Salute to Service

Call in a Flyover Integrated Experience

Personally augmenting the concept from a basic social campaign into a brand-defining experience, I was the Creative Lead on this ambitious, first-of-its-kind marketing project.

A complex user experience project, I wrote and pitched the concept, oversaw film production, and was creative oversight for the web and integration development. The highest budget digital execution ever undertaken by USAA, the campaign generated over 50k shared videos, 114k site visits, and 143 million impressions garnering press and social media praise and was a finalist in the Webbys and OMMAs.

Role: Motion Director & Producer
Agency: Publicis Sapient
Production Partner: Tool of NA

Site experience

A partnership between the NFL and USAA, Salute to Service was a generative video experience in which a user enters the name, rank, and address of themselves, a friend, or a loved one to create and deliver a custom tribute video.

In the video’s story, voice-over states the recipient’s rank and, leveraging a partnership with Google Earth and Google Streetview, shows a formation of jets flying to and then over their house, before closing with a custom animated end card. The social-media-ready, shareable video would then automatically be sent to the recipient on Facebook or through E-mail.

The project consisted of:

⇢ Scripting and shooting the film
⇢ Developing the site experience & social media integration
⇢ A custom automation back-end to handle:
↳      Accessing Google Streetview and Google Earth API
↳      Voice synthesis
↳      Compositing and rendering the video
↳      Hosting and delivering the files
⇢      Social & e-mail notification/sharing system

On set behind the scenes I put together

My proof of concept video from the pitch (Premiere & After Effects)

Project Case Study and Awards Reel I created (After Effects, Premiere, Sound Design)

© 2025 Luther Himes IV