Growing the Future of Food

Giving Food Agility CRC a bold narrative that inspires collaboration and positions digital innovation as the key to a more sustainable, competitive agri-food system.

Client & Context

Food Agility is a Cooperative Research Centre focused on transforming Australia’s agri-food sector through digital innovation. As a young organisation with a broad national mandate, they needed a clear and compelling way to explain who they were, what they did and why their work mattered, especially as the food industry faced increasing pressure from climate change, resource constraints and shifting global demand.

Challenge

Although Food Agility had a strong mission, their messaging was complex. As a national innovation hub working across research, data, technology and industry collaboration, they needed a succinct way to explain their value. Without a clear communication tool, they risked low awareness, difficulty articulating their proposition and inconsistent messaging across events and presentations. In short, they needed to communicate a multi-layered initiative in under two minutes without losing strategic clarity or the ability to inspire partners.

Redboat’s Approach

Redboat engaged with Food Agility as a strategic partner, applying its full lifecycle methodology from discovery through to delivery. We began with workshops and interviews with senior leaders and communicators to clarify objectives, audiences, messages, brand considerations and any communication risks. From this, we developed a script outline that distilled Food Agility’s purpose and value into a clear narrative, refining it collaboratively before moving into full script development and animation. Throughout the process, we acted as a trusted consultancy partner, helping shape the message architecture, strengthen the value narrative and ensure alignment with the organisation’s broader strategy.

The solution

The final output was a single, high-impact animated explainer that played an important strategic role for the CRC. We built the piece around Food Agility’s distinctive brand, using their teal, green, purple and gold palette and integrating the curling-leaf motifs throughout to create a cohesive visual identity. To make a complex system easy to understand, we centered the story on an apple’s journey from farm to consumer, which is an accessible metaphor that captures the producer’s perspective, the role of data and technology, the importance of traceability and the consumer’s trust in Australian food. A smooth multiplane animation style with subtle time-lapse effects created a sense of movement as viewers travelled through farms, supply chains, warehouses and markets, while recurring elements such as the farmer, the apple and key industry actors reinforced continuity and highlighted the interconnected nature of the food system.

Results & Impact

Food Agility reported strong qualitative outcomes, with the animation becoming a key asset for explaining their mission and engaging researchers, industry and government. It improved response at events, created a consistent message across stakeholders and reduced the need for lengthy written material, helping the organisation communicate with clarity in technical settings.

Strategic Value

As a strategic content partner, we translated Food Agility’s organisational strategy into clear, accessible messaging, reduced risk by ensuring accuracy and alignment, and applied full lifecycle thinking from discovery through to production and implementation. The animation strengthened Food Agility’s ability to form partnerships, accelerate impact and maintain a message that continues to create value well beyond delivery. In a sector defined by complexity and emerging technology, this clarity helped them articulate a more sustainable, digitally enabled food future and engage the right collaborators.

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