Customer Case Study
Blue Zoo
Google Sites Intranet
“Steegle’s intranet solutions aptly align with the specific needs of modern enterprises.” – Tom Box
Optimized Operational Excellence with Steegle.One
Founded in 2000, Blue Zoo stands as a premier British animation studio renowned for award-winning series like Alphablocks, Numberblocks, and The Adventures of Paddington Bear. Operating from their hubs in London and Brighton and powered by a fervent team of over 200 artists, Blue Zoo’s company wide commitment to inclusivity and environmental standards has been acknowledged with their B Corp certification in 2021.
Challenges
As Blue Zoo broadened its horizons, the imperative for a user-friendly, efficient employee experience system intensified to improve productivity. Happeo intranet, their initial choice a few years back, while usable had some challenges Many of its features were to complex for a mid size organisation with limited management resources and social engagement tools seemed redundant given Blue Zoo’s use of Google Chat, leading to inefficiencies and a less than optimal user experience.
Furthermore, Happeo’s constrained setup, combined with its relatively high price point, mismatched with Blue Zoo’s vision of a nimble, cost-effective, and flexible platform that could fully reflect the engaging Bluezoo brand. A pivotal concern was the safe containment of sensitive HR data, eliminating unwarranted third-party risks.
Solution
Steegle’s Steegle.One News and People tools, renowned for their well-designed interfaces and content-management capabilities, coupled with their competitive pricing, perfectly mirrored Blue Zoo’s requirements. Designed to work harmoniously side by side to Google Chat, these tools promised to curate timeless stories, bolstering comms and overall employee productivity.
The Intranet portal’s look and feel could be effortlessly custom-tailored, allowing Blue Zoo to infuse their unique branding and visual design finesse. Moreover, with Steegle’s solutions, all data was anchored securely within Blue Zoo’s Google Workspace, with single sign-on ensuring quick, secure access and obliterating any third-party security apprehensions.
Key Facts - Client Success Stories
Location: Blue Zoo Animation Studio – Headquartered in London with a hub in Brighton, UK.
Industry: Entertainment (Animation).Size: A leading British animation studio with over 200 artists, known for award-winning series like Alphablocks, Numberblocks, and The Adventures of Paddington Bear.
Challenges: As Blue Zoo expanded, it sought an employee experience system that was user-friendly and efficient to enhance productivity.
Solution: Steegle One Tools and Google Sites platform
Outcome: The transition to Steegle’s intranet solutions enabled Blue Zoo to achieve a platform that was not only functional and financially viable but also customizable to reflect their unique branding.
Conclusion: Blue Zoo’s shift to Steegle.One highlights the importance of choosing communication platforms that align with a company’s specific operational needs..
Contact Steegle: Contact Page
“Transitioning to Steegle was a decision driven by both functionality and finance. Their team, pragmatic and attuned, understood our intricate needs, presenting an Internet portal that was not only intuitive but allowed our unique branding to flourish. The well-designed tools enhanced the new intranet’s deployment, making content management a breeze and unveiling hidden talents within our ranks. Their price point was a breath of fresh air, providing significant value. Most importantly, our trust was reinforced, knowing our data remains protected within our Google Workspace.”
Tom Box
Co-Founder, Blue Zoo Animation
Happeo — too complex, overpriced, constrained branding, social noise
No platform reflecting Blue Zoo's visual identity and creative culture
Data sovereignty concern: third-party holding sensitive creative IP
200+ artists with limited intranet management resource
Before Steegle.One
Fully branded portal — Blue Zoo identity built from the ground up
Steegle News and People: easier publishing, hidden talents surfaced
All data inside Blue Zoo's own Google Workspace — single sign-on
Tom Box: 'pragmatic and attuned' — price 'a breath of fresh air'
After Steegle.One
Conclusion
In our modern digital era, especially for industries hinging on intellectual property, businesses must champion communication platforms that are effective, customizable, and robustly secure. Blue Zoo Animation Studio’s pivot to Steegle’s intranet solutions epitomizes the imperative of aligning tools with a company’s nuanced operational needs, ensuring efficiency, branding cohesion, and paramount data security.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Most intranet platforms are built for corporate environments and look like it. For a studio like Blue Zoo — known for Alphablocks, Numberblocks, and Paddington Bear — a generic tool with a logo dropped in simply doesn't reflect who they are. Creative teams notice when internal tools feel disconnected from the company's visual culture.
-
Happeo wasn't wrong for everyone — it just wasn't right for Blue Zoo. Many features were too complex for a studio of 200-plus artists. Social tools added noise. The price didn't match the utility. And critically, Happeo's constrained setup made it hard to build something that genuinely felt like Blue Zoo. They needed something leaner, more flexible, and fully on-brand.
-
The portal's look and feel is built to carry the client's brand — not adapted from a template. For Blue Zoo, that meant a platform that reflected their visual identity from the ground up. Tom Box, co-founder, described the result as allowing their unique branding to flourish. That sense of ownership matters for adoption.
-
Blue Zoo creates original IP. Sensitive HR data and creative assets need to stay inside the organisation, not sit on a third-party platform with its own data arrangements. With Steegle.One, everything is anchored inside Blue Zoo's own Google Workspace. Tom Box specifically cited this as a key factor.
-
The team gets involved. Tom described Steegle as pragmatic and attuned — they understood Blue Zoo's specific situation rather than applying a standard approach. If the platform doesn't cover something a creative studio needs, Steegle will build it — custom tools, workflows, integrations — all inside Google.
-
Content management became noticeably easier. The Steegle.One News and People tools gave the team well-designed interfaces for publishing and finding information. Tom noted it even surfaced hidden talents across the studio — the people directory made it easier to see who knew what.
-
Studios generate a large volume of content — briefs, process documents, policies, crew information. AI tools like Gemini can help staff find things faster, but they need clean, well-organised content to work from. Steegle.One provides that structured layer.
Other technology & software companies using Steegle.One
Many more technology companies use Steegle.One — these are the clients who've shared their story.
Nile Secure
Cybersecurity & networking — global teams, multi-timezone
Wyyerd Fiber
Fast-growing telecoms — 300+ staff, Arizona & California
Kinship
Pet care & consumer tech — Mars Petcare subsidiary
Explore the Tech & Software hub →
Tech software intranets on Google Workspace
Other distributed & fast-growing teams using Steegle.One
Many more distributed and fast-growing teams use Steegle.One — these are the clients who've shared their story
Beyond Meat
Food manufacturing — 1,200 global users, North America, Europe, Asia
Metz Culinary Management
Multi-site hospitality & facilities management — 15,000 staff, 300+ sites
Nile Secure
Cybersecurity & networking — global teams, multi-timezone
Contact Us
Looking for an intranet solution for Google Workspace?
Since 2008, we here at Steegle.com have been delivering intranet development solutions for Google Sites. We have developed Steegle.One intranet system which builds directly to Google Sites for Google Workspace.
As a certified Google Cloud Partner, we specialize in Google Workspace based solutions. Give us a call at US +1 (302) 672 3007 or UK +44 (207) 871 502 or contact us today to view a demo of our intranet solutions, and see how it can help increase employee productivity and save time and money. Click below to learn more about the Steegle.One Intranet solution.