After a decade at the helm of Channel 4, David Abraham co-founded a unique media-changing company, most recently with the Princess of Wales.
Wonderhood Studios is a hybrid of a TV company, advertising agency, social media content creator, and data scientist. Keira Knightley and Helena Bonham Carter starred in television films. Advertisers include Nike, Starling Bank and mobile network Three.
Five years later, Wonderhood Studios is the only name in the top 30 industry rankings for both TV and commercials.
“As far as I know, we are the first British creative company to do both at the same time,” said Abraham, who was CEO of Channel 4 for seven years until 2017 and before that ran UKTV.
Princess of Wales Kate Middleton chose Wonderhood to design Shaping Us’ recent “Claymation” ad campaign to promote her Royal Foundation Early Childhood Centre. It features a clay baby getting up from her knees to take her first steps and going on childhood adventures like swimming lessons and birthday parties.
Wonderhood advertising executives Aidan McClure and Alex Best were on their way to Windsor Castle to meet the princess. London-based animation studio Blinkink used nearly a ton of clay to create models and sets for Shaping Us, which was filmed frame by frame with a camera suspended from a portal.
As CEO of Wonderhood, Abraham has been heavily involved in fighting what he calls the government’s “convoluted” plans to privatize his old employer, Channel 4.
Under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, antipathy towards public broadcasters has subsided, he said, and the Ministry of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports feels “a little more cooperative.” “Looks like we’re in… how should I put it? – a slightly less ideological stage. There are more mature conversations.”
It’s good for the creative industry in the UK and good for Wonderhood. Ahead of its five-year anniversary last month, the company moved to a new building in London’s Soho and opened a new studio, Wonderhood Makers, which creates content for social platforms.
Abraham’s idea for a multidisciplinary media studio came from working on major cross-departmental initiatives during his airtime, most notably the launch of Dave’s channel on UKTV and Paralympic champion Channel 4.
He acknowledges the arguments that the demise of Netflix may be a sign that we have reached the pinnacle of television after a golden age of content production. But he is confident that with a more benevolent government, the British creative sector can be less dependent on Hollywood.
Wonderhood’s television division, led by former BBC documentary filmmaker Samantha Anstiss, has received commissions from all the major broadcasters in the UK. shielded sky search for girlsexposing the fashion industry and Devil’s Advocatea story about a fake criminal defense lawyer. Dodi: The Last Days of Playboy Created for Channel 5 and streamer Paramount+, it tells the story of Dodi Al Fayed and offers a new look at the most famous car accident in modern history. Last task 4 channels, working title Kidnapped: The Angel Lynn Storydocuments about real abusive relationships.
Several Wonderhood productions fall into the signature entertainment category. ITV Summer on the farmcreated during the pandemic and hosted by Alan Titchmarsh, was a collaboration with Waitrose. My grandparents’ war there was cooperation with genealogical site my legacy. Last year’s show on Channel 4. Supersurgeons: a chance for life was created with the support of Macmillan Cancer Support.
The public is becoming more comfortable with such patronage, argues Abraham, who began his career in London’s Adland in the 1980s and worked at the legendary creative agency Collett, Dickenson, Pearce, where Ridley Scott and David Puttnam got their first experience.
“When you’re telling a really good, high-quality story, and it has brand integration, the audience feels very comfortable,” he says of branded entertainment. “What no one likes is overselling or underselling.”
He says it’s “important to be aware that there are streetcar lines” that separate editorial content from advertising, but argues that Wonderhood’s television, advertising and social media teams benefit from “connecting and listening to others’ projects.” This appeals to digital natives who don’t want their skills limited to old media. “The next generation sees the world in a whole new way and is not bound by these traditional boundaries.”
This is an argument that the Prime Minister must appreciate.
Source: I News
I am Moises Cosgrove and I work for a news website as an author. I specialize in the market section, writing stories about the latest developments in the world of finance and economics. My articles are read by people from all walks of life, from investors to analysts, to everyday citizens looking for insight into how news will affect their finances.