Can critters talking about today’s financial woes help people better understand the challenges with our traditional financial system and see crypto as one of the best tools to increase their financial freedom?
Coinbase and Academy Award-winning animation studio, Aardman, created a series of highly crafted and entertaining films (using audio from real interviews with real people). Each episode encourages people to examine the financial system and the relationship with their own economic future.
Most people don’t want to think about the rising cost of living, shrinkflation, inflation and what the “American Dream” means today. Yet Aardman’s stop-motion style provides a charming and humorous way to discuss these challenging topics with a heavy dose of reality.
Seven films in the “Human Nature” series launched across broadcast, digital and social channels.
This series reflects real, authentic conversations about the everyday financial concerns of people across the United States.
Casting consisted of 70+ audio submissions from all over the country to find voices, and nine full-length interviews featuring 36 cumulative hours of conversation to identify moments that resonate most with universal audiences.
We prepped for the interviews with extensive research, but some truths hit harder when you hear dozens of real people saying the same thing. The challenges of homeownership in our current financial system came up time and time again in the interviews. We encouraged people to truly be themselves throughout the interviews, whether that was bickering or snacking (both of which made it into the final films).
The animators were shooting between 60 – 70 frames a day, which equates to around 2.5 seconds. There were a total of 16,400 frames across the whole production and 28 puppets and 416 mouth replacements were created in the process.
The work featuring real human conversations sparked chatter in the real world too and got people to see how crypto could be one of the best tools to increase financial freedom.
The campaign delivered over 3 million social impressions and more than 30,000 social engagements when it launched. Driving strong brand lift metrics during its initial broadcast airing during WNBA games, it was strategically re-aired via NBA media in Q4 of 2025.
