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Go Outdoors and Driven
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Go Outdoors and Driven
Billy the parakeet is back. For GO Outdoors‘ 2026 ‘Discover Freedom’ campaign, Flipbook Studio handled all creature modelling, groom and animation, bringing Billy to life as a fully realised CGI character across TV and digital, voiced by Will Mellor and set against epic outdoor landscapes shot on location in South Africa.
Commissioned by Velvet Film, our brief was to take live action footage, directed by Phil Hawkins on location in South Africa and seamlessly integrate Billy as a believable, expressive creature inhabiting that world.
The campaign was conceived by Manchester creative agency Driven, who have built Billy into one of the most recognisable characters in UK retail advertising. Our job was to honour that character equity and push it further.
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Our scope covered the full creature pipeline:
Feathers, form, and all the fine detail that makes a character hold up in 4K on a 60-inch screen.
The real challenge on this project was performance. Billy’s personality is anchored in Will Mellor’s voice, warmth, mischief, and genuine comic timing. Every movement had to match that energy. We worked closely with the VO to ensure Billy’s physical performance felt like a natural extension of what Will brought to the role, not an illustration of it.
Integrating a CGI creature into high-end live action is a technical and creative discipline in its own right. Lighting, shadow, interaction with the environment, the goal is always for the join to be invisible.
Final colour grade to ensure Billy sat consistently within the look of the campaign across all deliverable formats.
Check out some of the Billy turntable and animation loops below
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The spot made its TV debut on Britain’s Got Talent in April 2026 and has since rolled out across digital video platforms. It’s the second instalment of the Discover Freedom campaign, and Billy keeps getting better.
If you’re looking for a creature animation studio in the UK, we’d love to hear about your project.
