Forever Forward - Celebrating 20 years of Workday's Impact

Workday approached Gorilla Creative with a high-stakes challenge: produce a video to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary in time for their upcoming Sales Kickoff (SKO)—less than two months away. The video needed to resonate with employees, customers, and partners alike, with broad distribution across internal and external events, social media channels, and  web platforms throughout the year.

The Challenge
Workday had already established the core creative direction: a “slingshot” metaphor that would visually pull viewers back through key milestones in the company’s history before snapping forward into the present day. The tone needed to be authentic, energetic, and celebratory—capturing the pioneering spirit of Workday’s brand while avoiding the predictability of a typical corporate timeline video.

To bring this vision to life, Workday invited Gorilla Creative, a San Francisco corporate video production company, and several other creative agencies to pitch ideas to bring their "slingshot" concept to life.

Our Approach
With just one week to respond, our team developed four unique animated video concepts ranging from bold and abstract to clean and strictly brand-aligned. For each concept, we created style frames and animated motion samples to clearly convey how the visuals and storytelling would unfold.

After selecting our “Aurora” concept, Workday awarded us the project. From there, we dove into creative development, refining the script and recording voiceover with Workday’s Chief Marketing Officer. Rather than composing an original music score from scratch (a time-consuming and costly process), we selected and embellished a stock music track, ensuring it paired perfectly with the visuals and voiceover narration. We added layers of sound design to make each milestone and memory feel like an emotional and immersive experience.

Stakeholder Alignment & Review Process
Given the high stakes of this project, we collaborated with Workday to identify key stakeholders early and schedule clear approval checkpoints. This ensured efficient feedback cycles that kept the project on track. This proactive approach prevented late-stage revisions that could have derailed the tight timeline.

The Outcome
To support a variety of use cases, we delivered eight total versions of the animated video: two aspect ratios, internal and external end cards, and versions with and without burned-in subtitles.

The final video premiered at Workday’s SKO in Las Vegas, Nevada to an enthusiastic response, and has continued to serve as a cornerstone asset across internal meetings, events, and digital channels. This project is a testament to Gorilla Creative’s ability to deliver high-impact, high-quality animated videos on tight timelines—and highlights our role as a trusted creative agency for ambitious enterprise brands.