For studio founder William Gadea, what better way to promote Indiana 811’s need to dramatize the possible negative consequences of digging up your yard without first located any underground utility lines than with Holey Moley as a rockin’ and rollin’, jumpsuit-wearing mole sporting a giant hair wave and a crew of sequined squirrel back-up singers.
Animation is obviously much more than a tool for entertainment and storytelling. It’s also a useful and engaging conduit for education and awareness. IdeaRocket – an animation studio dedicated to helping audiences understand business models, new technology, and complex science – has recently started focusing on producing fun, even musical, animated PSAs for 811 organizations.
Their latest project was a Chuck Berry-inspired 2D-animated rendition of Indiana 811’s 40-year-old mascot, Holey Moley.
Every state in the United States has an 811 Center. Members of the public can call this Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-designated number to help them locate underground utility lines before they begin digging for common projects like planting trees and shrubs or installing fences and mailboxes. Failure to make that call isn’t just dangerous, it’s also illegal.
“We have done animated spots for big brands like Knicks/Rangers, Parodontax, Beano, and Dare Breton, but the only other PSAs we've done were for Alcoholics Anonymous, and they were live-action,” notes William Gadea, writer, director, and founder of IdeaRocket. “Usually we work with B2B (Business-To-Business) clients on digital content. It can be fun and challenging, but often it has to be a bit buttoned-up. This gave us a chance to do the more cartoony animation we grew up with, which was a great change of pace and enormous fun. This was also our first time doing a musical animation. We've always wanted to do an original jingle, so when we got the opportunity, we jumped at it.”
So, it’s understandable why the non-profit safety organization Indiana 811 was looking for a fun way to spread the word. Especially after they saw the animation IdeaRocket had done for Georgia 811. “Georgia came to us, as I recall,” says Gadea. “We wanted to create a story to dramatize the possible negative consequences of digging in your yard without notifying 811, and we came up with this idea about telling the story from the point of view of two moles – one very down-to-earth, and one that's a bit of a geek. The stakes couldn't be higher in the story because it's their home that is at risk.”
IdeaRocket hired illustrator Juan Barabani, one of the studio’s favorite collaborators, to create a 2D design that was friendly but still stylized. Though IdeaRocket has often worked with software like Maya and Cinema 4D, for bringing these dig awareness moles to life, they used Photoshop to add more texture and warmth to the illustrations, then used After Effects and Toon Boom for the 2D animation.
“We loved playing with the contrasting personalities of the two mole characters, where one of them was big and calm, moved more slowly, and had this deep voice, while the other one was tiny and anxious with extreme reactions,” says Carolina Mendez, IdeaRocket’s motion art director. “So, we needed to produce a look that lent itself to a lot of personality. Computer technologies are changing all the time, so we try to keep up with them and use all the new resources that they offer.”
The expressive, polar opposite moles in a fight for their lives and their home caught the attention of Mary Patricia Kindt, director of marketing at Indiana 811, who thought that style would be a good fit for ushering Holey Moley into a new generation.
“This project was rather delicate, as our mascot, Holey Moley, has been around for a very long time, and his provenance is tied up with our message, so we had to get it just right,” says Kindt. “IdeaRocket had a lot of respect for that and were very patient with my micromanaging along the way! I have a branding background so, naturally, was very hands-on. They were fabulous in every way to work with. I feel that this new animated video will go a long way to educate future generations, as well as current ones, about safe digging in a way they can’t, and won’t, forget.”
It’s difficult not to pay attention to a safety video when the star is a rockin’ and rollin’, jumpsuit-wearing mole sporting a giant hair wave and a crew of sequined squirrel back-up singers. In Mendez’s words, “What’s more fun than that?”
“Will and I had both worked on an animation for a production company website launch and I have done a number of projects with IdeaRocket over the last 10 years or so, all original compositions,” says Michael Mancini, composer for IdeaRocket’s Indiana 811 spot. “I think an original composition is similar to a bespoke tailored suit. If you buy something off the rack, it's similar to using a music library. If you hire a composer, you get an original take on your vision. We gave the Holey Moley character a complete persona that is now his identity.”
Kindt adds, “We have had nothing but overwhelmingly good feedback on the new 1950s rocker Holey Moley. We have used his new look and the video campaign, which we call Holey Moley Rocks Safe Diggin’, for a number of spin-off projects and branding campaigns. He will continue to influence our brand for years to come.”
Gadea, who was working as a freelance animator in 2010 before starting his own studio, says he’s caught the cartoon bug and would love to do more projects that require the modern use of traditional cartoons. But, more than anything, he looks for chances to stretch his legs as an artist.
“Right now, we're working on a spot where a dad is playing against his adult daughter in a video game, and losing badly,” says Gadea. “This gives us the chance to create the same characters in two different design languages. The 'real life' outside of the game, and the avatar versions of those same characters in the game. Obviously, that's fun for us to play with, but I would also love to do more things like the 811 spots. I think good songs make messages memorable. To this day I can sing back to you commercial jingles that I first heard when I was 10 years old.”
Mendez adds, “I think that what is most exciting for us is making videos that help make the world a better place. We would love to make videos that help build awareness about the environment, or videos that help people respect each other. Times are very difficult with everything that’s going on, and our ultimate goal is using what we do to help bring some peace to the world.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
