Heifer International is a global nonprofit on a mission to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way.
Supporting local farmers and their communities for over 75 years, Heifer is creating lasting change from the ground up. Prior to her transition to a Public Relations Officer, as Heifer’s Digital Communications Officer, Aimée Knight was responsible for promoting Heifer’s valuable work to donors, partners and the wider community through social media and blog posts.
With over 850 employees working across 21 countries, effective internal communication is also crucial to Heifer’s mission. Digital Community Manager, Chelsey Louzeiro, oversees the organization’s internal communications to nurture an engaged and connected workforce.
Video is a powerful tool for Heifer’s communication teams, enabling them to get their message across in a dynamic and compelling format. But with limited resources, Chelsey and Aimée both needed a way to “take the reins” to produce more videos, fast.
The challenge: Limited bandwidth for creating videos
Many organizations rely on internal video producers or vendors to create video content. But with ever-increasing demand across multiple teams, internal specialists are stretched thin, while outsourcing is often expensive and time-consuming.
For internal comms, Chelsey needed videos that were “authentic and didn’t take a lot of time to create”.
Aimée faced the same challenge for external comms. She wanted to create regular videos, quickly to promote Heifer’s blog posts on LinkedIn and Twitter, to showcase their success stories and explain Heifer’s work.
To gain more autonomy and speed up production, Chelsey and Aimée searched for a new video creation solution that their teams could use.
Along came PlayPlay.
An all-in-one solution for external & internal communications
After seeing an ad on LinkedIn, Heifer’s Chelsey and Aimée used PlayPlay’s 7-day free trial to compare it to other video creation tools.
From the get-go, they found the platform “really easy to pick up” and resonated with:
- The quick access to professionally produced videos: No need to wait weeks for a video producer – PlayPlay allows Heifer to create high-quality branded videos in minutes, with complete autonomy.
- The ease of editing: With a drag-and-drop interface and a wide-range of customizable templates, video editing on PlayPlay is simple, intuitive, and user-friendly.
- Collaboration features: Heifer’s comms teams can share video drafts via a private link to get instant feedback and comments — all in one place.
- The quality of customer service: From personalized onboardings to instant support, PlayPlay’s dedicated video experts are by Heifer’s side every step of the way.
With PlayPlay at their fingertips, Chelsey and Aimée had everything they needed to start creating videos autonomously and ramp up production.
More engagement, more visibility, greater impact
PlayPlay is helping colleagues form more intimate connections through video:
Before PlayPlay, Chelsey was able to create a maximum of 1 to 2 videos per month.
Following staff feedback about the need for more “quick, easy information and learning options”, PlayPlay enables Chelsey to keep up with video demand. Now, single handedly she managed to create over 60 professional videos in the first 2 months of joining PlayPlay. And more recently, she’s creating at least 1 video every week to meet Heifer’s internal communication needs, such as:
- Leadership announcements: Through a series of ‘reflection interviews’ and event recaps from Heifer’s leadership retreats, Chelsey can convey a real, authentic view into what’s happening at the leadership level.
- ‘Week ahead’ videos: During busy periods, Chelsey creates preview videos highlighting upcoming Heifer events, headlines, and activities to keep employees in the loop.
- ‘How to’ videos: Introducing Heifer’s digital internal workplace to new employees, helping them find specific information and content during onboarding.
- Explainer videos: Using PlayPlay’s video podcast feature, Chelsey offers staff quick soundbites on important internal topics such as benefits and wellness.
- End-of-year reports: To present key findings from Heifer’s end-of-fiscal-year report in a more digestible format, Chelsey creates a summary video to share company-wide.
Because Heifer has a hybrid workforce and is so widespread, “video helps bring in employee voices… and offers a more intimate connection to get to know people.”
Delivering Heifer’s message directly through social media videos
Now, Aimée can produce far more videos for Heifer’s social media campaigns and plan ahead more efficiently. “Before, we could go a couple of months without creating a video… With PlayPlay, we are more intentional about planning and creating new visual content.”
Heifer is able to engage its target audience in a different way on social media by adding more video content to campaigns.
Aimée confirms that “video has been valuable, bringing a dynamism to the content we’re producing,” such as the Earth Day promotion to highlight Heifer's work in the Galapagos islands.
