We wanted to push the envelope as far as possible: Aditya Tawde, Post Office Studios

Aditya Tawde, Chief Creative Officer, Post Office Studios gives us an insight into the Asian Paints Colour Next Series '19 campaign and how they conceptualised the ad films

by Noel Dsouza
Published: Apr 4, 2019 8:40 AM | 4 min read

Post Office Studios, an animation and motion design studio have worked with such world-class brands as Warner Bros. Records, Nike, Asian Paints, Google, History Channel, Star Network, and many more. Now this year, Post Office Studios has conceptualised and produced five animated films to launch the Asian Paints’ Colour Next series. Every year, Asian Paints launches an expertly researched and curated set of trends that reflect the aesthetics of our times. The four diverse trends this year are Adulting, Enchanted, Harvest and F-lux, in addition to Asian Paints’ Colour of the Year for 2019: Awakening.

To showcase these trends to the audience, the team at Post Office Studios largely used 3D Motion Graphics to set a tone to the visuals, seamlessly integrating the elements and thought process encapsulating these trends into a single narrative. The videos are thus reflective of a unique collaboration between Asian Paints and an upcoming new media technology company that is focussed on innovative storytelling resulting in the creation of a set of 3D animated films that are rarely seen in the commercial advertising space in India.

Aditya Tawde, Cheif Creative Officer, Post Office Studios spoke to exchange4media about the ideation process and how they produced the innovative ad campaign for Asian Paints.

Brief and Insight

Earlier this year, Asian Paints launched its integrated brand campaign, Colour Next ‘19, showcasing an expertly curated set of trends for this year. The four diverse trends this year were: Adulting, Enchanted, Harvest and F-Lux, in addition to Asian Paints’ Colour of the Year 2019. The brief we received was to create five distinct films, encapsulating the year-long research undertaken by the brand; all of which were to adequately highlight the colour palettes, patterns, materials and textures associated with each trend. We immediately did a few brainstorming sessions and put together five concepts that seamlessly integrated the elements and thought processes behind each trend, interspersed within the trend story that held together each narrative. While the films had a similar undertone, they were given distinct tonalities and visuals, complemented by music and voice-overs that did justice to the theme concerned.

Over the years, good design has shifted from being purely visual aesthetic in nature to being something that is utility driven and functionally relevant as well. This is especially true in the case of home decor products, making it necessary for corresponding brands to convey this shift in the narrative to their audience base, in the form of their marketing campaigns. It was largely with this insight that we employed 3D animation to set the tone to visuals, which gave us the freedom to make the films as interactive and immersive as possible, without compromising on their visual aesthetics. Given Asian Paints’ position as a pioneer of design in the country, this approach helped us stay true to the brand identity and everything it stands for.

Challenges while producing the ad campaign

Our primary strengths lie in Motion Graphics and 2D Animation, having to create five distinct 3D animated films in a short span of one month was a challenge for our team, on both the creative and technical fronts. We had to put together a foolproof production plan to account for unforeseen contingencies, while simultaneously ensuring that we had the flexibility to rework our creatives as and when required along the way. Since commercial briefs in India are rarely this avant-garde creatively, we wanted to push the envelope as far as possible. We, therefore, collaborated with 12 artists based in countries such as the USA, Russia, Belgium, Poland, UK, Italy, Spain and Chile, who worked in sync with our talented team based in Mumbai; thus ensuring that each film highlighted the uniqueness of each trend, depicted through a distinct creative style supplementing the same.

Plans for Post Office Studios going forward

Post Office is an animation and new media technology company, where we produce tailor-made content for each brand. When a brand approaches us, they not only look at us as an executioner but also as visualisers for their briefs. The aim is to become the largest creative animation agency globally, where we make pathbreaking videos with innovative ideas. Our focus moving forward will be investing more time in research to optimise the video creation process and discover novel uses of mediums such as VR & AR.

Colour Next 2019 - Awakening