BYD California Dreaming
A multi-faceted Build Your Dreams campaign for BYD—entered at APTA as Happy Employees make Greener Buses. Documentary labor film, bydcaliforniadreaming.com, collateral, and community outreach let Lancaster factory workers tell their own story. No actors. Unscripted. Grand Award winner in Educational Campaign, Group 4 Business Member, 2016.
The brief
In 2013, BYD opened an electric bus factory in Lancaster, California—a city with unemployment at 10.9%. The local community knew BYD had arrived, but stakeholder education beyond the city was lacking. Too many people outside Lancaster were not aware of the speed of growth, the community impact, or the good-paying jobs BYD was creating while so many companies were leaving California.
A marketing video was at the top of the list—but video alone was not enough. More was needed to connect the audience with BYD. What better way than to have the talented workforce tell that story in their own unique way? No actors. Unscripted. Over three weeks, Geogram shot, edited, and designed collateral including a dedicated campaign website—then supported outreach that took the story into boardrooms, press conferences, and communities across Los Angeles County.
The labor film
The documentary opens on BYD's mission—clean technology that grows the economy, adds jobs, and protects the environment—then buses on roadways across Gardena, Stanford, LADOT, Metro, and more. But it all starts with BYD's family team members: welders, assemblers, and technicians building the longest-range transit buses made in America.
Unscripted interviews carry the story. A factory worker recalls starting with maybe 15 people in the shop—now new team members join almost every day. Johnny Ray speaks to pride in building electric buses and technology that is changing transit. Macy Neshati frames BYD's growth—the LA office, the Lancaster factory, and groundbreaking on a larger state-of-the-art facility next door. Mercedes shares what it means when her daughters say, "You make new buses that are going to save the environment!"
The film builds to a rapid montage of smiling employees—cuts accelerating frame by frame—landing on WE ARE BYD, the chrome BYD logo animating in from black, and a fade to Build Your Dreams and bydcaliforniadreaming.com.
California Dreaming
The labor documentary—factory workers at BYD's US headquarters sharing life on the line.
bydcaliforniadreaming.com
The campaign extended beyond the screen. Geogram acquired and built bydcaliforniadreaming.com—a destination where visitors could meet the workforce behind the buses: employee stories, factory life, and the human side of BYD's clean-technology mission. The site anchored outreach, gave the film a permanent home, and connected recruiting, media, and community leaders to the people building electric transit in California.
APTA Adwheel Awards submission
The case study film for APTA entry BYD – Happy Employees make Greener Buses—documenting strategy, outreach, and measurable results that earned the Grand Award in Educational Campaign (Group 4 – Business member), 2016.
Outreach & impact
Creating the campaign was step one. Step two was putting it in front of the right people. The video played at events including the special board meeting and press conference announcing Antelope Valley Transit Authority's commitment to become the nation's first large-scale electric transit fleet by 2018. Geogram supported meetings with government officials across Lancaster, Palmdale, Los Angeles, and the LA County Board of Supervisors.
- Recruiting — helped increase job applications to a steady ~15 new hires per week
- Digital reach — 5,000+ views on Facebook and YouTube, plus thousands more from events, meetings, and outreach within months
- Global media — coverage of BYD's growth from outlets worldwide
- County recognition — LA County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich hosted a presentation honoring BYD Motors President Stella Lee for leadership in building a clean-economy workforce
- Scale — BYD grew to 300+ workers with plans to triple; a new 450,000 sq ft factory underway to build 1,500+ zero-emission buses per year
What we were really trying to accomplish was to connect the people building the buses to the people riding buses—to connect community leaders with organizations in need of funding, and connect BYD to the right people in the right place to build a future for clean transportation. Public transit is not just about getting from one place to another. It is about connecting people to the things, places, and people in their lives.
What we delivered
Campaign strategy
End-to-end campaign architecture—stakeholder education, workforce storytelling, and outreach designed to reach beyond Lancaster into LA County and the transit industry.
Documentary production
Three weeks of shooting at the Lancaster factory—unscripted interviews, b-roll of welding, assembly, paint, and team life; no actors, real workers telling their own stories.
Video editing
Editorial for both the labor film and the Adwheel submission—pacing documentary intimacy into a campaign arc that builds to WE ARE BYD and measurable results.
Art direction
Visual language across film, website, and collateral—chrome logo animation, Build Your Dreams branding, and a look that honors factory craft and clean-technology ambition.
Website — bydcaliforniadreaming.com
Campaign site featuring BYD workers sharing life at the US factory headquarters—recruiting, media, and community touchpoint for the Build Your Dreams message.
Collateral & outreach support
Designed campaign materials and supported event playback—from AVTA's electric fleet announcement to government meetings across Lancaster, Palmdale, and Los Angeles.
Music selection
Score curated for documentary warmth and closing momentum—supporting the chrome logo reveal and fade to Build Your Dreams without overpowering worker voices.
Color grading & audio mix
Finishing for factory environments, interview clarity, and event playback—polished for boardrooms, press conferences, and online distribution.
The result
An APTA Grand Award–winning educational campaign—Happy Employees make Greener Buses—that put faces on BYD's Lancaster factory. Connecting workforce pride to transit leadership, community jobs to electric buses on LA streets, and a documentary film to a website, collateral, and outreach program that changed how stakeholders saw BYD in California. The highest honor in Educational Campaign, Group 4 Business Member—and a model for letting the people who build the future tell the story themselves.