We were approached by VCCP to develop, design and direct ‘a few’ TV commercials for Sage - the accounting, financial, HR and payroll tech company for small and mid-sized businesses. A few, as it turned out, was 14 x 30” AAAAND they wanted the adverts on telly boxes around the world within 2 ½ months. This was a new global campaign for Sage that needed to be visually developed from scratch. After a “Noooo problem!” and a collective dry swallow from our team, we regained composure (just a week later), and got down to the nitty. The adverts are all driven by real voices of business people, and so the treatment of the films required a personal feel to visually echo the interesting quotes of real Sage customers. We chose to illustrate our ‘big friendly giants’ using a bright and tactile illustrative style, who would integrate playfully on black and white live action backdrops. We shot the ads in various locations around the UK, including Whitby, Glencoe, John O'Groats and Central London. Sage enables businesses to flow because owners are spending more time doing what they do best, while Sage deals with their accountancy. And flow is represented by the green ‘Flow line’ - it's considered the enabler. It can be playful and helpful. We imagined it to be like a dolphin swimming alongside you - a nice friendly personality to help you on your way. This project has been a thoroughly rewarding experience for us at Seed - being part of the creative team that helped to develop this campaign from early days, and working with some phenomenal talent along the way. Big thanks to Mark Orbine, Tony Hector, Andy Leahy, Maxine Denton and Joseph Fathers at VCCP and Girl & Bear for giving us this opportunity and creating a warm and inviting creative atmosphere.
Director: Seed Animation Studio
Creative Director: Morgan Powell
Exec Producer: Neil Kidney
Assistant Animation Director: Tom King
Producer: Viki Bebok, Anna Argiros
Animation Production Company: Seed Animation Studio
Editor: Joe Eckworth
Compositor: Joe Eckworth, Robert Strange, Pavan Balagam
Storyboarder: Josceline Fenton
Character Design: Tom King
Lead Animator: Sheetal Thankey
Animators: Rosa Beiroa, Guy Charnaux, Freddie Elsom, Giulia Frixione, Harriet Gillian, Campbell Hartley, Sam Jones, Thomas Knowler, Hannah Lau-Walker, Eliot Lockwood, Inari Sirola, Pedro Vargas
Clean up: Saffron Arden-Sodje, Lois de Silva, Daisy Mojave Holland, Maria Morris, Constanza Oroza, Hannah O’Brien, Natalja Ropotova, Lily Shaul, Sara Spanghagen Oijerstedt
Agency: VCCP
Executive Creative Director: Mark Orbine
Creative Director: Tony Hector
Associate Creative Directors: Tori Fannon & Jade Sturman
Global Executive Producer: Andy Leahy
Agency Producer: Rosie Good
Production Company: Girl&Bear
Producer: Maxine Denton
Production Manager: Joseph Fathers
Production Assistant: Maddy Holmes
Director of Photography: Robin Whenary
Location Manager: Tom Reeves
Grade: Steffan Perry @ Company 3
Flame: Absolute
Audio: Ben Leeves @ Jungle