Clay Kaytis, Le Cube and BBH collaborate on animated music video for Refuge and Frances

Clay Kaytis, former head of animation at Walt Disney Studios, has worked with South American animation studio Le Cube and international production studio Not To Scale on a music video for singer Frances that doubles as a campaign for domestic violence charity Refuge.

Working with ad agency BBH and Universal Music, Clay consulted on the film directed by Ralph Karam created for Frances’ song Grow. The emotive animation tells the story of a woman experiencing domestic abuse, going about her daily life while partially invisible, which aims to depict her isolation and loneliness. The character is based on a real-life victim helped by Refuge after a decade of abuse from her ex-partner.

The unusual combination of music video and campaign has meant the charity can reach a a huge audience without any media spend. It was made with the support of Globe, Universal Music UK’s creative and commercial partnerships arm.

George Hackforth-Jones, creative director at BBH London, says: “Being the official music video to such a moving song lets us talk to young women in a powerful and unexpected manner. Using animation felt like a good way to tell what is a heartbreaking story in a sensitive and hopefully heartwarming way, and have fun playing with little details like Frances’ polka dot socks.”

The video is released 20 March.