Dream Big

Puffin Books is one of the UK’s best-loved children’s publishers, and their Dream Big campaign was all about celebrating children’s imagination and ambition.

As part of Dream Big, Puffin ran a “Design a Storyboard” competition inviting children to dream up their own story. The winning entry came from Roma, aged 12, whose idea, “The World’s Strongest Competition”, we were asked to bring to life as a full animated film.

Roma’s story followed a girl who’d overheard her parents worrying about money and paying the bills. In her dream, she enters the World’s Strongest Competition, wins the £50,000 prize, and wakes up determined to make it real, training hard until she actually wins, and her family’s worries finally lift.

Roma had drawn five key storyboard frames to tell her story, and our job was to stay true to them rather than reinvent anything, building out the additional assets and animation needed to turn her five frames into a full film while keeping it unmistakably hers. We added a few playful touches of our own along the way, like the family dog sneaking a sausage off the table, but the heart of the story belongs entirely to Roma.

The film played in UK cinemas ahead of main screenings, as well as across Puffin’s social channels and website, as part of the wider Dream Big campaign.