn and professional communities.

Long-Form Testimonials
Deep dive interviews with real advisors, adding authenticity and proof points.

Supportive Assets
Behind-the-scenes, B-roll, and soundbites for reuse in email and paid media.Platform-specific punchy cuts optimized for LinkedIn and professional communities.

Long-Form Testimonials
Deep dive interviews with real advisors, adding authenticity and proof points.

Supportive Assets
Behind-the-scenes, B-roll, and soundbites for reuse in email and paid media.

Production Execution

Pre-Production

  • Audience research + stakeholder interviews
  • Scriptwriting informed by advisor behavior patterns
  • Shot lists designed for flexibility across cuts and integration with 3D camera tracked VFX elements

Shoot & Production

  • 20 shoot days across all production (NYC + Los Angeles)
  • Hybrid approach: cinematic interview + narrative-informed CG and VFX visuals
  • Motion graphics for KPI callouts and platform UI highlights

Post-Production

  • Versioning for multiple platforms/formats
  • Color, audio, graphics, high-end VFX and CG treated for enterprise polish
  • Stakeholder feedback integrated through staged reviews

Results

We helped MassMutual more than double its audience over the first year of engagement, exceeding its goals for the campaign. They were so happy that they engaged us for a second year. We helped them more than double their audience again, which again exceeded client expectations.

"
Patrick had a partnership mentality and a deep understanding of the financial services industry. He was part of the team and worked collaboratively with us in all phases of video production from concepting, to writing the script and interfacing with compliance, to the actual shooting.

What I love most about Patrick and team is that they treat us like a partner, not just a client. They genuinely cared about the success of each video we created and the impact they had on our users and engagement. They had a deep understanding of our brand and positioning, which made it easier to work together and deliver completed videos more quickly.
- Nicole Sampson, MassMutual