STOP MOTION MEETS SUSTAINABILITY

Last year we teamed up with Cardboard Paper Industries to create an online ad for their Beyond The Box campaign, showcasing cardboard as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic. Audience insights revealed people can often disengage with heavy, doom-and-gloom environmental messaging - so instead we took a comedy approach, keeping the tone light and engaging with an achievable CTA: Choose cardboard.

The story follows Plastic Corp, a villainous organization bent on global plastic domination, whose plans are thwarted by an unlikely hero: that pesky cardboard! The concept, developed by creative agency Cogent, centred around stop-motion animation - ideal for bringing fictional character-driven stories to life. 

The main challenge was balancing the creative vision with the budget. To manage costs, we made several smart choices, such as utilising CG backgrounds to avoid building elaborate physical sets, and sourcing off-the-shelf toy figures, which we reworked using thermoplastic. We also enlisted a highly skilled stop-motion animator whose expertise ensured both high-quality animation and production efficiency. Fabricating characters and props took two weeks and the animation itself was shot over eight days.

To ensure the animation flowed smoothly, we recorded the voice-overs in advance, allowing the action to be animated around the dialogue. We worked with two talented voice artists, each voicing multiple characters, which also helped manage costs. Finally, we used sound design and SFX to elevate the humour and energy of the animation, creating an immersive audio experience.

The result was a visually captivating, fun ad that effectively communicated the sustainability message with humour. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and we’re incredibly proud of how it turned out — a perfect blend of creativity, technical expertise, and a touch of playful environmental activism.