“This is the election of the century. It needs your vote more than anything has ever needed your vote in the history of you voting for things” - that’s the message behind this latest brand film for Away, and one that Hornet were more than happy to help develop and promote.

Over 318,000 absentee ballots were rejected in the 2016 election. Given the state of the world now - with a global pandemic making the sheer volume of mail-in votes likely to be record-breaking, not to mention each state having their own set of voting rules and deadlines - the potential amount of rejected ballots this year could be even higher.

Thankfully, there’s a solution. It might not be especially convenient for everyone. But given the stakes, it is critical: Traveling the Vote. Actually going out there directly to a person’s registered place of voting and casting a ballot in person. Even if it’s a day’s drive away, or farther.

Of course, travel has always been at the heart of Away’s brand identity. But with this campaign, the message expands to become traveling with a purpose. It becomes traveling in the name of democracy. As the film says, “It could be the most important trip you'll ever take.”

In terms of how the project came to be - from initial inquiry to final delivery - it was truthfully quite the lightning round of production for Hornet's 2D team. Away approached Hornet inspired by animation styles it’d seen on Hornet’s Instagram Originals page - a collection of independent and original animations created by our team of artists to showcase their skills and flex their creativity.

From there, Hornet’s 2D team got busy. Directed by Natalie Labarre and animated by her along with Hornet’s own Sami Healy and Seongjin Yoon, we created the :60-second spot over the course of a very tight three-week turnaround. “Super, super fast,” in the words of associate producer Nico Benenati.

The style of the film is illustrative 2D with poppy colours. It nods to Vietnam-era protest posters to create a visual language aimed at empowering viewers and invoking a time not too long ago where our civil rights were on the line. In Natalie’s words, “It was an exciting design challenge to work within a limited palette and graphic restrictions evocative of a protest poster aesthetic. These limitations turned out to also be a fun device to play with these types of morphing transitions.”

To check out the film in full, go to the Away project page. But more importantly, go vote!