Award-winning animation and branding studio – Flow Creative – has been revealed as the agency behind BBC Children in Need’s 2022 SPOTacular campaign.
The Manchester-based studio was appointed to conceptualise and create an animated video following its hugely popular and successful TV and cinema commercial for the charity in 2020.
The campaign will run for the next three to five years where SPOTacular will be the wrapper that puts its arms around the entire BBC Children in Need fundraising campaign, not only for this year, but for years to come.
The animation specialists created a digital brand film and a series of shorter cutdown versions that will be shared online and in selected cinemas in the run-up to the charity’s much-loved on air fundraising night in November, on BBC1.
Featuring a spoken-word-poetry influenced script and voice of rap artist Lady Leshurr, Flow’s team of highly skilled directors and animators created the video to support the charity’s 2022 theme. This year, BBC Children in Need is focusing on helping children most affected by poverty due to the cost of living crisis and encouraging more people to fundraise.
Flow’s creative director, Karl Doran, said: “It was a pleasure to work with the BBC Children in Need team again and help to launch this exciting campaign. The work they do is amazing, helping millions of children during particularly challenging times all over the UK, so to be a part of that, and help to tell the story of the work they do is fantastic. The challenge for our team was to create a film that felt appropriate for a very broad audience, and represented a diverse and multicultural population. Wewanted the film to feel uplifting and inspiring but to also make sure that we were clear about the magnitude of the issues being faced by children and young people in the UK. With more children being affected by poverty we know the money that BBC Children in Need raises is absolutely vital.
“Working closely with the BBC Children in Need team we developed a script using a spoken-word poetry style that told the story in a way that felt inclusive and empowering. The script was voiced by rap artist Lady Leshurr who added a genuine warmth and authenticity to the message. We created a visually striking, contemporary look for the film using a colourful graphic style, and animated the characters and the campaign’s iconic spots in a way that felt fun and playful.”
Olivia Taylor, Marketing and campaigns manager at Children in Need, said: “After working with the Flow team before, we knew they were the perfect people for the job and absolutely trusted that they’d create a film that was beautiful and poignant, but positive and uplifting too. We’re so happy with the film and can’t wait to share it with the world.”
Doran added: “As a studio we’ve always tried to do good work that does some good, that makes a positive difference in the world. As part of that mission we’ve worked with lots of charities, and love to see the positive impact our work can have by helping to raise awareness, and funds to further the good work that they do. The BBC Children in Need campaign is always a high profile one, and it’s great to watch on the fundraising night and see the total raised knowing we’ve helped in some small way.”
