Out of pure curiosity, Colle McVoy creative director Lydia Choi posed the following questions at a client kickoff: “Who introduced you to fishing? Do you still fish? If not, what happened?”
Unanimously, the women at the meeting chimed in with very similar experiences: “Yes, I’ve fished–and my dad/grandpa/uncle taught me when I was a kid. In my pre-teen years though, the invitation to fish fell off. So, I stopped fishing–though my family member still does with friends.”
Nearly two years later, Take Me Fishing (Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation) is rolling out a national campaign encouraging dads to invite their daughters back out on the water for Father’s Day while echoing the stories of these women and women from across the U.S.
Centerpiece of the campaign is this animated short, “Second Catch,” created by Colle McVoy in partnership with Minneapolis based MAKE studio, with Andrew Chesworth serving as animation director. A daughter and a granddaughter learn how to fish–and love it–but this time around hopefully the new generation will get the chance to continue, taking the prior generation along for the return ride.
“There’s beautiful imperfection in this story that we wanted to claim without making anyone feel bad,” shared Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation marketing director Rachel Piacenz. “What causes people to fall away from and then back to fishing are subtle–and we see that unfold in how this tradition is passed down from one generation to the next.”
Over 1,000 animation artist hours and almost five years (1,728 days) of render time were recorded from when work kicked off in late February until the final animation shipped in late May.
According to the team, it was important to go the animation route to give viewers the canvas space to see themselves in the story.
“We did explore telling this story through live-action. Ultimately we felt animation was necessary for telling the story with the passage of time, giving people the space to see themselves in the animated characters. There’s so much magic to sprinkle around through animation–every expression, texture, lighting and more. We imagined and the talented hands at MAKE manifested even the most minute details,” said Colle McVoy’s Choi.
“Fishing is about so much more than just catching a fish,” shared Colle McVoy ECD Dustin Black. “While I wait and watch the bobber in the water with my daughter, I’m making memories I’ll never forget.”
The “Second Catch” animated film will receive significant distribution within Disney CTV which includes Disney+, Hulu, and DXP (DXP is Disney’s streaming solution providing reach across Disney’s vast portfolio of TV networks such as Disney kid’s networks, ABC, ESPN, Freeform, National Geographic and more).
The animated video cuts will run across Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and TikTok.
