Mekanism and O&M make BP's stations a little better

Mekanism recently designed, created, and animated a series of characters and storylines set in a BP-branded environment to support the global integrated branding efforts of one of the world's leading retail and gas outlets. The animated characters will be used across the firm’s marketing and advertising efforts, including their likeness produced on a series of products distributed from BP's global network of businesses. The project highlights Mekanism's ability to weave animation, motion graphics, and web production with iconic branded characters to support large-scale branding efforts.

Commenting on the scope of the project, Executive Producer Jason Harris notes that, "The great thing about this campaign is that the characters are not only starring in the spots, but will be seen online, at retail locations, outdoor ads, and ultimately will find their way onto hats, stickers, bags, and other merchandise found at BP stations all over the world."

Mekanism was approached by Ogilvy & Mather to help launch the new retail brand advertising campaign and deliver the right look and feel for BP’s signature identity. Looking for clean, strong, and simple, almost 1960's-style design scheme that would really stand out on television, Ogilvy was drawn to the success of Mekanism's previous design and animation work with Napster.

Ian Kovalik, Mekanism's Creative Director for the project, says, "Our animation is truly rooted in original design. We have amazing artists and access to a unique and talented team that can execute across 2D illustration, highly-rendered 3D, and frame-by-frame cel animation. I think it was this variety of styles and our ability to integrate our work across both TV and web that got us involved at such an early stage of the campaign's character development process."

This campaign is centered around a cast of animated characters who inhabit an animated world that revolves around the gas station. It embodies the new BP brand style—clearly not what you would expect from an oil company—and uses bold, distinctive animation to convey simple and humble messages about how BP is working to create 'a little better' community. This campaign is eminently global in appeal and was developed and tested for relevance across the wide variety of cultures and countries in which BP operates its retail sites.