6 campaigns that aced the style of Stop Motion techniques

Stop Motion animation is a creative approach to story-telling and is a rarely-used medium in videos. We talk about how Indian brands are making the most out of this technique while simultaneously citing ideas from international brands and production studios.

Brands are now increasingly using creativity to increase engagement with their target audience than before. When we present and package a communication for any product or service with animated characters, it metamorphoses into something far more attractive. Indian marketers have embraced the creative aspect of Stop-Motion TVCs to compete with the effectiveness that we witness in international brands. This is further complemented with a study from FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report 2015, that states animation and VFX market in the country were pegged at Rs 51 billion in 2015 and is projected to grow to Rs 58.7 billion the year after.

However, the process of making stop-motion films cost a lot more in terms of effort than just using Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) for the entire film. Stop-Motion involves physical objects being re-arranged in multiple ways and photographed to create an illusion of motion graphics.

The Director behind the Rajasthan Tourism Campaign ‘Jaane Kya Dikh Jaye’, Suresh Eriyat recalls a number of stop motion ads which serve great purpose in story-telling and creative use of camera techniques –

“Stop-Motion is very time-consuming. Yet the success and satisfaction in creating these sequences reflect the hard work and competition woven into it. Now we are seeing an increasing trend in stop motion animations than the previous year. Many brands want to show their creativity in such ads. It really is tasking, yet can reap highly rewarding and positive impressions. When we compare Indian TVCs with international ones, we see that the ideas developed are impressive and set as an example for Indian filmmakers to draw insight from. I am a great fan of the John Lewis Ads and I feel we are only a few thoughts away from getting there”.

Following this insight is a list of TVCs made with stop motion techniques by Indian marketers.

1.     Gera OutDo

The Gera Outdo ad film depicts the advent of the Wright Brothers in inventing the very first flying machine and how Thomas Alva Edison came up with the bright idea of a light bulb. The stop motion then takes us through a flipbook journey of the telephone from its first form to its new avatar where technology has made even video calling possible. Set to some impressive lyrics and music, the film ends with a list of some of the innovative ways Gera Developments has adopted to stay ahead of its competition. The video managed to garner 262,678 views.

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2.     “Jaane Kya Dikh Jaaye” Sand Stop-Motion Ad for Rajasthan’s Tourism Campaign

The sixth and the last film having 2,451 views of the Rajasthan Tourism Campaign Ad series introduces the revamped logo of Rajasthan Tourism. Created by Eeksaurus studios and directed by Suresh Eriyat, founder and creative director, Eeksaurus, the video is a stop-motion picture created on sand. When one thinks about Rajasthan, they associate it with sand. And when it boils down to revealing the new logo to the viewers of the audience, we are expected to see something fresh and extraordinary. The changing shape of Rajasthan Tourism was depicted effortlessly in a stop-motion that translated into amazing visuals and impressive reactions by viewers. It was well-received with the Rajasthan Tourism Ad Campaign “Jaane Kya Dikh Jaaye” teamed up by Ogivy Mumbai with Studio Eeksaurus.

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3.     Flying Machine gets Arjun Kapoor ‘Tripping High’

Alok Dubey, CEO – lifestyle brands division, Arvind Mills, said, "Flying Machine stands for 'The New Cool', the reason we tried an all-new approach this season.” They had created a brand anthem dubbed - 'Branthem' instead of a regular 30-sec TVC which received 14,063 views. To keep it very simple and hummable, they wanted to create an impact in one’s mind using the song from the anthem. Also, the stop motion art of the brand anthem is new age, techno and the in-thing which today's youth is hooked on to.

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4.     Kansai Nerolac leverages the Gujarat Lions in TVC for new paint variant

Kansai Nerolac opted for the presentation of Mica Marble’s strength with the strength of the IPL team. The ad inculcates the use of a stop motion sequence that syncs along with the ‘Lukka Chhuppi’ chant in the background. Blending conventional humour and liveliness portrayed through animation, the ad retains its broth of innovative yet simplistic view of the new mica marble paint. The video garnered a whooping 2,616,909 views.

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5. Make Room For Something New | Open Up With Stayzilla <4K>

The campaign, which went live on September 11, 2015 across digital media channels, emphasises on the company’s focus on widening the quality of stay choices for travellers in India who are looking at unique and differentiated stay experiences. This was depicted artistically through this stop motion film acquiring 7,408,355 views.

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6. The Frooti Life ‘Mango Bango’ 2016

Building on its catchphrase #TheFrootiLife launched last year, the mango drink's latest ad, shot indoors entirely, has been conceptualised by Sagmeister & Walsh. A 50-second stop motion animation ad told the story of a mango getting inside a giant Frooti bottle with miniature characters – much like the ones in Gulliver’s travels – huffing and puffing away to push it in but finally finding that when they collectively said ‘aam suckita..lickita..enjoyita’ the giant mango went in by itself! Here, Shah Rukh Khan is depicted as a miniature character which is a fun way to depict brand ambassadors even in a creative world. This video on YouTube received 6,552,642 views.

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Stop-motion gives the viewer a new perspective in creativity and engagement in TVCs. There are very few stop motion ads being made by brands; and even if all ads are made with stop-motion, we are still able to explore a vast ocean of possibilities. In this light, international ads grant us a deeper sense of thought. They are more daring and involve all sorts of ideas.

This kind of stunningly beautiful animation is rarely seen in TV promos, though the Christmas ad by BBDO for John Lewis this year uses stop-animation to excellent effect. The stop-motion animations reminds us very much of Toy Story, which can only be a good thing.

Another example of great ads coming from the West is the Honda ad by Stop motion wizards PES. It showed the evolution of its mobility through the years using an intricate paper-flipping filmography by means of stop motion and adequate use of CGI.