How Casual runs round-the-clock global video production with LucidLink

About the company

Casual is a leading video production agency that has been creating impactful video content for nearly two decades. Specializing in branding, marketing, recruitment and more, Casual serves Fortune 500 and FTSE 1000 clients in finance, consulting, healthcare and travel. 

Introduction 

Casual delivers scroll-stopping brand and communications video content for enterprise businesses worldwide.

When Casual needed a way for its global teams to collaborate seamlessly, it turned to LucidLink. Since implementing LucidLink’s storage collaboration platform in 2023, Casual has:

• Centralized the production of 1,000+ projects a year on LucidLink, with media ranging from 500GB-5TB+ per project

• Created a 24-hour global production cycle with smooth collaboration across eight offices and three continents

• Eliminated downtime and delays from shipping hard drives and waiting for files to download

We spoke to Casual’s US Head of Post Production, Katie Wade, and Executive Producer, Sanica Apte, to hear more about the company’s journey with LucidLink.

The challenge: collaborating globally

The sudden shift to remote work in 2020 disrupted Casual’s workflow which largely depended on people being in the office.

Shipping drives

A reliance on physical drives created logistical bottlenecks, with editors shuttling drives between locations and often facing customs or shipping delays. The team also battled internet speed limitations, bandwidth issues, high costs and version control when sharing files online. 

No centralized storage

With no centralized place to share projects between global teams in real-time, collaboration between offices wasn’t easy. This led to slower project turnaround times and imbalances in workload — with some teams over capacity, while others had availability. 

“These were all issues we had just accepted as part of our daily work, but it’s nice to know that we don’t have to work that way anymore,” shares Katie.

Scoping out a solution

To overcome these challenges, Casual needed a solution that would allow teams spread across eight offices and three continents to work together easily. 

With over 1,000 projects a year, each with 10-15 deliverables and upwards of 2TB of media or more, it was also essential to find a platform that could centralize and handle a large volume of media. LucidLink proved the perfect fit.

The solution: centralized storage, seamless collaboration

With LucidLink, Casual centralized all its media storage in the cloud, giving teams one place to instantly and securely access video projects. The platform has been adopted across all Casual’s global offices, supporting 21 in-house editors, along with freelance editors worldwide.

“Now, we can work globally and enable a 24-hour working day. For example, our Australia team can shoot something during their day, our London team can pick up the edit overnight and then it can be passed to a colorist in New York and a sound mixer in LA to finish off,” says Sanica.

Supporting the team with global talent 

Casual can also easily work with freelancers anywhere to support its local teams.

“LucidLink definitely takes a load off our production team. We can say, ‘Oh, we need some edit support.’ That person doesn’t have to be local; we can onboard someone from New York, give them the LucidLink credentials, walk them through the initial onboarding and they’re ready to go,” shares Sanica.

“It broadens the talent pool we can work with and lets us produce better work for our clients without overburdening our internal staff.”

Maintaining access and control 

While Casual can work with creatives globally, the team still has complete control of projects and files if they need to take over.

“The big benefit is having access to their files no matter what. You never know when a freelancer will have a family emergency or something that takes them off the project. With LucidLink, we retain constant access to the piece and can check real-time progress,” Katie summarizes.

Results: a round-the-clock collaborative production workflow

Today, Casual runs a round-the-clock production workflow without needing its people to work outside of normal hours. 

Making the most of the team’s time

LucidLink has eliminated time-consuming tasks like downloading, syncing and managing duplicate files, allowing Casual’s global teams to collaborate more efficiently and produce content faster for clients.

“We’ve minimized the wait time significantly so that we’re less rushed and can give the client more bang for their buck,” says Katie.

Working within the same file structure, ensures that editors across the globe can seamlessly pick up where a teammate left off, making collaboration across time zones effortless.

“With LucidLink, we can easily bounce editors between projects. They just log in, open the files and start working. Everyone's on the same system, working from the same structure, so we're not losing out on any time. It’s helped us improve staff utilization significantly, making sure there are no gaps in workload,” Sanica adds.

Producing from planes, trains and automobile shops

When life happens, LucidLink gives Casual’s team the flexibility to work wherever they are.

“I’ve been able to make progress on edits even when I was on the go — running errands or traveling. As long as I had my laptop handy, I could make progress on an edit mid-flight or waiting for an oil change at an auto body shop where the internet connection was spotty at best,” shares Katie.

“LucidLink is a gamechanger”

Summing up, Katie says, “LucidLink is a game-changer for global production teams like ours.” 

“Casual has a long-term strategy to expand globally as one of the biggest brand and corporate production studios in the world. We plan to continue to use LucidLink throughout this expansion process, establishing and launching teams in new cities,” she concludes.