How Augment Agency Created 5k+ Personalized Videos For Run Malibu Participants

Our client for this project was a creative agency specializing in sports, called Augment Agency,  which worked with a company that owns a large number of races all over the world, including marathons half marathons 5ks, etc. 

Augment Agency approached Plainly because they needed our help to create over 5,000+ personalized videos for the runners who participated in their client’s Run Malibu race. 

Run Malibu is a team that has organized many half marathons, 5ks, running-for-a-cause races, and similar events since 2009.

They put a big emphasis on supporting their community and one of their main missions is to significantly enhance the lives of Malibu youth. Founded in 2009, they welcome runners and walkers from around the country to Malibu multiple times a year, for different foot racing events.

Their brand is centered on showcasing the power residing in each of their runners, and the personalized videos were a great way for Augment Agency to communicate just that.

Augment’s Project

Augment wanted to offer a personalized recap video for each runner after the Run Malibu race in 2023. 

Part of the inspiration came from the Boston Marathon video, which looked something like this:

Similar to the video above, Augment’s video showed different stats of the runner during the race such as start time, average pace, runner’s position in their group, and their final position, concluding with a CTA for 2024’s Run Malibu race.

Augment Agency’s Goals

Augment Agency wanted to spread awareness of the Run Malibu race, and offer a wholesome piece of content, as well as a nice little memory for the runners. Their secondary goal with these videos was to promote the race, in hopes of attracting more runners for the next racing event.

The Challenges Augment Agency Faced

The first biggest challenge was the sheer scale of the project. Since there were over 5000 runners, Augment Agency obviously couldn’t create these videos manually.

The second problem was that the videos needed to be done quickly — quickly enough to be included in the post-race email that each runner received personally.

Augment Agency needed a tool that works with After Effects, can be set up quickly, and has a scalable and fast infrastructure.

The Solution

Plainly was simply the best solution for Augment Agency’s project. We worked closely together with their team since this was their first time executing a campaign like this one. All it took was an After Effects template, the runner’s data, and of course, their awesome idea.

Let’s break down their workflow together, step by step:

The Implementation

1. Augment Agency’s team created a template in After Effects. We helped here a bit with After Effects expressions, just to help them make their template even more dynamic
2. They did the setup in Plainly (they uploaded the After Effects template, and chose all of the dynamic elements that will be personalized for each runner)  
3. After the race, they exported the runner data from their race management platform
4. They added the data into Plainly with a CSV and exported 5000+ videos at once
5. They set up a Plainly integration with Google Sheets, so the video links were automatically sent to Google Sheets, alongside each runner’s ID number. This way, all of the videos were connected to specific runners automatically.
6. After the rendering was done, they added that sheet back into the race management platform and sent the email campaign to the runners.

The Results

With Plainly’s help, Augment Agency was able to get off to a running start with Plainly, complete the project in time, and create over 5,000 personalized videos for their runners.

The contestants loved these videos and shared them all over their social media.

We’re glad Plainly helped make an emotional impact on Run Malibu runners and helped Augment Agency inspire new ones to apply for the next event. We hope all of their future projects run this smoothly!

If you’re looking to automate the creation of video for your specific needs, book a demo with us and see how you can get your project started today with Plainly.