Meanwhile’s BAFTA-winners spearhead Chester Zoo campaign with ‘stunning’ mixed-media film

Meanwhile X Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo and Sony Music/RGL are building anticipation for their brand-new winter Lanterns and Light trail with an enchanting campaign by Meanwhile.

The agency from BAFTA-winning former BBC Creative chiefs James Cross and Tim Jones collaborated with Blinkink director Isabel Garrett to create a stunning film for the launch.

The film uses a mix of techniques, with live-action and handcrafted miniature sets mixed with 2D animated characters depicting the magic and awe that the attraction promises visitors.

Meanwhile also worked with Jacob Wheeler to create a suitably magical soundtrack for the work, which was handled through Major Tom, and the mixed-media world will be used across all aspects of the far-reaching campaign.

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Meanwhile X Chester Zoo Lanterns Film


Head of marketing at Chester Zoo, Helen Dean said: “Our new Lanterns and Light night-time event will transform the zoo into a spectacular festive light trail like no other. So, we needed a campaign that would be as creative, distinct, and as unique as the event itself.

“We rely on visitors to fund our vital conservation work, so by engaging people with this kind of next level creativity, we can hopefully change consumer behaviour in our favour too.”

The collaboration between Meanwhile’s founders and Blinkink is longstanding, dating from the multi-awarded 2018 World Cup ‘Tapestry’ for the BBC, through to last year’s BAFTA-nominated Winter Olympics film, also for the broadcaster.

It’s a relationship that Meanwhile founder, Tim Jones, treasures: “To match the ambition of the zoo and get it the attention it deserves, we’re always looking to represent it in fresh and surprising ways, and in our minds Blinkink, and in this instance, Isabel, were the dream collaborators,” he said.

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