ROOF Animates Surreal Byways for Conoco’s New “Choose Go” Campaign

Animation studio ROOF Studio (ROOF) recently produced the “Choose Go” campaign for Conoco, a visually stunning series of six 3D-animated shorts featuring uniquely-designed “Goer” characters. Conceived by agency Carmichael Lynch, “Choose Go” highlights the limitless fun and adventure of filling up your car and just going. The campaign was launched across digital and social media.

Each :15 film follows a different character on a whimsical adventure that begins and concludes with a pit stop at the Conoco station — from Gilly the Goer taking a dreamy cruise behind the wheel of a bed-like automobile, to Gilbert the Goer, a tiny cheetah sporting a large sock as a sweater in a car built out of a shoe. 

You can also watch the other 15-second ads here: STOP, LOST, EXISTENTIAL DREAD, WALK, TEACHINGS.

The characters were conceived by ROOF Director Lucas Camargo, who incorporated elements of stop motion, mechanical theater backgrounds, and even classic video games. 

“Some folks are born with ‘go’ deeply embedded in their DNA,” says Michelle Lippman, Senior Writer at Carmichael Lynch. “This campaign demonstrates a true Goer won’t stop going — especially after the last two years. They’ve developed new hobbies, made bucket lists, and won’t let a chance to hit the road or explore a new activity go unmissed again.”

“Carmichael Lynch approached us with these super imaginative scripts with surreal storylines and characters who are always on the move,” adds Camargo, who’s own offbeat-character artwork served as an initial reference point for the client. “Our challenge was to figure out the visual and narrative mechanisms for getting them from point A to point Z. It was an exciting concept to push around as animators, and a blank canvas where we could have fun and create from the ground up.”

For the overall tone of the piece, Camargo leaned into a highly-stylized and simplified visual look. Creating a modular template for the films, he structured each scene like a comic strip or a GIF – together, they’d tell a larger story, or work as quick loopable content. This approach allowed ROOF to maximize production value by focusing on tactile-seeming characters and textures, and allowing the lighting and camera movement to create depth, momentum, and detail.

“I took inspiration from stop motion to evoke a handmade feeling,” says Camargo. “We wanted the world in all of these films to have the same kineticism as a clockwork mechanical theater. With the backgrounds being pulled in and out, we created a sense of motion, like the pistons and cylinders of an engine.”

Ultimately, this campaign was an opportunity to do what ROOF does best – build a unique world of characters for Conoco that invites viewers to catch fun new details through a repeat viewing experience.

“We really went for the surreal,” says Camargo. “I’m grateful to the agency and client for being supportive and trusting my crazy creative style and process to bring their vision to life.” 

“Lucas and the ROOF team were collaborative and accommodating throughout the creative process of this project,” concludes Sarah Wolf, Designer at Carmichael Lynch. “We brought forward an idea that explored truly unique characters and an entire new world, and the team didn’t disappoint. We were blown away by their level of detail and creativity and the end results were truly stunning.”

 

Client: Conoco

Senior Director, Brands: Madelaine Bardot 

Brand Director: Jacqueline Johnson 

Ad Agency: Carmichael Lynch

Chief Creative Officer: Marty Senn 

Executive Creative Director, Design: Milton Un 

Senior Writer: Michelle Lippman 

Designer: Sarah Wolf 

Senior Executive Content Producer: Lisa Feldman 

Senior Content Producer: James Sorbel

Director of Business Affairs, Production: Vicki Oachs 

Talent Specialist: Anne Carlson 

Account Management Team: Courtney Thomas, Brad Wellman, Caleb Peabody 

Project Manager: Lisa Brody 

Production Company: ROOF Studio 

Creative Directors: Guto Terni, Vinicius Costa

Director: Lucas Camargo

Executive Producer: Marcus Lansdell

Head Producer: Marcio Lovato

CGI Tech Director: Heber Conde, Wallan Oliveira

Lead 3D: Alexandre Eschenbach 

Storyboard: Paulo Crumbin

3D Layout: Lucas Ribeiro

3D Model: Alexander Martins, Alexandre Taveira, Alex Ruiz, Danilo Geradr, Douglas Giarletti, Geison Araujo, Leandro Wagner, Lucas Lira, Marcelo Souza, Miguel Alves Giffu, Ricardo Viana

Rigging: Danilo Pinheiro, André Rüegger, Caio Hidaka, Saul Almeida

Look Development & Light: Adam Pierre, Cristiano Porfirio, Josemar Queiroz, Marcelo Vaz, Marcos Moraes, Pedro Henrique, Placido Silva, William Silva

Groom: Josemar Queiroz

Animation and Supervision: Francisco Catão

Animation: Rodrigo Dutra, Marcio Kakuno, Anne Pagno

Simulation: Gabriel Marcondes. Alexandre Canário, Heber Conde

Composition: Jorge Pereira

Deliveries: Fabio Mota

Audio Post Company: Sisterboss 

Audio Engineer: Jeff Marcovis 

Audio Executive Producer: Annie Sparrows 

Audio Producer: Jill Asp 

About ROOF Studio:

ROOF is a boutique animation studio that produces original and branded content. As animation storytellers, we drift towards the quirky, the whimsical, the uncharted. We imbue emotion in every movement, every color to craft visual stories that you can’t help but watch over and over. Recent and notable clients include American Express, Honda, Ben & Jerry’s, HBO, Verizon, and Unilever.