The beauty of personal opinion lies in its diversity. Whether you agree with them or not, they give you insight into how others think and challenge you to ponder perspectives that may go against your own. And speaking of, another major figure (nostalgia incoming) has spoken out about AI.
Nick Park, the creator of Wallace and Gromit and co-founder of Aardman Animations, said in a recent interview that his studio will “embrace” artificial intelligence in its work, albeit with caution, and it’s a fantastic example of how not just accepting but welcoming technological innovation doesn’t have to mean sacrificing beloved and carefully crafted tradition.
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How Does Nick Park Really Feel About Innovative Technology?
To understand Park’s inclination to embrace AI as a tool to help him deliver his handcrafted visions to the world more effectively, we can look to older interviews where reporters pressed him about using computer animation techniques, such as CGI, in his acclaimed stop-motion masterpieces.
In a 2018 interview with Cnet, Park said, “We’ve always been open to using technology, and we always have digital effects that we just can’t do with a model or clay, like smoke, explosions and sometimes water.”
In a more recent interview in Radio Times, Park explains that, when Toy Story first came out in 1995, he thought he’d be counting the days until his stop-motion studio became obsolete in favor of fully computer-animated features.
“But we’ve managed to survive CGI,” he told Radio Times. Regarding AI, Park went on to say, “We want to embrace the technology and find in what ways it’s going to be useful to us, maybe to do animation a bit quicker, but we’re going to be very cautious not to lose our values.”
Many would argue (and be correct in those arguments, in my opinion) that a fully CGI or AI-generated Wallace and Gromit film wouldn’t be Wallace and Gromit at all. But that’s not what Park is advocating for here, rather, embracing AI as a means to streamline the more difficult, expensive, resource-intensive or simply impossible aspects of claymation — something he believes is entirely possible without stripping away what makes his movies artisan.
That’s a healthy way to view the technology as a whole, and a perspective those who might still be on the fence or apprehensive about AI should truly consider. Choosing to embrace the technology to lighten loads in ways that relieve pressure instead of strip character is exactly the right approach.
What On-the-Fence Marketers Can Take Away from Park’s Approach
If you’ve ever seen a Wallace and Gromit movie, you’ve probably noticed the fingerprints that animators leave behind on the puppets. That’s completely intentional and gives the franchise its unmistakably authentic feel. That didn’t go away when CGI came around, and I highly doubt it will go away now with AI on the scene.
Those fingerprints represent Park and Aardman Animations’ brand identity: thoughtful, painstakingly crafted and charming to no end — and they don’t waver, no matter what technology they’re using in the background.
That’s the first solid takeaway marketers can leave here with: A well-defined, communicated and sustained brand identity shouldn’t crumble if you decide to embrace AI for its objective benefits.
The controversial canon of AI in creative industries often assumes a fragile brand identity, one that might collapse or come under criticism the moment a new tool enters a workflow. However, the Wallace and Gromit conversation suggests the opposite: a brand with a strong identity shouldn’t fear innovative tools, because it’s not defined by them.
Aardman knows exactly what makes its work its own, and that clarity allows the studio to explore AI’s objective benefits like speed and efficiency without threatening its soul.
Aardman’s openness to AI mirrors how marketers might think about it:
- AI can accelerate production without deciding what deserves to exist.
- AI can support creativity without leading it.
- AI can reduce friction without flattening meaning.
Park’s newest film, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024), is even a satirical commentary on the current state of AI and society, and still, he told NPR he’s careful not to “be too black and white about it, because we do employ technology.”
Without having seen the film, it seems as though Aardman Animations and Park are sending a message about finding a happy medium between two extremes: rejecting new technology and overrelying on it. While Wallace takes his inventions too far in this instalment, much to the chagrin of Gromit, here Aardman is thoughtfully employing technology behind the scenes where it makes sense for their workflows — no replaced actors or uncanny AI voices, just practical applications that save a bit of headache.
Another takeaway to note here is how open and honest Aardman and Park seem to be about using new technology. For a brand as hand-crafted as it gets, you might think that ‘admitting’ (because that’s how it can feel sometimes) to being open to AI would leave a bad taste in the mouths of its audience. But Vengeance Most Fowl is currently sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score of 91%, which signals that franchise fans are happy with the product, presumably because it’s the same Wallace and Gromit they’ve come to expect, irrespective of the technology that may have helped them create it.
To AI or Not to AI?
Whether marketers and organizations decide to adopt AI or not is wholly up to them. I think we’re still in a place where businesses can thrive without it. But if you see practical applications for the technology that might help you deliver your products or services more efficiently — without losing touch with your brand identity or core values — why not?
Strong brand values, practicality and transparency work when it comes to AI adoption, and this is an excellent example.
