Marketing Promos

Feature drop animation for the Google Pixel phone.

Client | Google
Agency | 1stAveMachine
Production | Buff
Design & Animation | Buff
Icon Design | Make Future
Sound Design | James Locke-Hart

Creating fluid UI and feature animation for Google Pixel.

Google is a multinational technology company on a mission to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

The Challenge

Periodically throughout the year, the tech giant Google releases a series of updates and new features for the Pixel phone. Google wanted help to communicate these new capabilities to Pixel users in a dynamic video that gets them excited about the updates. The video needed to showcase and show off the features - explaining how they work and showing people what to expect.

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The Solution

Working with 1stAveMachine, we developed a playful animation style using fun kinetic typography that moves in a way to reflect the words we see. We wanted to ensure the video moved seamlessly between type, brand elements and footage; taking the viewer on a journey to discover the new features.

Using the music’s lead, we began by refining the edit and finalising the content we’d see in a boardomatic (a video storyboard). We then blended the scenes together to produce a cohesive, and sometimes surprising, piece that put our own spin on the previous feature drops that had been produced.

The final delivery was a 90-second animation published online.

The Google Pixel Feature Drop animation is a 90-second promotional film produced by Buff Motion for Google, via agency 1stAveMachine, designed to communicate a series of software updates and new capabilities released periodically for the Pixel phone to existing users in an engaging and dynamic format. Brighton-based Buff Motion, a certified B Corporation, was responsible for design and animation, with icon design by Make Future and sound design by James Locke-Hart. The studio developed a playful animation style built around kinetic typography, with type animated to reflect the qualities of the words on screen, and produced a boardomatic — a video storyboard — to refine the edit and finalise content before moving into full animation. The production blended type, brand elements, and footage into a cohesive piece, with music used as the structural lead throughout. The page confirms this was the second feature drop project Buff Motion had worked on with Google, with the July 2022 release cited specifically. Google reported that the video achieved the highest engagement numbers of all feature drop videos produced to date. Courtney Gnash, Producer at 1stAveMachine, noted that Buff Motion integrated sound design independently to further elevate the final piece.

The Impact

Bringing new software and hardware updates to life for a global tech leader requires a motion graphics studio that deeply respects brand integrity. For the Google Pixel Feature Drops, Buff Motion successfully translated complex UI functionality into fluid, intuitive, and highly engaging digital marketing promos.

Our team delivered a suite of seamless, scalable animations that met Google’s strict design guidelines while maintaining a high-tempo, consumer-friendly pace. By blending technical precision with playful motion, the final assets provided an elevated, premium feel across global digital channels—proving that our studio can seamlessly scale production to meet the demands of major tech product launches.

"For how fast this moved and the fact we were establishing a direct relationship, this project exceeded expectations. You used your gut, made the right calls, and delivered something way better than what we would have had otherwise."

1stAveMachine
Producer
1st Avenue Machine

What exactly is a marketing promo and why is having one a good idea? Find out more here!

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