Christine MacKay founded salamandra. uk in 2014, an award-winning animation studio that specialises in animation for business (B2B) and visual problem-solving. Having worked both client and agency side on three continents, Christine has expert knowledge in building collaborative, frictionless teams, developing a strong company culture, and cross-pollinating businesses.
Her team works across 18 different industries, from children’s book illustrations and corporate explainers, to training videos or immersive augmented and virtual presentations, during which they produce unique and powerful multifaceted visual assets, and create content that resonates with their clients’ target audiences memorably.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up writing a book?
Having always had an affinity for imagery, I founded my company in 2014. At the time, animation as a medium wasn’t so common within B2B communication, but it has grown enormously since then, and now animation has become a positive solution, not just for education and business, but also for entertainment when filming isn’t an option.
Over the years, I have often been asked how the animation process works by clients, agencies, students, and friends, so I wrote Destination Animation to cast light on their questions, and demystify animation for business.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
Destination Animation – How Smart Marketeers Convey Complex Messages Memorably can essentially be seen as a compilation of personal experiences and successful past projects. By taking the reader through the animation process from the briefing stage all the way through to delivering the finished animation, the book truly encapsulates the ins and outs of what agency life is like, and how my team and I go to work to do what we do.
I’d like the contents of Destination Animation to be seen as an ‘exploration’ into why animation makes for a compelling and versatile tool in strong marketing strategies and effective business communication, rather than an ‘explanation’ of how smart marketers can simplify their complex messages.
When will you consider your book a success?
When it is known in the marketing and animation student/lecturer fraternity as the go-to book for business animation, in UK and beyond.
Can you share a snippet that isn’t in the blurb or excerpt?
“To illustrate just how powerful a sixty-second animation can be for business, research company Forrester analysed how many words it would take to describe what you might see, feel, hear and understand if you were to view this animation.1 These words would need to convey all that you experience, including the colours, backgrounds and environments, the narrative or story itself, the denouement, the music, the timbre of voices, the accent, the contents, the emotion conveyed, what you felt and what was memorable. How many words do you think you would need? A few hundred? A few thousand? Try 1.8 million. Forrester’s researcher calculated this number on the premise that a picture paints a thousand words, multiplying thirty frames of video a second by sixty seconds. That’s how much information a sixty-second animation can pack in to get your complex messages across succinctly and memorably. Best yet, images stay in the long-term memory, as opposed to text that stays in the short-term memory.”
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Upon founding salamandra. uk in 2014, I had only just settled back in England after expating around the globe for twenty years, and consequently found myself without any business contacts or connections here in the UK––which, as most business people know, plays an integral part in getting a business off the ground. It certainly didn’t help that animation as a medium wasn’t so common within B2B communication, and I found myself a lone voice in the industry, crossing into relatively unchartered territory armed only with a vision and inextinguishable passion and drive.
Even though seven and a half years have passed since then, and my studios have grown far beyond my expectations, I’ll never forget what it took to get here. Not only the pressure, nor the uncertainty––both of which are ongoing themes in my dreams––but the importance of working, staying engaged, and having purpose. And I don’t just mean delivering your service or product, but what drives you to run a business in the first place. I always likened what I do to a massive ongoing game of monopoly and if you consider your business as your best hobby rather than a chore it can become even more rewarding, because your approach is one of enjoyment, creativity, and fun! That approach also opens up your positivity and mind to opportunities.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
Make lists and tick each item off as it gets done.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before publishing your book?
Using the right publishers makes your writing journey much easier and planned out
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new authors?
Pick a great printer like mine at ReThink Press, they help with the planning, writing, publishing, and marketing journey
What is your favourite quote?
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”
– Einstein
What is your definition of success?
Enjoying what you do
How do you personally overcome fear?
Positive thinking and imagining a brilliant outcome then believing it!!
How can readers get in touch with you?
Most easily, readers can get in touch with me or a member of my team by visiting our website at salamandra.uk, or connecting with me via LinkedIn. Should readers want to directly email me regarding a discovery session for a project, the best email to contact me by is hello @salamandra.uk. Any speaker or interview requests should go to marilize @salamandra.uk.
