Having worked in marketing roles for corporates before my masters here at UAL, I have been eager to make these two worlds of mine meet. I knew that there was a lot of potential for animation especially when it comes to brands wanting to spread their word efficiently. So I looked into how 2D animation, a style of animation I prefer can be integrated and utilized for major marketing campaigns.

With the rise of video content, lots of businesses consider using 2D video animation in their marketing campaigns. Because it is easily consumable, engaging and highly impactful. And simply very adorable.

2D animations are widely used in –

• TV shows and feature films
• Infotainment videos
• Brand videos and ads
• 2D explainer videos
• Product demos
• Training and educational videos
• Whiteboard animation videos

Vibrant colours, dynamic character movement, and memorable messaging to inform, entertain, engage, and persuade the audience make 2D a great style to work with.

The most popular style is 2D animation explainer videos that help simplify a concept, product or service you’re offering to your customer.

Since a lot of people are visual learners, animation is the right choice when you have to communicate highly technical information.

You can show the value of your products and their benefits for individual users in real life and sell more than just a product, but the experience and the convenience it brings to a consumer’s life.

Because of its versatility, 2D animation becomes an essential weapon in your arsenal whether you are using it for B2B or B2C marketing.

I roughly made a list of animation studios and agencies in London starting from the big and the obvious ones like The Line studios, Blink Industries, Cookie Studios, Flying Duck Studio Lab, and Grizzle studios, to the ones who master different niches like Bigfatstudio Limited which specialize in Children’s series production. I sat down with the list for long and scrolled through their websites, clients and portfolios, which helped me acknowledge my inclination towards animation for children.

My interest in children-focused animation stems from my leadership role with a non-profit organization back in India which worked with shelter homes and worked on their holistic development. It was during that time that I tried to use art as a way of storytelling and educative purposes and was surprised by the impact it had on the kids.

I did not have a portfolio ready in the summer so I applied with a cover letter and my resume to multiple roles. I did not hear back from some of them whereas some others reached out to explain what they are looking for and asked me to get in touch with them once the course gets over to see if they have anything available that could align with my expertise and interests. One of them was kind enough to actually get on a brief call with me to answer some of my questions. She mentioned that when it comes to animations for children they look for straightforward themes and stories. Even the character designs are fairly simple with colours that would catch the eye. I showed her a couple of my illustrations and she pointed out that my style is fun and it could actually be relevant. Even though they weren’t hiring and she couldn’t offer me any position or internship, it helped me build a connection which might come in handy later on.

I may have written roughly about 20-30 emails and it was a good exercise because I was trying to customize each email based on the company’s requirements and work. All in all, this exercise was super helpful.

Over the summers, I tried to apply for multiple short-term/internship roles to understand the industry requirement and how can I make myself more visible. I started by researching what are the different roles and shortlisting the ones that I feel would fit me better.

One of the videos that I found useful was by RobynO on youtube wherein she has explained roles like VFX Artists Motion Graphics Artists, Animation Scriptwriter – Concept Artists Character Designers Storyboard Artists Animatic Artists/ Editors PreVis Artists 3D Modellers, Sculptors and Asset or Prop creators Riggers Texture Artists Lighting Artists Animation Director 3D Generalist etc.

After deep diving into these multiple roles and discussing them further with my mentor Valeria, I realized that I also want to put the experience I have so far in the industry to good use. In the past, I have worked with designers and developers for marketing purposes and feel that I would want to move to the animation and designing side of marketing and advertising perhaps. I want to use almost four years of experience to work.

I have been able to build up a lot of soft skills and have also acquired managerial and team management and time management skills which I feel would be an add-on. Additionally, I am not averse to the idea of working in the corporate sector in a creative role. I have been lucky to work with great companies in my career who have given creative space to their employees and that is something I appreciate.

I also spoke to some designers and animators from my first job ever to understand how their career graphs progressed in the corporate sector. The discussion that followed was mainly around the financial and creative value of it all. One thing that one of them mentioned was, “A lot of upcoming startups are exploring creative ways of putting their content out there and animators will climb the ladder quickly in the next few years.” She also mentioned that companies want to move away from templatized animation culture in marketing so as to stand out and make their content more engrossing.

We immediately moved on to discuss different companies that are using illustration and animation differently and creatively. One such company is Paperboat.

Paper Boat is a brand of traditional Indian beverages and foods produced and marketed by Hector Beverages, which is headquartered in Bengaluru, India. Paper Boat was launched by Hector Beverages in August 2013.

I feel that the Indian audience is very emotionally driven and it also affects their consumer behaviour Paperboat struck the right chords by launching a campaign purely based on nostalgia and childhood. They came up with beautiful illustrations and short animated pieces for the same. Those pieces were also heavily influenced by one of the most famous cartoonists RK Laxman’s style of drawing.

They later also made their own short film called Hope the boat. It was a fresh change from the regular animations we see in the corporate sector which proved to be successful. Ever since then some other companies have also tried to jump on the bandwagon and it has only grown bigger!

As an immigrant, I have always believed that I need to plan forward with backup options in hand. That is precisely why I decided to research some animation roles back in my home country as well. Given that visa situations are always dicey, I thought it would be good to know about my available options.

In order to understand this better, I reached out to Vaibhav Kumaresh.

“Vaibhav Kumaresh is the man behind Simpoo Singh, the famous 30-second cartoon series featured on Channel V, which tickled millions of Indians.

Over the last two decades, he has contributed to some of arguably India’s favourite animated content in the field of TV commercials and channel promos.“

While talking to me about the Indian Industry and the challenges he faces, he said, “In my case, the biggest challenge is to create and distribute high-quality original Indian animated content – be it within India or abroad. And most importantly – do it in a financially successful and sustainable manner.”

I also wanted to know about the kind of software that is widely used in India, to align it with my own skills if need be. Vaibhav mentioned that they try to use any tool that helps bring their vision to reality. Their studio uses everything from hand-drawn animation, and physical stop motion to digital animation – both 2d and 3d. In the digital space, they currently use Adobe Photoshop, Animate, Aftereffects and Autodesk Maya.

Vaibhav also emphasized that the medium totally depends on the story one is telling. The potential of a medium lies in how effectively it is used to convey the message/ story. In the case of commercials specifically, unique mediums help break the clutter in the media.

In one of his interviews with YourStory, Vaibhav said,”Right now we don’t even have our own Indian animation industry. It’s the American or European animation industry that we mostly cater to. We need to tell our stories really well in order to get there.” Having said that, the Indian animation industry has grown by 24 per cent in 2021 and is still growing according to the FICCI EY March 2022 report.