This explainer video for IT services sells Quest Technology Management’s disaster recovery workshop with comedy: Smart Bob and Risky Bob, two CTOs at the same company in parallel universes. One books the workshop. The other tames a crocodile at work. The video lets the audience decide which universe they’re living in.
See more explainer work for technology companies →
About This IT Services Explainer Video
The Challenge: Disaster recovery planning is the definition of a grudge purchase: everyone agrees it matters, nobody wants to sit through a video about it. Quest needed CTOs and business owners to actually watch, and then to feel the gap between prepared and not.
The Solution: A whiteboard-flavored 2D animation built on a parallel-universe gag. Smart Bob gets vulnerability assessments, tabletop tests, and an actionable recovery plan. Risky Bob gets a crocodile, a lightning rod in a rainstorm, and a blackboard plan that includes learning to eat pinecones. The absurdity keeps viewers watching while the real methodology lands underneath.
The Result: A 2:05 video that makes the case with the industry’s own numbers, millions of businesses hit by disasters, 25 percent never fully recovering, and leaves one image in the buyer’s head: which Bob am I?
Key Features That Make This IT Services Explainer Work
- Split-universe storytelling: the same company, two timelines, so every scene is a before/after argument without a single chart.
- Comedy in service of the sale: the crocodile and lightning-rod gags earn attention that a feature list never would, and each one maps to a real planning failure.
- The methodology is all there: risk assessment, active testing, actionable recovery plans, the workshop’s actual deliverables anchor every Smart Bob scene.
- Statistics with teeth: the disaster-frequency and recovery-failure numbers arrive as bold infographics right when the laughter has opened the door.
Technical Details
Year: 2015
Format: 2D flat vector animation, whiteboard-style sequences
Style: Humorous parallel-narrative, character-driven
Purpose: Service marketing for a disaster recovery workshop
Key Metrics: 25 percent of disaster-struck businesses never fully recover, featured on screen
Runtime: 2:05
Target Audience: CTOs, IT decision-makers, business owners
Deliverables: Web and sales enablement
Why Humor Works for IT Services Marketing
IT services marketing usually reads like an insurance policy: accurate, responsible, and skipped. The audience already knows they should have a recovery plan, so another sober warning changes nothing.
Comedy changes the physics. When a video is genuinely funny, viewers stay for the argument, share it internally, and remember the company that made them laugh. It takes real corporate video craft to be funny and credible at once, and this script threads it by keeping every joke tied to a true planning failure.
Nearly a decade on, Smart Bob and Risky Bob remain the pitch: preparation looks boring right up until the moment it looks brilliant.
Related Technology Explainer Work
See how we’ve told stories for other technology and platform companies:
- Flexera – Cloud and Shadow IT Explainer
- 8×8 Virtual Office – International
- Hospitality Resort – Information Security Training
- Browse the full TADApix portfolio
Need an IT Services Explainer Video?
If your service is essential but your audience’s eyes glaze over, story and humor can carry the message where bullet points can’t. We’ve been doing it for 15+ years.
Related Services
Ready to Create Your Video?
Custom animated videos that drive results for your business.