A tribute to 50 years of Pride with Royal Mail
You can imagine the collective buzz when NB Studio asked us to help Royal Mail mark the release of a special set of stamps to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pride. The illustrated collection—A March Through Time—pays homage to each decade of the Pride March from 1972 to the present day. It marks the first time the company has released stamps in support of Pride, or any other movement.
The excitement really started to bubble when we heard that Sofie Birkin, a truly trailblazing illustrator, had designed the stamps. Sofie’s work challenges preconceptions of the LGBTQIA+ community, fights feelings of shame and, in her words, gives ‘queer kids the tools to understand and celebrate themselves’. As a company, and as people, these are aims we couldn’t be more on board with.
Our role was to tie the campaign together with a film that brought her amazing illustrations to life. To stay true to Sofie’s vision, we opted for hand-drawn, frame-by-frame animation. Working closely with NB Studio, we designed a storyboard that placed the events in the order that they happened, which we tweaked and compacted so that it was sure to make a splash on social media.
The painstakingly hand-drawn frame-by-frame provides the viewer with the closest experience of a Pride march without actually being there.
The Drum
We particularly enjoyed uplifting key characters to give them their moment in the spotlight. Overall, we wanted to create content that was compelling, inspiring and truly able to make a connection with a massive national audience.
The animation won Gold at the 2023 Shark Awards and was featured in mainstream and creative publications across the UK and beyond, including The Independent, Metro, The Drum, Evening Standard, Design Week, Creative Review, It's Nice That, Creative Boom and the Belfast Telegraph.
It's nothing short of magic... really incredible job.
Sofie Birkin, Illustrator
While this project already had its stars lined up, we always strive to craft unique stories, and draw on different voices to shape our approach. We hope that this comes across as we celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community’s connection with Pride events in a bold, loving and joyous way.
The animation was a true collaboration and Animade were wonderful partners... making the 8 stamps jump off the perforations and into life.
Alan Dye, Co-founder and Creative Director at NB Studio
If you’re looking to explore the power of animation and create a campaign to be proud of, please get in touch with us here. We’d love to hear from you.
Services
Storyboarding, Frame-by-frame animation production, Render + delivery, Creative direction, Production + Account services
Deliverables
1 x 47" film in 16:9
Credits
Animade
Executive Creative Director
Ed Barrett
Creative Director
Frida Ek
Animation
Chris Cocker, Eilidh Reid, Emmanuelle Walker, Lennon Valinhas, Romane Wach, Ross Butter, Sam Jones, Valérie Galchynska
Artworking
Bekki Leahy, Jacob Stead, James Hatley, Sabine Volkert, Stewart Harvey, Suzanne Matharan, Theresa Haas, Toby Mortimer
Design
Cat Finnie, Jim Billy Wheeler
Producers
Sophie Neophytou, Mariana Conde Grant
Production Assistant
Simona Somma-Mullins
Client Services
Megan Coombes
Script Consultation
Zak Khan
Marketing & PR
Amy Egan, Razia Hussain
Special Thanks
Robert Duncan, Jenna Kirby, Flo Layer
NB Studio
Executive Creative Director
Olly St John
Creative Directors
Alan Dye, Nick Finney
Design Director
Sam Pittman
Designer
Becky Campbell
Writer
Dan Radley
Client Managers
Sophie Knowles, Jess Storey
Partners
Illustrator
Sofie Birkin
Sound Design
Box of Toys Audio
Voice Actor
Layton Williams (represented by The Joneses Voice Agency)
Commissioned by
Royal Mail
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