Animated Storyboards: The Global Animation Company that Refuses to Sit Still

As anyone in the industry knows, not all commercials make it straight to the screen directly from the inspired jottings of a creative team. Instead, many brands seek the reassurance of the multitude of pre-testing methodologies offered by the likes of IPSOS, Kantar, Nielsen and System1 to help to assess the future impact of their advertising, predicting sales, brand metrics or even ROI on the back of their 30 second spots. And like these testing methodologies, the world of animatic production has moved forward light years from the clunky creations of 20 years ago.

Animated Storyboards (ASB) have made animatics its business and through constant evolution has remained at the forefront of the industry for the past two decades.

Established in New York in 2001, the full-service animatics company has been crafting bespoke animatics and storyboards for testing for over 20 years. Operating globally with over 300 full-time employees and offices in cities spanning America, Europe and Asia, ASB is now recognised as one of the largest full-service animation providers for commercial and advertising production for both pre-testing but also broadcast.

Founded by CEO and president Ezra Krausz, ASB was created to meet a distinct industry need that Ezra noticed whilst working in the agency world himself: that there was a place in the market for an animatics provider who could work at pace and scale, without sacrificing quality.

ASB grew from this premise, evolving into a global entity which can simultaneously boast a nuanced and localised understanding of the markets it operates in. Employed by many of the leading advertising agencies and brands across the world, ASB’s work, spanning AI-generated, 3D or 2D animation is instrumental at the testing phase of an ad, helping brands to gain reassurance on their return on investment and deliver positive audience engagement.

A company that’s made an impact by never sitting still, ASB is still growing and continues to find new ways to shift and adapt to the changing needs of the advertising industry. Most recently, this has come in the form of integrating AI into its production pipelines. Talking more about the company’s journey and its forward-facing attitude, LBB’s Abi Lightfoot spoke with Mallory Khalifa, managing director of ASB’s London office and global partnerships lead.

Follow the Sun Production

An integral part of ASB’s business model lies in its ability to work quickly and at scale. To do this, it operates using a unique ‘follow the sun’ approach, whereby its network of offices work together to iterate and produce work within a matter of days, making use of time-zones to gain the maximum possible production time for a spot.

The company over the years has opened up offices all over the world in places that strategically benefit ASB’s clients and its unique pipeline, with Bangkok being its primary production hub

Global scalability wasn’t initially the plan, but became a key part of the reason that ASB became such a dominant force. “When the company was first being run out of New York, the global pipeline hugely accelerated the development of the US business and it became obvious that we could make this work globally.”

As well as benefiting from being “one giant family” that pools expertise and capabilities across regions, ASB’s localised production teams act as a bridge to the nuances of their individual markets – helping to create work that is relevant and touches local audiences.

She continues, “On one hand, it’s genuinely enriching to collaborate with talent from around the world. On the other, our clients benefit from that global insight and efficiency across every market they operate in.”

ASB’s ability to work on such a scale is a determining factor for why so many global brands choose to work with them. Mallory says, “they know they're getting the same output from us on a global level in terms of the speed, quality, and, of course, service, and that really helps them to be able to do an apples-to-apples comparison in terms of how they're testing their creativity.”

Integrating AI

As a full-service animatics provider, ASB’s skillset encompasses not only animation, but full post-production services too, allowing it to create and deliver animatics as close to the final product as possible. This is entirely down to the talent working at ASB, who are instrumental in bringing these ideas to life.

“Whilst our role at ASB is to bring to life a creative’s vision of their script rather than deliver our own treatment, our animation directors’ experience is constantly called upon to help deliver that creative vision accurately and effectively. Their years of expertise working closely with brands such as P&G, Unilever, PepsiCo Frito-Lay, AB InBev, Heineken, Nestle, Mondelez, GSK, Diageo, Nissan, Danone and Reckitt, to name a few, further gives them the depth and knowledge to accentuate the brand recognition and visibility required for spots to do well in testing.”

This expert knowledge is directly feeding into ASB’s own AI pipeline that it’s developing at the moment. The technology has helped to “halve production timelines” since it began to roll out, benefiting clients who are typically time pressed.

Thanks to ASB’s post-production capabilities, it’s able to offset any AI imperfections or hallucinations in-house as part of the pipeline. “AI doesn't do things perfectly by any means, so having all the skills in one place is what is really beneficial to our clients… We take the headache out of it all.”

As well as generating test commercials, the company has been experimenting with other forms of AI technology in order to refine its processes. “We’ve been testing and retesting different AI methodologies within our workflow, and we are coming out as a very efficient, fast producer of totally customisable AI content.”

Storytellers at Heart

“A deep understanding of animation and storytelling” is at the core of everything that ASB does; it’s for this reason that the company is trusted by brands and agencies around the world to deliver this integral part of the production process.

“Every client is ultimately looking for a return on their investment,” Mallory explains. “While the creative idea is hugely important, it’s not enough on its own. Brands won’t greenlight a campaign just because it sounds great in theory—they need to test it. They rely on the data to validate whether the concept truly resonates and delivers results.”

“We take a deeply collaborative approach with our clients,” Mallory adds. “It’s about truly understanding the creative idea at its core, ensuring it’s brought to life in the right way—both visually and emotionally. Our focus is always on hitting the right tone, capturing the intended feeling, and making sure every detail aligns with the original vision.”

Beyond the work, “trust and value” are embedded into the heart of ASB’s business model, helping to drive the notion of ‘scalability’ that continues to drive the company over 20 years since it launched.

Following the sun, it’s evident that ASB will continue to be at the forefront of animation as new breakthroughs and techniques begin to dawn.