A creative, concept driven animation studio specialising in multimedia motion for all digital mediums, from interactive web to full commercial campaigns. Ticktockrobot is a completely remote operation with bags of potential. We caught up with Creative Director Simon Armstrong to learn more.
How was your company born and where are you based?
My company was born when the briefs I was being offered as a freelance animator and designer started getting bigger in scope and opportunity. They required me to put teams together to realise the briefs and budgets full potential, so creating a studio felt like the next step. But I have always been aware that this industry is a tumultuous one so never expanded the studio too much.
We have had premises before but to keep costs and therefore the studio agile we have worked remotely for the past 7 years, with no bricks and mortar base. This of course meant that when Covid hit we were already in a great set up to continue working uninterrupted.
I run the company from my separate home studio, with regular contracted freelances based all over the world. This means that the clients budget goes on the job rather than overheads and allows me to craft and build the right team to match the job.
What was the biggest challenge to the growth of your company?
Finding clients. Always finding clients. We have extremely busy times, but the company’s set up and organisation, as well as a great pool of loyal and regular freelance talent means that those busy times are easily managed. But keeping the business remote means it is easy for us to grow and expand, when necessary, but also to shrink and contract to keep costs and overheads down when the studio goes through a quiet spell.
This adaptability may not have led to typical growth – big shiny office with a cool mural on the wall – but it has allowed us to survive the past 5 years very turbulent economic environment. And the new working normal after Covid has helped the wider community realise the benefits of such a set up rather than see it as a stigmatism.
Which was the first huge success that you can remember?
I think doing the RedBull Tricktionary series was a big one, but I guess the best that went ahead was an ad campaign for bed retailer Dreams. The commercial we conceived and created [ and voiced by the late great Richard Briars ] aired on ITV on Xmas eve in Who Wants to be a Millionaire ad breaks – so a massive national audience.
We did also win the commission to design and produce a whole new series of ‘how to’ animations for Myspace US headquarters – but just as the project was getting underway Myspace was sold to Universal and the project was shelved. Such is the way in our industry.
What’s the biggest opportunity for you and your company in the next year?
That is always a mystery to be honest. But as nerve wracking as the uncertainty can be that is also part of the excitement. We never know what brief, client and subsequent audience will drop through our door. That said we are currently working on a short film and also a TV series pitch deck – with a lot more ideas stowed away.
So I think the most exciting opportunity would be to develop and produce our own IP. It’s something a lot of studios are turning to, to keep the pennies coming in during quiet periods but also it enables us to really flex our creative muscles.
Can you explain your team’s creative process? What makes it unique?
Idea, concept and design are at the core of what we do. We are not just a character animation studio, or a specialist 3D or 2D or motion graphics studio. We are a design led animation studio – and we love and embrace all aspects of that art form. So when we are conceiving an idea, it is not dictated by the medium and tools we could use, but purely on the client and more importantly their audience.
What will speak best of and to them, stylistically as well as narratively. When looking at a brief and how to answer it – my favourite part of the project – we do always search for something new that we haven’t done before. We want everything we create to be original, bespoke and just for that client. Repeating what we did before doesn’t interest me, which is why the studios portfolio is quite eclectic – as is our client roster.
I studied illustration, so style is a heavy influence on the work – I want every film we make to be able to be paused at almost any shot and it look like a great static. Therefore, we often offer our clients a full campaign and suite of assets. Copywriting, composition, colour, illustration – it all goes into making an animation – so even at the very beginning we are thinking how all the various parts to the final piece can be used to maximise the clients ROI.
How does your team remain inspired and motivated?
That’s easy as we love what we do. We love film, music, literature, games – all of which are keys sources of inspiration for animation. But a general interest in the world around you also really help influence and improve your work.
Lastly, as mentioned before, we have a range of clients all wanting to communicate something very different to a new audience. This requires research and understanding from us, which acts as a motivator as learning and understanding something new is always intriguing. As they say, education is wasted on the young – for us old dogs always learning and exploring keeps it magical.
How has COVID-19 affected your company?
We won our biggest project during Covid. As many studios found, when filming could no longer been done agencies and organisations turned to animation [ and largely haven’t looked back ] to communicate. Our client, a fortune 500 private education firm, could no longer send tutors to homes.
So they decided to build an app that could teach children to speak English through a series of animations and interactive games. We were a small part of a larger project – but still created over 600 minutes of vibrant beautiful animation, all within 1 year. And because we were already set up as a remote studio the production worked seamlessly.
Which agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
Studio Aka and directors Mark Craste and Phillip Hunt spring to mind. I love the eclectic nature of their work, the wonderful ideas and superlative animation. Over the past few years I have found my studio pitching against them – and although they have beaten me every time – I’m proud that my studio has been in the same room.
There are many other studios of course, but I prefer the auteurship of directors rather than agencies. The work of Guellermo Del Toro, and his latest film Pinocchio, were a huge inspiration – especially his Oscar winning speech where he proclaimed animation a s a true art form for film.
What is one tip that you would give to other agencies looking to grow?
Don’t do it too quickly. The quicker and bigger the growth, the bigger the risks in an increasingly turbulent economic climate. Agility rater than growth may well have more chance of creating a sustainable studio.
How do you go about finding new clients/business? (Pitching, work with retainers, etc.)
We use email marketing and social media, as well as reaching out and talking with others in the industry [ or answering questionnaires for industry sites ???? ], but the main way is through reputation and references. We are lucky to have a large bank of happy clients [ see our testimonials on our site ] and they often return or recommend us to others.
What’s your one big hope for the future of the industry?
That those holding the purse strings will realise that using quick answers like generative ai will not create unique works of passion. That by basing ideas on statistical data won’t create anything that resonates with a modern audience that is tired of being fed the same thing just slightly reskinned. Bring back the fun freedom of expression from the 80’s and 90’s kids tv series’, films and music videos.
How do you foster a culture of innovation and experimentation within your team?
I don’t – they do that all by themselves. I’m lucky to have a great team of contacts behind me – and they love what they do as much as I do and are always seeking to improve and better themselves. That’s why they are so damned good!
Can you describe a project that challenged your team creatively and how you overcame any obstacles?
One we had was to find an intriguing and original way to convey what our client did – chase unpaid invoices. The solution we came up with was to remove the ugly elephant in the room, the aggressive connotations associated with chasing people who haven’t paid, and instead reframe it as a kind of emergency service.
Visualising a set of Heath Robison style contraptions that represented different businesses, connected by the flow of currency. Unpaid invoices stopped the flow, and our clients were effectively positioned as money plumbers helping keep everything moving. It ended up being one of our favourite projects despite the potentially dry subject matter.
How do you balance maintaining your company's unique creative voice while meeting the diverse needs of clients?
That is tricky – but to be honest clients have come to us because of our unique and creative voice, because of the way we look and answer briefs. We don’t follow trends and we don’t repeat and recycle which is what clients expect from us.
What strategies do you employ to adapt to changes and trends in the industry while staying true to your company's values?
We don’t. We are not huge fans of following trends, as they change and alter too frequently. We like to create content that will last for our clients, so we look to create something truly original that sits firmly within that client’s brand and sector – but also that hopefully won’t age – unless of course the client decides to re-brand!
Can you share a memorable client success story that exemplifies your company's approach and impact?
Without a doubt the creation of over 600 minutes of quality animation in under a year. We created a new online client portal to manage it and created a smooth running machine that even allowed us time for a weekly online social and staff quiz [ the winner wrote the next weeks quiz ], all the while enjoying the work and not burning out. The team were happy, the client was happy, the work was great. Job done.
Can you discuss a time when your company had to pivot or innovate in response to unforeseen challenges, and what lessons did you learn from that experience?
When we took on the enormous commission during Covid, we needed to expand our production pipeline. Our client was the other side of the world, and we were creating hundreds of episodes.
So we created our own bespoke production management portal on our website, where we could upload the various stages of an episode for feedback and sign off. We’ve been using it ever since with every client, and every client loves its clean and clear UI. It has reduced the amount of emails, drip fed feedback and client confusion as to where we are in the process, what was agreed and what is yet to come.
Do you have any websites, books or resources that you would recommend?
One book: Humankind: A hopeful history by Rutger Bregman. It’s a fascinating look at how our perception of humanity is skewed by the media – and as I say – an interest in the world we live in is the largest influence an animator and designer can have.
