Animade brings Anna Charity’s rebrand of online will-writing service Farewill to life for TV ad

Animade has created a TV advert for online will-writing service Farewill, adding warmth to a subject that can often inspire worry and stress. The spot’s minimal colour palette and hand-drawn style was inspired by Farewill’s new visual identity, which was created by art director and illustrator Anna Charity and launched earlier this year.

The 30-second advert features Farewill’s mascot Blob, snuggled up to his child and cat on the sofa. As a baritone voiceover comments on how deaths can sometimes happen suddenly, Blob’s pet fish keels over and floats to the top of its tank and a houseplant immediately sheds all its leaves.

The intention of the new branding and the TV advert was to show a less intimidating side to planning a funeral and to let people know wills are now something that can be created online. 30 million adults in the UK don't have a will and only 5 per cent of wills, probate and funeral services are online. The average cost of a funeral in the UK is £4,400 and one in eight families go into debt to pay for a funeral. “We needed to build a brand that completely changes people's perceptions of death,” says Farewell founder Dan Garrett.

Anna Charity, who was previously the creative director of meditation app Headspace, created a “friendly and approachable” visual language and a relatable mascot called Blob – a “soft, protective, big friendly giant” – and a supporting cast of a cat and tortoise. "In terms of style, I wanted the illustrations to be versatile enough to convey complex stories, but I also wanted them to demonstrate the simplicity of the service Farewill offers,” says Charity. “Death is such a difficult subject for a lot of people to think about, but broaching the subject through animals somehow makes it feel softer and more friendly.”

Animade then set about creating a narrative from Charity’s animations. “The key was to get that magic balance of comedic timing with more heartfelt, relatable family moments,” Animade creative director Ed Barrett tells It’s Nice That. “Anna's wonderful designs had already done a lot of the heavy lifting. The brand guide was bursting with charm, character and humour, and we knew straight away it was a project we wanted to work on.”

The advert is the first time that Farewill has delved into animation, meaning Animade could set the precedent for the brand in motion. “Farewill’s style is very friendly, with its loosely drawn characters and backgrounds making the brand feel approachable,” Animade senior creative Stewart Harvey tells us. Animade chose to complement this with a hand-drawn animation style. “Having that human touch adds even more charm to the illustration,” Harvey adds. “Even with a subject as delicate as this one, we were able to inject bits of humour and warmth with moments like the little fish’s upside-down flip and the lovely family hug at the end.”