Kong Studio Craft Royal Mail’s Digital Christmas Campaign

Royal Mail has launched a festive digital campaign promoting their ‘Send’ service for mailing those all-important Christmas gifts and purchases. The campaign was devised by the creative minds at Flare at AMVBBDO, who asked Kong Studio to produce a series of animated gifs that could be edited together in various combinations for a digital campaign. Producer Jo Rae at Flare had recently watched Kong Studio’s ‘A Handy Explainer’, a short that aims to demystify the animation process, and she picked up on Kong’s gorilla hands. Jo loved their expressive but visually straightforward style and felt Kong could bring something energetic and fun to the Royal Mail campaign.

Kong Studio set to work making their campaign idea a reality. The animations had to be cheerful, festive and fun while using Royal Mail’s signature pillar box red. Royal Mail is a well-known heritage brand with its own clear visual identity. When you are working with an organisation that has been around for over 500 years, it comes with a lot of responsibility to get the tone and look of a campaign just right. Royal Mail provided Kong Studio with a clear and efficient style guide, so the Kong team knew the parameters they had to work within.

Bill Elliott, co-founder of Kong Studio, commissioned concept artist and illustrator Javier Castillo to design each festive scene with the help of fellow illustrator and animator Sebastiano Fossali. With the pressure of the pre-Christmas period looming, this project required a quick turnaround. Bill called upon the services of animator Mick Lawrence to get the project over the line. The Kong troop seamlessly integrated into the production pipeline to get the thirteen animated gifs finished and delivered in time for the Christmas campaign deadline.

Veronica Saez, Head of Production at Flare and AMVBBDO said “Kong Studios were great on our recent Royal Mail campaign. They have produced a charming set of illustrations and animations for use across social, out-of-home, and digital display assets. They have added some Christmas cheer and a playful application of the new Royal Mail brand toolkit. Kong Studio have been a pleasure to partner with.“

Bill Elliott, co-founder of Kong Studio, said, “Royal Mail have an impressively clear and fun style guide for any illustration commission, so the challenge was to slot into this with design work that felt new and original, and yet in-keeping with the brand. It’s also always nice to create work with a little festive cheer!”

Keep your eyes peeled online this December for Royal Mail’s ‘Send’ service Christmas campaign.