7 ms·

Either it's hard to create the content, or it is not. If it's not hard, the studios don't need to buy Aardman. The IP they have is negligible, and no one watch

by relix 8y ago

Either it's hard to create the content, or it is not. If it's not hard, the studios don't need to buy Aardman. The IP they have is negligible, and no one watches a movie because it's made by Aardman (99% of the people would not know who they are anyway). If it is hard, the studios would need to keep the employees who manage to do this hard thing, and it would be in the purchaser's best interest to manage it as if it were a butterfly.

Doxin 8y ago
You're making the big assumption that this potential buyer is rational.
SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
> no one watches a movie because it's made by Aardman (99% of the people would not know who they are anyway). Speak for yourself, I know I certainly do.
- williamdclt 8y ago
  He has a point that it is very niche though (I never heard of them for example)
  - brbrodude 8y ago
    Maybe it's not known by name, but there's certainly a "trademark" in the design & animation that I'd guess is widely recognized around the world(e.g.: I'm in Brazil and recognized only when seeing the article image), so I imagine there's a following. If you add that it's like an early hooker(i.e.: most watched as a child), then there's probably another multiplier for the brand/studio value right there.
  - Mary-Jane 8y ago
    Ditto
- 52-6F-62 8y ago
  I can second this. I grew up with Wallace and Gromit (Canadian, here), and I've always loved their work.
  - lolive 8y ago
    Dudes, we are talking here about the creators of the (almighty) Shaun The Sheep !!!!
goto11 8y ago
It is hard and risky to create quality animation movies. But it is pretty easy to milk a brand - just witness all the cheap sequels and spin-offs Disney have produced based on classics like Bambi or Cinderella. Disney (or someone similar) might very well buy Ardman to milk the IP. > it would be in the purchaser's best interest to manage it as if it were a butterfly. Maybe so, but there is no guarantee they will do that. Remember that Disney fired the whole hand-animation department, despite the whole company being build on hand-drawn animation.
syshum 8y ago
This is not the only 2 options. First the IP is not negligible, for a company like this the IP is their company. Second Even if this mythical company buys them and has ever intention of "keeping the employees" and "allowing the company to run as before" a company that is consumed by a larger organization will over time loses its identity, it does not matter if both parties desire to "keep the magic" it never works. EVER. HR polices, Legal, management style etc from the larger parent ALWAYS makes it way to a subsidiary.
Lio 8y ago
This sounds like exactly the attitude that Pixar bet against and won, as described in Lawrence Levy's book[1]. At the time it was thought that animation from anyone other than Disney had no goodwill attached to it. Pixar was able to disprove that with their franchises and I think the same is true for Aardman with Wallace & Grommet and the spin off Shaun the Sheep series. Aardman have a look to their work that people know and love. Edited: because I'm a nitwit who put down the wrong author. Should be this book by http://lawrencelevy.com/book/ http://lawrencelevy.com/book/
- petecooper 8y ago
  >Lawrence Lessig's book Which book, please? Thank you.
  - Lio 8y ago
    My bad, should have been this book by Lawrence Levy: http://lawrencelevy.com/book/ http://lawrencelevy.com/book/ I've corrected my post, thanks.
- relix 8y ago
  > Aardman have a look to their work that people know and love. Which is either easily reproducible (my point A) or not (my point B). But the style of their movies is most likely not a protectable IP.
NeedMoreTea 8y ago
> no one watches a movie because it's made by Aardman That's exactly why we took the kids to Chicken Run, having seen no trailer.
- relix 8y ago
  If it looked exactly the same, but was not made by Aardman, would you not have gone seen it? How much is that marginal extra chance worth, ceteris paribus, that you would go see it because you recognize the name, exactly? Now multiply that by the proportion of people who would actually recognize Aardman as a brand name (i.e. less than 1.0). Note that we're not talking about just the style of how the movie and the figurines look like, because the assertion which we're discussing stems from the axiom that it's easily reproducible. If it is not, then it drops to assertion #2 which does not talk about IP. That is the value of the IP of Aardman, and I'd wager it's not worth an amount that would make a transaction worth it for the big studios talked about by the grand-OP (>$100MM).
  - NeedMoreTea 8y ago
    Without seeing a trailer how would we know it looked exactly the same? Looking the same counts for nothing without script, voice acting, production values etc. Just look at some of the cheap junk Disney have turned out. Aardman had almost complete 100% awareness in the UK thanks to Wallace and Gromit, and use of a national treasure or two for voice acting. The Creature Comforts ads that must have run for a decade or more - and still get voted in the top 5 best ads 30 years later, along with their other shorts and films. So it's difficult to generalise for areas that don't have the same love and awareness. After 30+ years of Wallace and others, along with their production values and including plenty for the adults make it a safe bet. Like you'd also expect from Pixar. Thoroughly good it was too. Taking the kids to a Disney movie is far more likely to give nothing to the parents, or turn out to be one of their cheapie efforts.
  - Angostura 8y ago
    > If it looked exactly the same, but was not made by Aardman Probably not, because we wouldn't know it is up to Aardman quality. In the UK particularly, Aardman is the Pixar of stop-motion.
RobertKerans 8y ago
> and no one watches a movie because it's made by Aardman From a UK perspective I think you're pretty wrong here. Aardman cant be separated from the style they've built over the last 30 years, and it's incredibly popular. Even if someone didn't recognise the name, you could show most people a even a single frame from one film and they'd recognise what it was immediately.
- benj111 8y ago
  I think you might be mis interpreting the parent. They are presenting 2 options (either its hard or not), without a preferred option. But yes I think you're right Aardman are instantly recognisable and not easily copyable.
- neves 8y ago
  I watch a movie because it's made by Aardman.
corobo 8y ago
> The IP they have is negligible, and no one watches a movie because it's made by Aardman (99% of the people would not know who they are anyway) I'm guessing you're outside of the UK? I'd put my money on you being to ask 10 people at random here and at least half of them recognise the name for Wallace and Gromit if nothing else

by relix 8y ago

Doxin 8y ago

You're making the big assumption that this potential buyer is rational.

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago

> no one watches a movie because it's made by Aardman (99% of the people would not know who they are anyway). Speak for yourself, I know I certainly do.

williamdclt 8y ago
He has a point that it is very niche though (I never heard of them for example)
- brbrodude 8y ago
  Maybe it's not known by name, but there's certainly a "trademark" in the design & animation that I'd guess is widely recognized around the world(e.g.: I'm in Brazil and recognized only when seeing the article image), so I imagine there's a following. If you add that it's like an early hooker(i.e.: most watched as a child), then there's probably another multiplier for the brand/studio value right there.
- Mary-Jane 8y ago
  Ditto
52-6F-62 8y ago
I can second this. I grew up with Wallace and Gromit (Canadian, here), and I've always loved their work.
- lolive 8y ago
  Dudes, we are talking here about the creators of the (almighty) Shaun The Sheep !!!!

goto11 8y ago

It is hard and risky to create quality animation movies. But it is pretty easy to milk a brand - just witness all the cheap sequels and spin-offs Disney have produced based on classics like Bambi or Cinderella. Disney (or someone similar) might very well buy Ardman to milk the IP. > it would be in the purchaser's best interest to manage it as if it were a butterfly. Maybe so, but there is no guarantee they will do that. Remember that Disney fired the whole hand-animation department, despite the whole company being build on hand-drawn animation.

syshum 8y ago

This is not the only 2 options. First the IP is not negligible, for a company like this the IP is their company. Second Even if this mythical company buys them and has ever intention of "keeping the employees" and "allowing the company to run as before" a company that is consumed by a larger organization will over time loses its identity, it does not matter if both parties desire to "keep the magic" it never works. EVER. HR polices, Legal, management style etc from the larger parent ALWAYS makes it way to a subsidiary.

Lio 8y ago

This sounds like exactly the attitude that Pixar bet against and won, as described in Lawrence Levy's book[1]. At the time it was thought that animation from anyone other than Disney had no goodwill attached to it. Pixar was able to disprove that with their franchises and I think the same is true for Aardman with Wallace & Grommet and the spin off Shaun the Sheep series. Aardman have a look to their work that people know and love. Edited: because I'm a nitwit who put down the wrong author. Should be this book by http://lawrencelevy.com/book/ http://lawrencelevy.com/book/

petecooper 8y ago
>Lawrence Lessig's book Which book, please? Thank you.
- Lio 8y ago
  My bad, should have been this book by Lawrence Levy: http://lawrencelevy.com/book/ http://lawrencelevy.com/book/ I've corrected my post, thanks.
relix 8y ago
> Aardman have a look to their work that people know and love. Which is either easily reproducible (my point A) or not (my point B). But the style of their movies is most likely not a protectable IP.

NeedMoreTea 8y ago

> no one watches a movie because it's made by Aardman That's exactly why we took the kids to Chicken Run, having seen no trailer.

relix 8y ago
If it looked exactly the same, but was not made by Aardman, would you not have gone seen it? How much is that marginal extra chance worth, ceteris paribus, that you would go see it because you recognize the name, exactly? Now multiply that by the proportion of people who would actually recognize Aardman as a brand name (i.e. less than 1.0). Note that we're not talking about just the style of how the movie and the figurines look like, because the assertion which we're discussing stems from the axiom that it's easily reproducible. If it is not, then it drops to assertion #2 which does not talk about IP. That is the value of the IP of Aardman, and I'd wager it's not worth an amount that would make a transaction worth it for the big studios talked about by the grand-OP (>$100MM).
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  Without seeing a trailer how would we know it looked exactly the same? Looking the same counts for nothing without script, voice acting, production values etc. Just look at some of the cheap junk Disney have turned out. Aardman had almost complete 100% awareness in the UK thanks to Wallace and Gromit, and use of a national treasure or two for voice acting. The Creature Comforts ads that must have run for a decade or more - and still get voted in the top 5 best ads 30 years later, along with their other shorts and films. So it's difficult to generalise for areas that don't have the same love and awareness. After 30+ years of Wallace and others, along with their production values and including plenty for the adults make it a safe bet. Like you'd also expect from Pixar. Thoroughly good it was too. Taking the kids to a Disney movie is far more likely to give nothing to the parents, or turn out to be one of their cheapie efforts.
- Angostura 8y ago
  > If it looked exactly the same, but was not made by Aardman Probably not, because we wouldn't know it is up to Aardman quality. In the UK particularly, Aardman is the Pixar of stop-motion.

RobertKerans 8y ago

> and no one watches a movie because it's made by Aardman From a UK perspective I think you're pretty wrong here. Aardman cant be separated from the style they've built over the last 30 years, and it's incredibly popular. Even if someone didn't recognise the name, you could show most people a even a single frame from one film and they'd recognise what it was immediately.

benj111 8y ago
I think you might be mis interpreting the parent. They are presenting 2 options (either its hard or not), without a preferred option. But yes I think you're right Aardman are instantly recognisable and not easily copyable.
neves 8y ago
I watch a movie because it's made by Aardman.

corobo 8y ago

> The IP they have is negligible, and no one watches a movie because it's made by Aardman (99% of the people would not know who they are anyway) I'm guessing you're outside of the UK? I'd put my money on you being to ask 10 people at random here and at least half of them recognise the name for Wallace and Gromit if nothing else