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Creating a stop-motion campaign that helped the Francis Crick Institute attract record visitor numbers

When the Francis Crick Institute set out to promote its Hello Brain exhibition, the challenge wasn't simply explaining neuroscience, it was persuading people who wouldn't normally visit a science exhibition to come through the doors.

To capture the imagination of a broader, younger audience, we teamed up with Sadie May Studio to create a playful stop-motion film inspired by the wonderfully odd world of 1980s children's television. Think Trap Door, Hartbeat and the tactile charm that only handmade animation can deliver.

The result was a 30-second visual riddle. Viewers watched strange plasticine objects transform into one another before the answer was finally revealed, encouraging curiosity and rewarding repeat viewing.

The challenge

Scientific subjects can often feel intimidating or overly serious. The Crick wanted to create awareness for Hello Brain while keeping the science approachable, engaging and memorable. They were also careful that any humour supported, rather than distracted from, the message.

Our approach

The magic of the film wasn't just in the stop-motion, it was in the transformations.

Rather than taking the obvious route and simply morphing one object into the next, we carefully designed every transition to become part of the storytelling. Each transformation was first sketched frame-by-frame in Photoshop before being sculpted and animated in plasticine, allowing every movement to feel surprising, playful and satisfying. It was painstaking work, but exactly the kind of creative challenge every animator hopes for.

To complete the experience, we collaborated with sound designer Ana Roman, who created an ASMR-inspired soundtrack filled with soft plucks, squelches, pops and bouncing balloons, giving the animation an irresistible tactile quality.

The results

The animation became far more than a social media post.

It was featured across the Francis Crick Institute's Instagram, YouTube channel and homepage, while shorter edits formed part of a digital advertising campaign displayed on the large screens at King's Cross Station.

Most importantly, the exhibition went on to welcome more than 70,000 visitors, almost three times the attendance of the institute's previous most successful exhibition!

The project also demonstrated how a single animation could be repurposed across multiple channels, opening up creative opportunities the team hadn't previously explored.