• by Aaron Baar , December 19, 2012

Holidays are about bringing clans, whether they be human, animated or claymated, together, and Google is using beloved characters from Aardman Animation to show how its Hangouts can bring families together no matter how far apart they are.

In a new video created by Aardman for Google, beloved characters Wallace and Gromit connect with others characters from the Aardman stable (such as, Trixie and Captain Cuddlepuss from Creature Comforts, Shaun the Sheep and Ginger from Chicken Run). As all of the characters come together via web-enabled video chat, they open their presents at the same time. 

“One of the really important things that Google wanted to share is that the Hangout is a great way to get families together. Modern families are often spread out across countries and internationally,” Merlin Crossingham, creative director for Wallace and Gromit at Aardman, tells Marketing Daily. “With all of our own different characters in their own different worlds, bringing them together is just a fun, interesting way of illustrating that.” 

The video is the first time Aardman characters from different productions have shared the screen together. “We’ve never had a reason, really, to bring them together,” Crossingham says. “When an opportunity like this comes to share our characters with the world [with the added] benefit to Google to share their message, it’s a great unique experience for everybody.” 

The ad ends with a prompt to bring one’s own family together via family hangouts (a multi-person video chat that supports up to 10 people at the same time) on Google. For the holidays, people can also create personalized invites to create or join family hangouts using Wallace and Gromit. Google has also created a “holiday effects” app, allowing people to put Santa hats, reindeer antlers or Wallace’s green sweater vest on Hangout participants.

Though the video was created for Google’s Europe, Middle East and Africa division, the global nature of the Internet, the company and Aardman’s characters almost ensure the video will be viewed globally, he says. “The characters we’ve created are well known internationally, and Google, with their advertising prowess, will be able to seed it wherever they want,” Crossingham says.