We teamed up with GoCardless and Mellor&Smith to bring a fun campaign to life using puppeteered Bobbleheads to showcase GoCardless’ capabilities with their fintech prowess.

Brief

The brief was to create a series of stop-motion animations to promote the three key benefits of using GoCardless — the creative centred around Bobbleheads, part of a giveaway GoCardless was using to attract new customers.

Process

Given how limited the articulation options are for rigid Bobblehead dolls, it became apparent that stop-motion animation was not the right approach. Instead, we opted for puppeteering the figures with live-action video.

We spent a few weeks taking test shots to explore the type of framing and movement we could achieve with puppeteering. To our delight, these came out looking charming and gave the Bobbleheads a playful range of movements and personality.

We opted for simple paper-crafted sets to keep the animations looking clean and to help the puppets pop. We chose bright colours to stay consistent with GoCardless’ branding guidelines.

After a swift two-day shoot, we spent four weeks in-house editing, compositing, colour grading and designing the music and sound.

GoCardless LinkedIn

Deliverables

3 x 20-30″ films for paid ad campaign on LinkedIn (aspect ratio: 16:9):

    1. International Growth
    2. Corporate Finance
    3. Finance Emerging

We knew our ask to Picturesmith was challenging. Thankfully they added the magic needed to make our ideas come to life.

Jim SmithCreative Director

Credits

Client: GoCardless
Agency: Mellor&Smith
Directed: Picturesmith
Director of Photography: Peter Ellmore
Puppeteering: Arnau Gòdia Montesinos, Matthew Krasucki, Christian Hopkins
Art Department: Claire Smithson, Christian Hopkins
Sound design: Peter Mauder / Phonoteque

Enough Talk, Let's Make Something Together