AEC from Above: The Drone Videos Transforming Project Storytelling

By Luke Carothers 

The built environment is movement.  Steel rises.  Concrete cures.  Sits transform day by day.  Yet, for much of the AEC industry’s history, those transformations have been documented through static photos, written reports, and milestone presentations that struggle to capture the real energy of what is happening on a job site. 

Drone video is changing that. 

The 2025 Marketing Excellence Awards Drone Video category highlights how AEC firms are using aerial storytelling to show projects in motion.  Instead of explaining progress, firms are now about to show it, which reveals scale, complexity, and momentum in ways that resonate with clients, communities, and future talent. 

This year’s top three campaigns from Gilbert Architects, McKim & Creed, and Baxter & Woodman, demonstrate that drone technology is more than a cinematic tool.  It is becoming a powerful way to communicate expertise, document innovation, and bring project stories to life. 

Each campaign offers a different perspective on how aerial storytelling can elevate AEC marketing. 

First Place: Gilbert Architects (Progress in Motion: Elevating Client Experience Through Drone Storytelling) 

For Gilbert Architects, the idea started with a simple question: what if construction updates could feel as dynamic as the projects themselves? 

Traditional progress updates often relied on written reports or static images.  While informative, they rarely captured the true scale or pace of construction activity.  Outsourcing video production created additional limitations, making it difficult to produce consistent content or capture projects at the right moments. 

So the firm built its own solutions. 

In 2024, Gilbert Architects launched an in-house drone program designed to document projects as they evolve.  With real-time access to job sites and a deep understanding of the firm’s design philosophy, the team began capturing construction milestones from the air. 

The result is a visual narrative that unfolds month by month. 

Drone flights occur regularly at active sites, capturing key moments as structures begin to take shape.  Clients receive dynamic visual updates that clearly illustrate progress, while the firm simultaneously builds a library of high-qualtiy content for marketing and business development. 

Once construction is complete, the sites are filmed again to create polished aerial footage that showcases the finished project. 

What makes the program especially impressive is its efficiency.  With a startup investment of less than $2,000, Gilbert Architects created a system that now supports client communication, marketing campaigns, proposal materials, and social media storytelling. 

The footage has even been shared through client platforms, including school district websites, allowing project stakeholders and communities to see how projects come together over time. 

In the process, Gilbert Architects transformed routine construction documentation into something far more compelling: a living story of progress. 

Second Place: McKim & Creed (In the Field with Our Drone LiDAR Team) 

If Gilbert Architects focused on storytelling through construction progress, McKim & Creed took viewers somewhere even more immersive: directly into the field. 

Their campaign, In the Field with Our Drone LiDAR Team, captures a real infrastructure project as the firm’s geospatial specialists collect data using UAV-mounted LiDAR technology. 

Rather than explaining the technology through diagrams or written descriptions, the campaign lets viewers see the process unfold. 

Drones sweep across the site.  Crews coordinate equipment and data collection.  The complexity of modern geospatial work becomes visible in a way that traditional marketing materials rarely achieve. 

The video was filmed entirely on location using multiple drones and cameras, creating a short-form narrative that emphasizes authenticity.  There are no scripted scenes or staged visuals.  Instead, the campaign highlights the technical expertise and collaboration required to rather accurate geospatial data. 

For McKim & Creed, the goal was twofold. 

First, the firm wanted to demonstrate the value of its advanced geospatial capabilities to AEC clients.  Second, it aimed to attract new talent by showing the kind of innovative, technology-driven work happening inside the company. 

The finished video was distributed across LinkedIn, YouTube, the firm’s website, email campaigns, and internal channels.  Additional still images and video clips were repurposed for social media, extending the campaign’s reach. 

The response was immediate.  The video generated more than 5,000 impressions and an engagement rate of 8.7 percent, along with strong positive feedback from industry peers. 

But perhaps the most powerful outcome was the clarity it created.  Instead of describing innovation, the campaign allowed viewers to see it in action. 

Third Place: Baxter & Woodman (Bridging the Gap with Vision) 

For Baxter & Woodman, drone storytelling became a way to connect engineering with community understanding. 

The firm’s campaign focused on the Clearmont Pedestrian Bridge in Elk Grove, Illinois, a project designed to improve connectivity and safety for residents.  While the bridge delivered important infrastructure benefits, communicating those advantages to the public required more than technical explanations. 

Residents wanted to understand how the bridge would look, how it would function, and how it would fit into the surrounding environment. 

Drone video offered the perfect solution. 

Using sweeping aerial footage, Baxter & Woodman created a visual narrative that showcases the bridge’s design, accessibility features, and lighting systems while also highlighting its integration with nearby natural spaces. 

Filming took place at different times of the day, allowing the team to demonstrate how lighting improves safety while maintaining the visual character of the area.  The footage was carefully edited and paired with an inspiring soundtrack, creating a story that feels both informative and emotionally engaging. 

The project was produced entirely in-house by the firm’s drone pilot, construction project manager, and visualization team. 

The finished video served multiple purposes.  It helped the Village of Elk Grove communicate the project’s benefits to residents, supported award submissions, and became a valuable marketing asset for the firm. 

Today, the video continues to generate value as it appears across social media, email campaigns, and the firm’s website. 

The Future of AEC Storytelling 

What unites last year’s top campaigns is not just impressive aerial footage.  It is the way each firm uses drone video to reveal something deeper about the work happening across the AEC industry. 

Drone storyyelling captures more than just the built environment.  It captures process, expertise, and transformation. 

Projects that took months or years to communicate can now be experienced in seconds.  Clients see the progress more clearly.  Communities understand projects more fully.  And firms have a powerful new way to demonstrate the value they bring to every stage of the buitl environment. 

Show off your firm’s aerial storytelling abilities.  Click here to enter the 2026 MEA Awards! 

source https://zweiglist.com/aec-from-above-the-drone-videos-transforming-project-storytelling/