The brief

The creative ambition was to speak to a more visually literate generation of pet parents, drawing on the energy of contemporary stylised animation rather than falling back on the category’s usual clinical tone. Roshan Kapoor at MBC reframed the brief away from the category’s default and toward something with a character at its centre. SuperBlimp’s contribution to the winning pitch was the visual and character led response: build the villain, not the product demo. Captain Itch became the spine of a campaign universe designed to extend from a 20 second TVC into social cutdowns, key visuals, and whatever the brand wanted to do next, built as a single character led system rather than a one off film with extra assets bolted on.

The shift was not from live action to animation. The category has been animated for years. The shift was from generic cartoons to ownable IP.

Designing Captain Itch

The villain is the hook, and Captain Itch carries the film. We pitched two visual routes, Stylised Realism and Hyper Stylised, and the hyper stylised direction won because it let us push caricature without tipping into uncanny. Anatomically plausible enough to feel wrong in a living room, cartoon enough to carry comic timing. Realistic shading with iridescent accents. Big eyes. A slouch. A silhouette you’d recognise on a shelf. Because the campaign lives or dies on whether the flea feels memorable rather than merely unpleasant, Captain Itch became the creative centre of gravity for the entire film.

Specific beats developed in early conversations, including Captain Itch lounging with a video game controller and the entrance framed through the doorbell camera, became defining moments in the final film.

Concept Exploration and Blocking

Modeling Wireframe

Grooming by Argentum Studio

The family and the world

Against the chaotic creature, the rest of the world had to feel calm and domestic. Flo and Marti were designed with stylised realism: grounded proportions, expressive features, hair and clothing that hold up in close ups without drifting into the uncanny. Biscuit, the cat, became the emotional anchor, carrying the comedy of the film as a warm, believable house cat.

Environments were built with a specific technical purpose. Realistic lighting, bold shapes, saturated colours, tuned to read cleanly on mobile screens where most of the audience would encounter the work.