Five years into living the Clay10 life… 1,825 days. 43,800 hours. Where do I start? I can honestly say that some of those hours seemed like a lifetime in the early days.

Since the initial decision to build a business that was more than just me in my front room, my feet haven’t hit the ground.

I’ve always had a passion for delivering 3D animations, and still to this day have to pinch myself when I realise that everyday I get to wake up and work on projects that I genuinely love. In the early days it was all about getting our name out there and building a reputation – it wasn’t an easy life – usually business development during the day and delivering project work in the evenings, and often through to the early mornings!

It soon became evident that the market was looking for something more than just animations. I needed a team that were going to be just as passionate as me, they also needed to have a drive for innovation and all things ‘shiny and new’. It wasn’t long before I was on the hunt for someone to take Clay10 to the next level and open up new opportunities for us… roll on the Rollinson. As employee number one, Chris (Rollinson) was just that person. Since then, we’ve been lucky enough to continue to build our reputation and attract a great team plus a fantastic bunch of clients that have trusted us to drive forward their vision.

Now seems the perfect time to shout out a couple of the clients who have provided support from day one, right through to today.

First off, a great client with a genuinely good purpose, MacRebur. We’ve loved everything we have worked on over the past five years. From the 2017 launch campaign advertised on billboards and screens all across London that smashed its targets, through to the international sales materials being rolled out across the globe this year. Their growth has supported ours and we like to think that we have helped contribute to the success of their business.

And in a totally different market, Evolve Pensions. I’ve always felt that Evolve has a similar vision to Clay10 – not to be led by the crowd and to do something different. Something better. We really wanted to get under the skin of what was happening at Evolve and our on-site visit in the early days, helped us to understand how they worked and the challenges they were facing. We quickly established a good working relationship (strengthened by a number of great curries). The insights gained in those early days are still paying off today as we help to refine processes and improve their communications.

Close Brothers, Ideal Heating, Siemens and Johnson & Johnson are some household names that partner with us, but it’s the awesome people that we work with and their appetite for beautiful innovation that keeps us motivated to provide the very best marketing materials and tools.

For Coco Chanel, five was her lucky number. She said “I always launch my collection on the 5th day of the 5th month, so the number 5 seems to bring me luck – therefore, I will name it [her famous perfume] No 5.”

For us, we sit reflecting on the past five years feeling lucky for all the support, opportunities and fun that we have had. Is five lucky? Maybe, but we’re not ones to dwell on the past, tomorrow we’ll be looking forward to seeing what the future holds – we hope you’ll join us on the journey.