Bridging the Gap: Animation for Marketers

Animation is a popular choice for creative marketing, particularly as mainstream audiences become more open to wild and abstract styles. But compared to live action filmmaking and photography, the animation production workflow can feel opaque and confusing, particularly for marketers who have never had the chance to collaborate with animation partners. 

There are so many different questions swirling around. What are the different types of animation and how do they change the animation production pipelines? Why is the pre-production process so involved and why am I being asked to make so many decisions upfront? What are the vendor communication best practices and how should I go about enhancing partnerships with my animation studios? Should I just leave it all to my creative agency to manage?

We’ve reached out to studios and production companies around the world to find out how marketers can make the most of their animation studio collaborations and make the best possible work. In this animation 101 for marketers, the experts reveal how open communication and early interaction can help ensure the process is fun, efficient and powerful.

Animation brings with it a lot of surprising and strategic benefits. The earlier you can start considering animation, the better.  Aardman Animations’ executive producer Helen Argo and creative director Steve Harding-Hill explain just how liberating the medium can be for marketers and creatives.

“Animation can enable you to realise ideas that would be difficult to achieve in live action.  It can take you on a journey, whether it’s beautiful ethereal characters in dream-like settings, or more true-to-life immersive experiences, there are lots of ways to achieve this in animation,” they say.

“Animation takes time and needs to be considered when at the early planning stage for your project. There are so many different creative executions in animation, it’s versatile and adaptable to any budget range, with unique styles created bespoke to a brief. Animation can enable you to realise ideas that would be difficult to achieve in live action. It can take you on a journey, whether it’s beautiful ethereal characters in dream-like settings, or more true-to-life immersive experiences, there are lots of ways to achieve this in animation.”

If you’re creating something that is going to launch a long-term brand platform, animation can be a great investment that can result in surprising efficiencies down the line, they explain. “Animation can be great for establishing a long-running campaign - stories, characters and environments can be created with this in mind.  The animation can become more cost effective over the campaign as more assets are developed and built.”

Animation contains such potential for beauty and delight, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you can rely on it to elevate a soft idea.

Awesome Inc’s president and EP Ashley Kohler says: “Great animation relies on a great script.  We can do wonders with the medium and make things look amazing, but if the script phase is rushed or scripts are never locked, we can’t always make that better. It can be difficult, we know, but try to make sure you and your team are totally confident in your scripts before diving into the animation process!”

Once you have that core idea in place, try not to deviate too far from it once the animation development is underway. A change in idea can have knock-on impacts on everything from production design to the right talent or technique to bring it to life. When ideas and scripts start getting messed about with during production, making changes can end up diverting budget and resources.

Jo Bierton, senior producer at Nexus Studios says, “One thing I would say is that once you have an idea or story that you are excited and passionate about - once it is approved, execute that idea to a high standard. It can be easy to get blindsided adding more or changing ideas and designs once the production is up and running. But if you stick to your original, core idea then all of the budget and creative end up on the screen rather than being diluted.”

If there’s one thing our experts all agree on it’s that it’s always better to reach out to animation partners early, both because there are a number of options to explore and decisions to be made up front but also because animation itself can be a very time-consuming process, depending on the specific technique and style chosen.

Rita Steimane, CEO of Panic says, “Involve the animation partner as soon as possible. It may sound trivial, but it's undeniably true. Even if you don't have a clear idea of what you need or how to best approach it, an animation partner, through their questions or visual examples, might guide you in the direction you're looking for.”

Animation is a diverse and vibrant field, populated with talented experts and studios. Each potential production partner has its strengths and specialisms. If you have a specific idea of the direction you want to take, this will inform the best kind of company to partner with - though, to be honest, if you are more unsure about the specific technique of aesthetics you want to achieve you also may want to look at companies with a broad range of skills and options.

Daniel Oeffinger, group CD at BUCK says, “If you’re a marketer considering animation for your brand or campaign, consider these factors when looking for a partner: Who already understands your brand and do they have capabilities in the area you need? What type of animation are you looking for? Some boutique studios are experts in a specific style or technique, while larger studios can help advise on the best technique for the brief and flex to fit. How broad is the brief, both creatively and from a technical perspective? Are you looking for someone to come to the table purely to execute or for a partner to help shape the direction of your campaign with strategy and visioning?”

Christian Hopkins, creative director at Picturesmith, says that the right relationship can make a huge difference early on, and can really help if you do need a bit more direction and advice about the best approach to take.

“Identify the studio you want to go with at a fairly early stage and work with them because they’re the specialists,” he says. “They will be able to influence the direction. What we don’t want is to have a script that isn’t going to work for a particular medium or within their budget or a number of constraints they have to think about. So if they can partner with a studio that can hold their hands, showing what’s possible, I think that’s the best way of optimising the result.”

Blind Pig executive producer, Thierry Levy says that openness from the start of the project around your own needs and priorities is vital. There are so many options when it comes to animation techniques and styles that when a studio knows exactly what constraints they’re working with, where the marketing team is coming from and - more importantly - where they’re aiming to get to, they can cut their cloth accordingly.

“You’d be surprised by the number of briefs we receive without a succinct goal. It’s our job to design and execute, but it’s important we’re led by the parameters of budget or creativity,” says Thierry.

“The most black-and-white way of looking at it is this: imagine the age-old chicken and egg scenario. Let’s call the chicken ‘budget’ and the egg ‘ideation’. Some jobs are very much budget-led. We get that. Some are more creative-led. We thrive on that. An honest conversation from the offset to establish which precedes the other will help set realistic goals for all parties involved.”

Rita at Panic agrees. “Don't hesitate to disclose your budget and any limitations you might have,” she says. “There are so many aspects in animation that could be impacted to fit a variety of budgets or meet challenging timelines. If these limitations are incorporated and thought about from the start, clients can receive clever, creative ideas that still possess a strong story and eye-grabbing visual execution.”

One way to make sure that your brief, budget and ambitions are aligned is to consult an expert ahead of the briefing stage, advises Elena Dreyer, producer at BIEN. That’s particularly true if you have your heart set on a really ambitious project. “Consult with an expert in the field of animation you are attempting (e.g. stop motion, photorealistic 3D or, god forbid, sand animation) and run the project specs by them,” she says. “They will help you understand the reasonable time, cost and production process required.”

It can be challenging to articulate what exactly you’re looking for in terms of style. For Mary Nittolo, founder and chief creative officer at the STUDIO NYC, one frequent issue that arises is that clients and creatives may pull together a bunch of visual inspirations or influences without really articulating what it is about each example that they like.

“Sometimes people will send us the styles they like and they’re so widely divergent, they’re all over the place. You’ll ask ‘well, what do you like about this,’ and they can’t quite put words around it. It needs a little bit of forethought, clarifying why you like something. You might say you like how a director uses uses texture or uses light, or the way he frames things,” she says. Without this kind of clarification, the animation team may end up getting mixed signals about the direction the client wants them to go down.

Mary has a brilliant piece of advice that could sharpen up not only how you brief or communicate about animation projects but that could really improve your ability to give feedback on all creative campaigns. At a class she teaches at NYU, Mary tells students to bring in a moodboard of things they like - then makes them get up in front of the class to explain what it is they like about each thing on the board. She says it’s always a great laugh as students suddenly realise how difficult it is to articulate.

“It's always a lot of fun. But at the same time, I cannot tell you how many students have told me how valuable it's been to them, that they were forced to say words around what they like, and not be vague. They really understand how to hone their vocabulary around their aesthetics, and most art schools aren't teaching that,” says Mary. It’s an exercise that could really level up your marketing or creative team’s communication.

This kind of clarity can help you write a better brief and minimise the risk of misunderstanding. It doesn’t mean you have to have everything pinned down and fixed in place in your brief, as you do want to make space for talent to enhance what’s in your brief and fill it with magic. But starting off with a shared idea of the what and why is key. Daniel at BUCK, says, “In kickoffs we are always looking to define ‘the sandbox,’ to understand where and how far to push. If you know precisely what you need, a good brief will spell that out with little room for miscommunication. That way, time and budget won’t go towards solutions you already know won’t work. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a new perspective, education on the big picture is important. We want to get into your heads and understand what makes you and your audience tick.

“Somewhere in the middle, there’s a sweet spot. Enough reference and writing to clearly understand your challenge and expectations, but not so prescriptive that there’s no room for us to problem solve using our experience.”

Understanding your ‘why’ doesn’t just help with brief writing, but also giving feedback, says Alisha Kramer at BIEN. “In giving feedback, be specific. If you don't like something, dive deeper into why. Is it the colour, the style, etc? Give as much detail as possible,” she says.

With their arsenal of knowledge and creative expertise, animation producers and directors can help with the development of the idea to really take advantage of the possibilities of animation. If you can, try to bring the experts in during the ideation phase just to see if they can spot some magic connections and opportunities or can better shape the idea. Bringing an animation studio in early also makes space for a bit of experimentation, testing and play. Your first vision is usually the obvious idea - letting artists cook, and having fun with that can take the project to a different level creatively.

This Quizlet campaign from Picturesmith is just such a product of  experimentation. The creatives wanted to go down a stop motion approach and Christian's team was tasked with the challenge of figuring out how on earth to build and animate a doner kebab made of books. Sometimes the solution isn't immediately obvious and requires testing, and that takes time.

Shay Hamias is an animation director and D&I advocate at NERD Productions. She says, “There's so much latitude when it comes to animation, and often, we find that partnering with the brand or agency in the developmental stage can be beneficial in refining a creative concept and for presenting a fully formed idea that's on brief, out of the box, and meets the objectives in an achievable but unexpected way. We'll often see ourselves coming into the creative conversation before the clients sign off on an idea, and including everyone in the initial stages helps everyone align on the style, approach and messaging before production formally begins.”

Shay’s colleague, creative producer Ira Giorgetti agrees: “For sure! In our experience, having conversations about craft between client, creative and production earlier in the process rather than when things are already halfway finalised always leads to a more inventive, cohesive and engaging standard of work.”

“Sometimes you or your client won’t have all the answers. You want a new perspective to help answer these bigger questions,” says Daniel. “We are increasingly asked to help develop the brief in partnership. This can take a bit more upfront time, but being part of the process from the start to finish can pay large creative dividends and make sure the creative vision is tied closely to the impact you’re looking for.

“At BUCK we try to provide a safe space for risk taking, continues Daniel. “We go deep to try to really understand your clients’ brand, and that trust allows us to push them towards new things you might not have tried before. Successful and ambitious animation work always involves an element of risk, so we work hard to build the trust required to make something new.”

Indeed, says Jonny Grew at Coffee & TV, trust and play are crucial. Animation is often an iterative process. "As a Senior CG Artist at Coffee & TV, I have a front row seat to see the magic of animation in advertising and marketing on a daily basis. My advice to marketers is simple but crucial: trust the expertise of those in the field and gain an understanding of the animation process. What you initially sign-off on is not the finished product, that’s where the trust comes in!"

Animation experts know that their craft can appear confusing and somewhat arcane to outsiders. The word animation comes from the Latin ‘to bestow a life’ - no wonder it appears clouded in magic.

But the vast majority of animation studios and production companies would be more than happy to pull back the curtain and walk you and your team through the process and to answer questions. 

Sue Loughlin is an executive producer at Jelly London and she says that the team makes a point of offering workshops for clients - which are not only educational but also sound loads of fun. “We find it helps to have a conversation very early on with our clients about process and expectations: The better a client understands the animation process - what it involves, how long it takes, key sign-off points, etc. - the smoother the whole process is likely to be and the more satisfied everyone will be with the result. That's why we offer workshops on process to our clients - and why they come back! Trust is a huge part of it, and creating space for open dialogue is key,” says Sue.

Rebecca Archer is a producer at Nexus Studios and she agrees that there’s no expectation that clients and creatives should be animation experts, but that being open to your animation partners walking you through the basics can make all the difference.

“Animation is a complicated process, so no one expects everyone to fully understand it,” she says. “Having a call with clients and creatives in one room is a good way to introduce key players, as well as go through the basics of the animation process and any specifics to the animation production of that job - usually driven by the technique chosen. Understanding the process means you will get the best out of the team and the animation will get the love and attention it needs to make great work.”

Rita Steimane at Panic agrees and explains what goes on at her studio. “We provide our proposal outlining the process and timeline, guiding agencies and marketing teams through each step. Our clients are experts in their respective industries, which can be as complex as rocket sciences at times. We have few clients who are. They don't need to delve into the specifics of animation, and we don't ask them to. Guiding them through the process and meeting their needs and expectations is our part of the deal.”  

The beauty of animation is also its curse. There are just so many options and possibilities! How can you possibly narrow things down? First things first, again, getting the experts in early can help massively with that decision. Non-experts can easily get wedded to styles that just don't work for the message they're trying to share or the media strategy - and, understandably, there are likely to be many more appropriate techniques and styles you're not even aware of. It's also worth bearing in mind that there are styles within styles - sure CG might work for your brand and strategy, but is that photorealistic CG? Stylised and abstract? Something in between?

There's so much to choose from, says Jonny Grew. "Animation is such a versatile tool, it can be used to embellish reality or make the impossible happen. It can look photo-real, introduce an independently crafted look or give a nod to nostalgia from historical animation styles. It can also be used to tell stories about complicated or controversial subjects in an easier to swallow form or make an instruction easier to understand. Animation gives freedom to craft captivating narratives that connect with audiences. Embrace this freedom, and your marketing endeavours will be given an opportunity to reach further than you can imagine."

Specific techniques can really help you hone in on specific audiences, advise Helen and Stephen at Aardman Animation, using 2D animation as an example. Within 2D animation, there are a range of options, from slick motion graphics to kid-friendly cartoons and high-brow experimentation. “This technique can range from quite simple motion graphics to more traditional 2D animation where you animate the figure or object by drawing it frame by frame.  This technique tends to be quicker and simpler than 3D and can work for more low-end budgets, but as a technique can really vary in terms of the look and style, particularly with the audience in mind for how young or old to pitch it,” they say. “This Stonewall spot is a great example of a more motion-graphic approach, whilst the recent Blue Peter Amazing Authors  film shows a more illustrated and detailed 2D animation approach.” 

To demonstrate just how versatile 2D can be, Rita flags up a project Panic did for Netflix in which the bold, unusual and cartoonish style was a statement of intent. It's also a great example of how 'knowing your why' can really help guide and inspire a creative team. ""In one of our initial meetings, they said “Netflix is known for doing things differently, and we really want to embrace it through everything that we create”. This statement provided a significant creative boost to our team, allowing us to take a bold approach to discuss such toppic as corporate safety measures," says Rita.

While you may be familiar with some approaches to animation, the team might be able to show you something you’ve never heard of before or thought about. Christian at Picturesmith uses the example of pixilation - animating using real actors - as an example that many people may not initially think of.

Another example of a more unusual approach is collage. “There's a lot of latitude for the age-old style of collage work as well! It's always interesting to see what different directors bring to the table when it comes to this style, as collage doesn't necessarily mean simply taking imagery and piecing it together. It can often be shaped by dimensionality, colour palette, and material,” says Shay at NERD.

If you are interested in learning more about the different styles and techniques and you want to brush up on you vocabulary, Picturesmith recently created a white paper that has been designed with creatives and clients in mind.

It's also worth bearing in mind that if there's a certain look or aesthetic that is just perfect for the brand and campaign but that doesn't fit your criteria in terms of budget or timescale or flexibility, the experts may be able to craft an alternative option that gets you close. For example, as Elena Dreyer at BIEN points out, many people hanker after that traditional cel animation look that harkens back to the golden age of Disney - but by being selective and mixing in modern technology and techniques, the feel can become more achievable.

"Cel animation is a great technique for creating lifelike movement, seeing the 'artists hand' in the work. Cel is time intensive. Therefore, sometimes it is cost effective to pick and choose 'moments' of the piece to have in cel. A fully cel animated piece is rarely necessary, and AfterEffects animation can be made to resemble it," she says.

Another example here is a mixed media ad for Red Breast Irish Whiskey by Jelly London, where the director used digital techniques to evoke the feeling of stop motion, in order to give the brand's cheeky spokesperson that warm, textured feel.

And of course, some campaigns just can't be limited to one style or aesthetic or technique. A recent campaign for US food delivery service Postmates that was animated by Nexus Studios for creative agency Mother USA, took a gleeful mixed media approach. That melange was baked into the idea itself, with different techniques expressing different emotions and sensations, highlighting the diversity on offer in the platform.

While you don’t need to know the ins and outs of every specific animation style or technique, once your team and animation partners have settled on an approach, it is important to bear in mind that it will have an impact on the timescales for your decisions… and how… flexible your decisions can be.

In stop motion, for example, animation process is so painstaking that the team essentially shoots the edit. That is to say, everything up to the edit is decided ahead of time. Creating alternative shots and options could bust the budget as it costs so much in terms of manpower, time and of course money.

“So much content is editable now with CG animation but when a stop motion project comes along we need to make it clear that not only is it not editable, you shoot the edits, effectively,” explains Christian Hopkins at Picturesmith. “With stop motion a 10-second shot might take all day to animate, and there’s not budget to get a second take. A lot of that needs to be absolutely clear, from the pre production phase, knowing that this is going to be what you end up with.”

At Picturesmith, they like to do short test animations to give an idea of the final look, as well as create 3D pre-visualisations to show what the whole animation edit will look like, in order to give a 360 view ahead of the shoot - but when it gets to the shoot you should be done with decision making.  

Puppetry, however - often overlooked as a form of animation - is much more playful and flexible and allows for experimentation and ad libs at the shoot.

Even CG animation, which can have more junctures for decision making along the development and production, still has some hard cut offs. Elena Dreyer is a producer at BIEN and she says, “3D can create long render times. Try to be mindful of sending in late feedback when working in 3D.”

Animation is often an iterative journey and it can take a while before you see the beauty of the finished product appearing. 

“When it comes to more complicated animation styles (cel, 3D) things will look rough longer than you anticipate, but it will all come together,” says Alisha Kramer at BIEN.

That involves digging deep and keeping your nerve. If you’ve done your research and chosen your partners carefully, let them apply their expertise. “Trust your team! You have hired animation experts who know how to get the end result you’re looking for,” says Nicole Beyer, senior producer at BIEN.

In some cases, you might decide to take a more experimental approach. This can really help create an eye-catching campaign that really stands out and looks different to everything else out there, creating a competitive advantage. It can also really benefit more complex topics. In this case, you really do need to build in time for iteration and to understand that this really will be a journey and collaboration between you and the artists.

Ira at NERD Productions says, “I always recommend giving artists the freedom to experiment so that they can find new ways of approaching an idea. Going through the creative process from scratch and making a couple of motion tests helps refine the creative direction and allows clients and creatives to build trust in the process, particularly with experimental animation styles.

Shay at NERD adds, “Experimental animation styles are great at turning complex concepts into engaging and relatable abstractions, which helps brands hint at their core message in more inventive and innovative ways. The process helps guide the creativity towards the end goal; it's one of those cases where the process doesn't just inform the result but is literally created by it. Take this spot for Misys, where we utilised actual paper and flowing ink; the initial results of the material tests left a lot to be desired, but the process itself was built up of the iterative nature of experimentation where not everything has to be pre-determined, resulting in a lot of learning and discovery about how the ink behaves and how to utilise that natural movement in the film best.”

You don’t need us to tell you that the screens and platforms for your content are growing ever-more diverse. Knowing where you want this content to play during the pre-production process can ensure that you and your animation collaborators can really leverage each platform to its fullest extent.

Rebecca Archer at Nexus Studios advises that you may find the interplay between media strategy and production strategy different for live action compared to animation. “Animation production is very different to live action - thinking through the creative for all channels from the beginning (i.e. social content should not be an afterthought) is important to maximise the creative and the budget so you can do things in parallel. Take advantage of the fact that with animation, you can control every pixel from the start!”

Daniel at BUCK points out just how wild your canvas can be. “There are more screens now than ever before. In addition to broadcast and digital media buys, campaigns today require motion for web, social media, in-product, and ever more inventive digital out-of-home (a giant screen/sphere in Las Vegas? Yes. please!),” he says.

“A great brief takes these canvases into consideration and either helps us prioritise where the creative buck is best spent or is realistic about the scope required to make bespoke content across that range,” Daniel continues. “One way we’ve adapted to this screen avalanche is by building our projects as scalable systems. Mailchimp’s morphing cube system and Tidal’s scalable motion system are good examples of animation’s multi-platform adaptability. This approach can have a bit more up front investment, but allows for content to be custom no matter the ratio.”

Most of this guide is, of course, focused on the specifics of animation and the way it differs from live-action filmmaking and photography. But it can be tempting to think that it functions so differently that it’s actually some kind of magic-wand solution. While it’s tempting to think that, if everything is created on a computer or using plasticine or puppets it must be easier than shooting on a real set, that’s far from true.

Ashley Kohler at Awesome Inc explains, “When thinking about animation, treat it generally like live action in terms of complexity and cost. Multiple locations, a large cast of characters, or intricate action sequences can be expensive in both realms. It's essential to understand that shifting to animation won't automatically simplify complex sequences. (For example, a crowd shot in Times Square with a helicopter blowing up a building would be expensive and time-consuming in both mediums. Two characters sitting and talking in front of a solid-colour background - far less in both mediums.)”

Certain animation styles are so time-consuming and complex that asking a studio to re-do a scene can be as big an ask as asking a live action director to do re-shoots, which almost never happens in the commercial world. It does depend on the animation technique but, generally, it’s a good rule of thumb to treat the animation shoot with the same seriousness as a live action shoot.

“Let’s say you get all the storyboard frames and people say, ‘you know what, it would be so much more dynamic if we saw this not from a high angle but from a low angle’. Now. if you’ve made this in 3D, that’s a change but it’s not a devastating change. If you’ve made it in 2D and you have to redo it, it’s insane,” says Eric Schutzbank at the STUDIO NYC. “No one would ever think to say to a live action direction, and say, oh my god it would be so much better if you had shot this from a helicopter!”