A hand-drawn campaign for Sir David Attenborough

Red Bee Media has designed the on- and off-screen campaign for Sir David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities television series.

 David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities press ad
David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities press ad

The consultancy was appointed by television channel Eden in August last year, having previously worked with parent company UKTV.

The series focuses on animals ‘whose biology intrigues Sir David [Attenborough] the most’, according to Red Bee, with featured creatures including chameleons, giraffes, and the platypus.

 David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities, zebra
Giraffes (and a narwhal)

Joe Lee, Red Bee creative director, says, ‘UKTV is commissioning more and more programmes, and I think this is a bit of a passion project [for Attenborough]. It’s much more intimate than we’re used to seeing him – he’s in the library looking at books, rather than being out in the field.

‘The key thing was to really capture the intimacy and the sense of the programme being quite different to anything else you might see on other channels.’

The designs use a notebook graphic and hand-drawn illustrations. ‘The notebook is a good device to explore Attenborough’s memories and fascinations’, says Lee.

Chameleon on a notebook
Chameleon on a notebook

Red Bee’s work is shown on animated 20- and 40-second TV spots, press ads and digital banner ads.

Animation director Adam Parry of Strange Beasts produced the TV spots, while illustrator Chris Ede created the press ad illustrations.

 David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities, zebra
David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities, zebra

Lee says, ‘One of the challenges was to take aesthetic cues from the TV ad but we were keen not to just replicate a notebook. It’s more about exploring [Attenborough’s] fascinated mind, and we looked to do that across all media.’

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  • Garry Sinclair November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Great creative campaign

  • Garry Sinclair November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Great creative campaign.

  • Trevor Stanesby November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Super work!

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