How Clip Licensing & Custom Animation Can Help Advertisers During COVID-19
With studios closed, how can advertisers ensure production doesn’t grind to a halt?
The spread of COVID-19 across the globe has made advertising production very challenging, for everyone. A number of projects Born Licensing were working on have either been put on hold or cancelled entirely, as the creative vision has now become impossible to produce under the current circumstances.
As creative agencies adapt to the new parameters and restrictions this strange new world has imposed upon us, one of the best options available to advertisers currently is the power of licensing existing clips from movies, TV shows and animation in their work. Given most animation production is relatively unaffected by COVID-19 too, there’s also an opportunity for creative agencies to partner with Rights Holders to develop custom animations.
Movie, TV Shows & Animation Clips In Advertising
One of our favourite campaigns using movie, TV show and animation clips comes from arguably the most creative company on the planet: Apple.
This campaign from 2007 premiered during the 79th Academy Awards to an audience of over 40 million viewers. The 30-second spot was Apple’s first commercial for the iPhone and featured over 31 clips of ‘hello’s from famous movies and TV shows. Used in chronological order, the clips demonstrate the evolution of the phone, leading the audience to the belief that the iPhone is the next logical step.
The ad, created by TBWAMedia Arts Lab, features licensed clips from I Love Lucy, The Flinstones, Amelie, Fargo, Anchorman, Sex & the City, The Incredibles, and many more.
Perhaps inspired by Apple’s campaign success, Samsung went on to release a reasonably similar ad to promote their new smartwatches. Having been labelled as one of Samsung’s best commercials to date, it includes licensed clips from over 20 movies, TV shows and animations, all of which feature a character using a futuristic watch.
The campaign was created by 72andSunny and the licensed clips include characters from Get Smart, Inspector Gadget, Knightrider and The Jetsons, all speaking into their smartwatches. Samsung’s goal was to make the audience feel that the future had arrived.
Custom Animations in Advertising
Cartoon characters are often instantly recognisable and global in appeal, making them perfect for high-profile advertising campaigns.
Advertisers have been partnering with Rights Holders for decades to produce custom animation clips. One of the earliest examples is from the early 1960s, where fruit drink additive brand Tang sponsored The Bugs Bunny Show in a campaign starring the popular Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
Since those days, creative agencies and brands have embraced the power of partnering with animators to unlock a new audience for their work by developing custom animations of popular characters.
One of the most high-profile campaigns using this tactic was a Coca-Cola ad during the Super Bowl XLIV in 2010, developed by Wieden+Kennedy Portland.
Fast forward again to 2020’s Super Bowl LIV, where Pringles premiered a campaign using a custom sequence of the popular Adult Swim animation, Rick and Morty. Created by Grey Group and Adult Swim, the 30-second spot held its own in an extremely competitive Super Bowl line up.
How To License Movie, TV Show or Animation Clips & Custom Animations
Unsurprisingly, the process for licensing an existing clip from a movie, TV show or animation is very different from licensing your own custom animation.
Depending on the specific Rights Holders involved, licensing existing clips can be relatively simple and quick, providing you’re speaking with the right people (such as us!). However, it’s important to bear in mind that there are often multiple moving parts involved: for example, any actors, music, voice overs of other third party owned material will often need separate clearance, above and beyond licensing of the clip itself. Despite this, licensing clips can be done, and is an ideal option for keeping ad production going during this pandemic.
Creating custom animation, on the other hand, is a much longer and often much more expensive process. Once the creative direction has been agreed by brands and Rights Holders, the development of the animation itself can take up to 1 month per 10 seconds of content! A 60-second ad could take up to 6 months to animate, depending on the animator, their schedule and the complexity of the animation desired. Similar to licensing existing clips, any voice over work will also require separate clearance.
Either way, licensing existing or custom material is hugely beneficial in a number of ways, and, particularly while in-person production is severely restricted, opens up a whole new world of opportunities for brands and their creative agencies.
At Born Licensing, we’ve handled the creative production of hundreds of high-profile advertising campaigns where movie, TV show or animation clips have been used - and we can help you do the same.
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