Three Deers Take Bold Steps Ahead with a New Brand Identity

Creative VFX, animation and motion design studio Three Deers has just undergone a total rebranding, marking a new era under a new brand identity - fresh logo, website and reels including all of their latest projects. The rebranding followed the studio’s rapid growth over the past few years, not only as the individual artists within the team, but as a creative collective.

The ‘deers’ - as the team members call themselves - developed new skills, attracted new talent, travelled to new places and expanded their work to new markets faster than many companies from the region have been able to. Starting in Thessaloniki, Greece, now the Three Deers are present in South Africa and Southeast Asia, with work being produced for clients across Europe, The Middle East and the States. 

“We felt it’s time for a change,” says Georgios Manolopoulos, partner and VFX artist. “For a big leap forward under a new identity that can house our expanded creative ambitions and capabilities, propel us to the future and position us in the worldwide market that we are now playing in.”

Back in 2010, when the studio began its journey, it was made up of only four deers and was started by Lazaros Anagnostopoulos, today the managing director. The vision then, and still to date, is to create unforgettable imagery through which the craftsmanship of the hand-picked team of specialists and generalists shines through. 

It was this dedication to perfection that helped the then humble VFX studio grow into the worldly powerhouse it came to be. “This journey has been a testament to the dedication of the team, leadership, and the trust we’ve built with our clients.” 

Three Deers’ values are unwavering: passion for the craft, maintaining a curious mindset and staying collaborative on all levels. “We love what we do and that reflects in the work we have delivered, and the trust we have in us. We aim to offer a unique customer journey and are very solution-driven,” explains Lazaros. “Any shoot we do, we are on set, we are part of the creative process and at each stage, we are involved. We aim to enhance the product with our creative and tech abilities.”

Ever since their start in Thessaloniki, 3D work has remained a pillar and strength of the studio, which is reflected in the majority 3D artists working within the team. That’s also where the name takes its inspiration from - Three Deers. But, Georgios and Lazaros admit, they also just loved the sound of it. “A bit irreverent and playful, like we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We take our work very seriously, but we’re keen to not lose touch with the playful, creative side of it as the studio is getting bigger.”

Their first expansion started when George Manolopoulos joined the team as a partner in 2018. Based in Dubai for six years, George felt he needed to return to Greece and through contacts that he had made in Dubai started to work with the Middle Eastern market - this was Three Deers’ initial dip overseas. 

Now, the expansion has reached South Africa with Luke Morris, global head of production, based there. Coincidentally, Luke had also worked in Dubai for some time, so the studio’s footprint in the region has steadily grown stronger. 

“Our latest edition is Yorgos, in Southeast Asia. He’s allowed us to tap into a new market this year and work with agencies from Singapore to Vietnam. We continue to work in the US and European markets and our aim is to grow organically into as many regions as we can for the next five years,” say Georgios and Lazaros.

Today, Three Deers has many more than three deers and they have become a dynamic blend of specialists and generalists. “We pride ourselves on our in-house capabilities and this is also what allows us to be highly competitive,” says Georgios. “We develop a lot of young talent in the region and allow them to grow within the company.”

With their main office still in Thessaloniki - what the deers call their ‘engine room’ - most of the permanent staff work from there every day. “We understand the industry is demanding, so we try to create an environment where people can enjoy themselves. We’ve got a chef that cooks some meals and this year the whole office did a team building. We are always on the lookout for more good talent and with the ability to remote work, we are always open to apply. Just send us your portfolios on our website!”

Looking back at their place of origin and the wider region - Southern and Eastern Europe - one can clearly see Three Deers’ impact. With an especially strong technical team, and one of the biggest assets in the face of their internal render farm, the studio is able to create a state of the art experience. “We combine the creative with the latest technology. We use AI for projects in our workflow and to create references, which we have found helps clients visualise what we can then make in CGI,” Lazaros says.

Speaking of new scary tech, both Lazaros and Georgios aren’t afraid to geek out about the possibilities. In fact, they firmly believe that “behind every successful 3D/VFX artist you will find a geek, deeply passionate about technology and always ready to adapt to change.”

“As pure tech-heads, we started experimenting with AI quite early and we quickly realised that it’s gonna change the way we work radically,” they say. “So the next step - setting up a dedicated team - was a no-brainer.” Only a few months later, that team became an integral part of the studio’s workflow, allowing visualisation of ideas, creating custom-made character and environment designs but also helping the deers give clients a clear vision of what they want to compose in CG in a fraction of the time needed years ago.

“At the same time, though, we're mindful to not be sucked into the aesthetics AI provides and we try to keep ourselves grounded and connected to our own, very human creativity. It’s a delicate balance but you can say the same about every creative process.”

“As pure tech-heads, we started experimenting with AI quite early and we quickly realised that it’s gonna change the way we work radically.”

As Three Deers has grown into the global space in the last five years, today the brand has to represent their new path and the push they’re making in terms of groundbreaking creative and state-of-the-art tech. With this also comes their ability to seamlessly apply the Three Deers creative formula to plenty of formats.

“We have created this flexibility internally that has allowed us to dress up the tallest building in the world, where we promoted the new E-sport World Cup. We’ve done super-high resolution immersive stories for high-resolution screens at leading events in Saudi Arabia and worked on cutting-edge TVCs in Europe with some of the continent’s top directors.”

It’s this dynamic structure that the studio has created that allows the team to work in an ever-changing industry and across its broad spectrum, from agencies, production houses, events companies, even direct to client.

With the growing global network now under their belts, some amazing projects have blossomed and stood out in the past year. “We collaborated with Team X in South Africa where we created work for the global Mercedes account,” says Lazaros. “Working with Mercedes gave the opportunity to our automotive specialist team to work with a brand that’s all about precision and high aesthetics.”

Beyond this, recently Three Deers collaborated with Hogarth in Singapore to bring to life a Lexus campaign where the specialists created a series of key visuals for the launch of the brand’s new, all-electric RZ model. More recently, they’ve been making strides into the US market where they worked on a campaign with Area 23.

Still in South East Asia and through Hogarth Singapore, the studio collaborated with Coca Cola for the launch of their ‘Thumbs Up’ and ‘Nutriboost’ campaigns. But, Georgios reminds us: “Three Deers is still a strong choice for Greek brands such as Cosmote and DEH, two of the biggest brands in the country that continue to trust us for their work after numerous projects.”

As the deers restlessly soar to new heights, they still see themselves as creative storytellers first, tech wizards second, and what’s clear is that their creative ambitions cannot be tempered. “We still pride ourselves for delivering perfection in anything we lay our hooves on.” So, watch this space!