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Turn a product pitch into an investigation.

An investigation designed to help technical buyers reconsider how they evaluate a recovery solution.

Campaign work · Interactive views reconstruct the kit; display animations illustrate screen concepts.

Open investigation mailer with the blue welcome-page design in a plywood setting
A welcome page introduces the investigation.
The audience

IT, infrastructure, backup, and recovery leaders at accounts selected for a competitive reconsideration.

The challenge

A recovery solution needed a fair evaluation in competitive accounts. Buyers needed to examine the assumptions and criteria behind a migration decision before considering an alternative.

The idea

Let buyers investigate the criteria first, then reveal an alternative approach chapter by chapter.

What we brought to it

We developed the investigation from narrative through production: the chapter sequence, printed materials, packaging, sourcing, and kit assembly.

Explore the physical experience
Explore the kit’s layers and contents.

Go inside the story, reveal by reveal.

The story in the reveals

Uncover the argument one layer at a time.

Four chapter reveals from the interactive model. The construction is simplified; open any image for a larger view.

  1. Survey booklet sliding from its sleeve in the open crate model
    01 / Survey

    Start with the questions.

    Survey opens the investigation with definitions and diagnostic questions. The buyer gets evaluation criteria before the product’s answer.

  2. Excavation booklet revealed beneath the tools layer in the crate model
    02 / Excavation

    Examine what lies beneath.

    Excavation moves into legacy assumptions and dependencies. The next physical layer carries the next part of the argument.

  3. Unearth booklet revealed in the lower layer of the crate model
    03 / Unearth

    Bring the evidence into view.

    Unearth introduces the product’s response, differentiators and supporting proof after the criteria and assumptions have been considered.

  4. Three ring-bound chapters combined as a field guide beside the crate model
    04 / Complete the guide

    Leave one connected argument.

    The three chapters combine as a field guide. A foam-core display preview points ahead to the separate meeting-stage kit.

The invitation

Open the case.

The closed, crate-style mailer made the investigation tangible before the first page was read. Opening it introduced a welcome card and a layered printed guide; a separate toolbox supplied the physical tools.

Instead of starting with a product pitch, the experience asked technical buyers to look more closely at how they would evaluate a recovery decision.

Crate-style campaign mailer standing out among plain parcels in a UPS truck
A crate-style mailer invites a closer look.
The chapters

Follow the evidence.

The argument unfolded through three ring-bound booklets, each inside its own printed sleeve. Evaluation criteria gave buyers a basis for comparing approaches; examining inherited assumptions helped frame what needed a closer look. The final chapter then introduced the product’s answer and supporting proof.

  1. SurveySet the evaluation criteria with definitions and diagnostic questions.
  2. ExcavationExamine legacy assumptions, dependencies, and cause and effect.
  3. UnearthIntroduce the product’s differentiators, case studies, and supporting proof.
Survey, Excavation and Unearth ring-bound booklets on a blue surface
Survey, Excavation, and Unearth build the story one chapter at a time.
A closer look

Make discovery worth keeping.

The investigation continued beyond the printed chapters. Browse the tools, discoveries and takeaways that made the story something recipients could explore, use and keep.

Scroll or swipe to explore

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The fossil

A sealed fossil blind bag adds another discovery beneath the kinetic sand.

A keepsake for everyday

The steel Toyo toolbox gives pens, notes and small essentials a home after the dig.

Multitool + Field Notes

Nested drivers unscrew from the hammer’s handle. Field Notes gives recipients a place for questions and observations.

The geode

The geode carries the invitation to dig deeper into a physical discovery.

The next step

Keep digging.

The printed journey was designed to give sales a useful follow-up question: what would a closer look reveal in this account?

Recipients booked a demo to receive a separate second kit with the TRMNL e-ink display.

Rendered follow-on kit with an e-ink device
Rendered view of the separate meeting-stage kit with a TRMNL e-ink display.
The follow-through

Old-school looks. New possibilities.

The TRMNL display looks like a throwback: a simple monochrome screen in a small desktop frame. Its open-source firmware and customizable screens make it something recipients can keep adapting to their own interests.

That made it a fitting continuation of the investigation: an object that rewards looking beyond first impressions. The campaign splash screen could give way to a calendar, weather, or another useful everyday view.

TRMNL display cycling through calendar, campaign, weather, and task-list screen concepts.
Calendar, campaign, weather, and tasks—illustrative screen concepts for the TRMNL display.
The work, together

Give sales a story to continue.

The printed investigation, physical discoveries and second-kit invitation were designed around one progression: examine the criteria, question the assumptions, then consider the evidence. Howdy carried that structure through narrative, packaging, sourcing and assembly; Sendoso handled campaign fulfillment.

This case study documents the campaign and its two-kit design. Demo conversion and sales outcomes are not reported here.

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