Coachtopia: NFC Chip Animation

Coachtopia: NFC Chip Animation

Some innovations are game-changers, but only if people know how to use them. That’s where we came in. As part of our ongoing collaboration with Coachtopia, we had the rare opportunity to bring one of their most futuristic innovations to life—an NFC chip embedded in every Coachtopia product. This tiny piece of tech is a gateway into Coachtopia’s circular fashion movement.

Coachtopia’s NFC chip serves as a digital passport for every product, allowing users to track its entire lifecycle. In the future, it will reveal the full journey of each item—where it’s been, how it’s been remade, and even the hands it’s passed through. But there was just one problem: most people have no ideaAn idea is a thought, concept, or mental image that emerges as a solution, inspiration, or innovation. Ideas form the foundation of creativity and problem-solving, driving progress and sparking new opportunities. what an NFC chip is, or how to activate it.

That’s where we came in.

The Challenge: Making NFC Tech Simple & Fun

We needed to create something that wasn’t just a tutorial, but an experience—an engaging, easy-to-digest, hand-drawn animated film that would make learning about Coachtopia’s NFC chip effortless and entertaining.

This wasn’t a generic explainer videoVideo is a powerful visual medium that combines moving images, sound, and text to convey messages, tell stories, and engage audiences. It is used across platforms and industries to inform, entertain, and inspire.. It had to feel alive, bursting with Coachtopia’s personality. It had to be fun, vibrant, and playful while ensuring users clearly understood how to tap into their product’s digital passport.

Meet Bonnie: Your Guide to Coachtopia’s NFC World

Bonnie, the cheerful flower character, standing in front of Coachtopia’s gates as she welcomes users to the NFC experience.

To make the experience feel welcoming, we introduced Bonnie, an animated flower who acts as the perfect guide. Originally called Perry during development, Coachtopia decided to name the flower Bonnie, giving them a name that embodies the cheerful and inviting spirit of the animationAnimation brings still images to life, creating the illusion of movement and telling stories in a visually captivating way. It can be 2D (flat) or 3D (adding depth and dimension)..

With the voice talent of Coachtopia community member Molly, Bonnie walks users through everything they need to know—how to find the NFC chip, how to activate it, and what it unlocks.

Bonnie isn’t alone. As she moves in and out of the app interface, other Coachtopia community characters jump in to bring even more life to the animation, keeping the energy up and making sure the experience feels immersive.

A Vertical World Built for the Coachtopia App

Designed from the ground up to live exclusively inside the Coachtopia app, the animation was created in a 9×16 vertical format, ensuring a seamless, intuitive experience for users interacting with the film on their phones.

We carefully storyboarded and animated each sequence to maximize clarity while keeping the motion dynamic and fluid. Utilizing clever animation tricks, we bounce between the app interface and the Coachtopia world, making the technology feel less like a feature and more like a magical extension of the brandA brand is the unique identity of a business, product, or service, encompassing its values, personality, visual identity, and customer perceptions. It’s how an organization differentiates itself and connects with its audience. itself.

Storyboard: Bringing the NFC Chip Animation to Life

At RIOT, every animation starts with a plan. For Coachtopia’s NFC chip animation, we created a detailed storyboard to map out every movement, transition, and interactionEngagement is the level of interaction, attention, and emotional connection that an audience has with a brand, message, or content. It reflects how actively individuals are participating, sharing, or responding to what’s presented.. This storyboard became the backbone of the project, guiding our team as we brought Perry and the Coachtopia world to life.

Below, you can explore the full storyboard—six pages of hand-drawn frames that walk you through the animation, scene by scene. From Perry’s playful personality to the dynamic transitions between the app and Coachtopia’s whimsical world, these frames showcase the meticulous planning behind the final animation.

Perry welcomes viewersAn audience is a group of individuals who receive and engage with a specific message, content, or product. In marketing and creative fields, understanding the audience is critical to crafting resonant and impactful strategies and campaigns. to Coachtopia with the iconic gate in the background

Perry guides users on how to tap the Made Circular tag to connect to the app.

Activating a sleeping NFC chip with Perry, the flower character.

Demonstrating the user account connection process via the NFC chip

View of the product story and its environmental impact on the Coachtopia app.

Perry concludes the journey by welcoming viewers to Coachtopia, showcasing the community-driven world and fading out to the logo title card.