Is British Animation a Brand? The Power of Brand and Benefits of Integrity in Animation Series
Animation, Integrity and Brand
A year ago I was fortunate enough to have a conversation with Nigel Stone of Platinum Films who explained to me – we don’t make animated series, we build brands. I wandered what that actually meant. He then explained the real power of a brand.
It was the power of their Planet Cook brand that enabled McDonalds to introduce raw carrot sticks into their kid’s meals. Also as explained on their website “in the UK, the show inspired schools to introduce a Planet Cook Milk Campaign and a Schools’ interactive website for nutritional learning”. A powerful brand can inspire an audience to change their behavior. Now they are working on their new partnership Bear Grylls Young Adventurer series, the Bear Grylls brand of course standing for outdoor survival, so the series encourages kids to face their fears, take on new challenges and never give up. This brand can partner with any organisation who wants to encourage these qualities in young people.
Building a brand is an investment which can deliver a message across various platforms and mediums. Therefore an animated series can be so much more than entertainment to fill slots in a broadcast schedule. As a brand it can help to change people, ultimately it can change the world. It’s up to the brand builders to think about how they are doing that.
British Animation at the Brand Expo 2019
At the October 2019 Brand Licencing Europe Expo in London, there was a keynote panel discussion “Story board – the best of British animation”. This post is a summary of the discussion to offer some insight into the topics introduced (they are my notes and not direct quotes).
Chaired by Ben Roberts Content Editor at Licence Global, the panel consisted of Sean Clarke MD Aardman Animations, Oli Hyatt Managing Director Blue-Zoo Productions, Allison Watkins Director, Global Consumer Products & TV Distribution Coolabi, Michael Rose Joint MD Magic Light Pictures, Mikael Shields CEO Acamar Films.
What is British Animation known for?
The consensus was that British animation is primarily known for great storytelling, also engagement and it’s international appeal.
The Power of Story
Sean Clarke: Quality storytelling is the signature of British Animation. If a series takes 5 years from inception to delivery, 3 years would be spent on story.
Mikael Shields: You need to spend more time on story than anything else, it’s an evolutionary thing, it’s how we learn to think and talk.
Oli Hyatt: We have become known as great storytellers, from children’s books and then on to animating them. We have a deep rooted history of storytelling.
Michael Rose: Characters are formed by the choices they make. Storytelling is essential to characters and therefore to a brand.
The Importance of Engagement
Oli Hyatt: But in other ways advertising is the strongest form of brand engagement and it’s moved on from story; it’s about experiencing a brand.
Allison Watkins: The trick is engagement, making people care, that’s how you build a brand, there is no easy path to building a brand.
International Appeal
Sean Clarke: Today you have to resonate with a global audience; Netflix enables you to get an audience all over the world. We also have a whole range of touch points to bear in mind, from screen to products and experiences. For example, we have to think about how the Sean the Sheep story translates in to the theme park in Sweden; well we had to create a whole back story about why the sheep are in Sweden.
Mikael Shields: Distribution platforms are vast and it’s hard to get in and get a good slot, you need working capital to make a good job of a film and make sure it gets a good slot.
Oli Hyatt: Its worth remembering that YouTube can give you revenue in the international market.
Allison Watkins: When a great series is translated people don’t care where a story is from; if it resonates with them, they will feel that it’s their own.
Is Content a Dirty Word?
In the digital world, ‘content’ can be a currency. Channels need content to feed their audiences insatiable appetite and compete with other channels. British animation aims to create the best content, so what is good content and how do we maintain this position? The panel discussed the audience relationship, the future of good content and how platforms influence content.
Michael Rose: Yes, content is a dirty word if it’s bad content, you need quality and integrity to make good content. Books that have stood the test of time and already have an audience can be taken into another medium. Then the quality is there and then content is King.
Sean Clarke: It also depends how an audience experiences content, for example have they paid for it?
Oli Hyatt: It’s all about quality. Cheapness should never be a selling point.
Audience Relationship
Mikael Shields: You can work your heart out making something, but it’s the audience that will chose in the end. So you need to deeply respect the needs of the audience – it’s a relationship, how are you helping them?
Sometimes the word ‘Brand’ is problematic – but we still need to bring brand discipline to what we do. There are three points to remember about a Brand:
- To create a Brand, the relationship with the audience is intimate. It’s about building a relationship with a character (for example Pepper Pig).
- A Brand has a life cycle – it’s born, it lives and then it dies.
- A Brand can be co-opted into soley commercial activity. This is not what a Brand is so we need to remember to talk to the right people in the right way.
Allison Watkins: I think we should ban the words ‘brand’ and ‘franchise’. The Clangers, for example – brings people to tears to be taken back. Small Films didn’t plan this, they just had a heart to tell the most engaging story. Businesses are structured to protect the creatives so they don’t have to get lost in the business and money side of things, so that they can put their heart into the work and make it resonate.
Content into the future
Allison Watkins: Today digital kids are connected – yet still alone. A shared viewing experience, watching content together and seeing how others enjoy it, is a different experience, and one that is lacking today. We need content that encourages the shared viewing experience.
Michael Rose: We need life enhancing stories that reflect kid’s lives, and there is room for more diversity too.
Oli Hyatt: We need proper immersive storytelling, and serious adult stories too.
Sean Clarke: We have a responsibility to show British culture and views.
Oli Hyatt: Over all we must not lose our integrity and heart, and that is why we need to keep public service broadcast, to protect the integrity of our content.
Platforms influence content
Sean Clarke: Technology is changing SO fast, and past times are changing, too, as well as how people choose their content. Netflix carousels can determine how they find content.
Mikael Shields: In 12 years there has been a total change. There is extraordinary access and yet at the same time massive competitive forces. More than ever there is a need for multi-platform deals. Also you don’t know where you will find your audience – a YouTube channel launched in Portugal 3 to 4 months ago now have millions of viewers in Brazil. Who’d have thought that?
Oli Hyatt: In this age of content do you aim at a Global market or do you aim at a niche? The Phonics Show is a UK niche, but now it’s found a global niche. That was unexpected.
Allison Watkins: There is a cumulative effect in audience growth, more leads to more. Viewers will have been introduced to a show via other channels, so the viewing rates grow.
Mikael Shields: Yes, it’s good to have multiple channels on which to show content.
Oli Hyatt: It’s better not to rely on conglomerates as they can change quickly and then revenue can halve, for example, when Amazon stopped preschool programs. So please protect us with public service broadcasting.
Mikael Shields: We need to build our own mobile platforms so that we can protect a direct engagement with own audience.
Michael Rose: Ultimately it has to be about great content, great stories, and then we can find the best way to get it to our audience.
What’s the British Animation Buzz?
Sean Clarke: It started 40 years ago with Pugwash, Wombles & Morph. The UK was a hub of creativity and innovation and exported content around the world. 10 years ago there was a downturn but now it has recovered. There is more money coming onto the animation market through the tax reliefs scheme. We are also independents, which makes us nimbler.
Oli Hyatt: Animation success started with Bagpuss, and now we thrive in advertising, helping brands that sell round the world.
Allison Watkins: It was the family showing, the pre news screening, that brought people together for a shared experience. We need to recreate this somehow.
Michael Rose: We have a tradition of Intellectual Property, great writers, artists and so on. The post war art schools produced people like Neville Astley, Mark Baker, and Phil Davies. We need to keep investing in this, art schools that encourage creative thinking, and short form film production allows the creativity to keep going.
Is British Animation a Brand?
Oli Hyatt: British Animation is a mark of quality. Aardman kept going when others were failing because it was a brand associated with quality. This became an international calling card.
Mikael Shields: Because of the high quality arts and humanities in universities, British authors and creatives proliferate. For this to continue we need broad education, the spirit of making stuff happen, not just valuing technical skills; we need to encourage creativity too.
Allison Watkins: In homes around the world, people don’t care where something is from, they are only interested in the level of quality. We don’t do the ‘British Made’ thing anymore, and it’s not a bad thing, commercially it may be good marketing.
Sean Clarke: We have a fantastic manufacturing hub in Pinewood, but the value leaves the country. We need to build our own brands to keep the money here.
Oli Hyatt: The BFI animation shorts funding is about seeing the value in indies (independents). Developing creativity and British IP.
Michael Rose: Success is in indie rights.
What are the key aspects of Brand?
Allison Watkins: Building awareness is essential and takes a long time, so start with something that already exists and has an audience. Retail is congested, so it doesn’t like risk. You need to get cut through – you need to be wanted to get started.
Oli Hyatt: A strong brand has a point of difference. Create real stuff that can get traction, don’t follow formulas, believe in what you are making.
Sean Clarke: Yes, you need to believe in it, make it real, and not formulaic. Look at the world now, where is the ROI for your brand. For Sean the Sheep, Japan has brought the biggest revenue.
Allison Watkins: You need to build an engagement that is right with the brand. Put the brand in the right place to maintain its integrity.
Michael Rose: It starts with the character – protect it properly. Bring it into the licencing arena in the correct way. For example, we spend endless time nurturing and protecting the Gruffalo, and bringing it to the consumers in the right way. We let the Forestry Commissions do the Gruffalo Trails because it is in tune with the brand. You need to make sure that you keep in line with the character and their world.
Mikael Shields: There are different ways of experiencing the brand too and they have varying levels of perceived qualities to the experience too. For example, film and publishing are perceived as more dignified, but toys and cloths less so. But play is valid. A fluffy toy is a valid experience, it represents audience participation in the brand, so you must make sure you have the highest quality toy product. A long process makes the best design and the highest quality, and you need the highest quality team promoting it too.
Michael Rose: To build a strong brand you need to exceed audience expectations at every point, so go for quality every time.
In conclusion
British animation is known for great storytelling, engagement and its international appeal.
We aim to create the best content through building a relationship with the audience through the characters we develop and nurture.
We need to keep thinking about the future of good content and how platforms will influence how the content is found and experienced. We can best do this by nurturing creative thinking through our education hubs and make sure that they encourage creative thinking, and not sacrifice this for just technical skills. We need to encourage short form film production which allows the creativity to keep going.
British Animation is a mark of quality. A strong brand has a point of difference, so we need to create unique content that can get traction, not follow formulas, and believe in what we are making.
Is British Animation a Brand? What do you think?