Red Hare, Greater Anglia Trains

We Built the Icon. It Went on to Star in National TV Campaigns. Here's How.

Commission: Atomic London / Greater Anglia Trains | The Red Hare | Giant Animatronic Brand Puppet

The Brief

To celebrate the UK's largest-ever rail fleet revamp, Greater Anglia appointed Atomic London to create a new brand icon — a character that would embody the speed and grace of their new Pendolino trains while reflecting the natural history of the East Anglian landscape.

Atomic London made a polygon hare. Geometric, vivid, instantly recognisable — a brand device that has since appeared on national television, cinema, radio, out-of-home and digital platforms, and that Greater Anglia's own research shows makes 58% of people feel more positive about the brand.

Atomic London came to Creature Encounters to make it real.

The brief: translate the animator's 3D reference model into a 3 metre tall interactive puppet, recognisable as the brand icon, with a similar movement language to the digital character, and able to be posed when not in use. Built for audience engagement at live events.

The Engineering Challenge

Any large-scale puppet has three primary factors to consider: a strong aesthetic, credible movement, and performer concealment. On a character as geometrically distinctive as the Red Hare — where the visual identity is built on hard polygon forms rather than organic softness — performer concealment and aesthetic integrity were in fundamental tension.

We made a decision early: accept the performers' visibility. Free them from the constraint of concealment, and focus everything on the mechanics — on building a puppet that moves with the kinetic logic of a real hare, at 3 metres tall, in hard-wearing super-lightweight materials.

That decision was the right one. By replicating the skeletal structure of a hare in the internal rig — designed for full movement vocabulary, mechanical ear movement and cable-controlled sniff — the character developed a wonderful kinetic life that delivered instant brand recognition the moment it moved. The polygon aesthetic, clad over that animating structure, read exactly as the digital icon.

The brief was met. The character lived.

The Specifications

Three metre tall performer-supported rig. Full movement vocabulary. Mechanical ear movement. Cable-controlled sniff. Lightweight. Visible performers — a deliberate and liberating creative choice.

Build time: Seven weeks.

What Happened Next

The Red Hare went on to become one of the most consistently used and recognised brand characters in UK rail advertising. Since the original build, Atomic London has produced multiple national TV campaigns starring the character — including an Alice in Wonderland-inspired brand platform and a 2024 Christmas campaign that has run across TV, cinema, radio, digital and out-of-home. System One emotional response research has validated the character's impact, noting happiness trends and humour responses from audiences. Greater Anglia's own research shows 58% of people say the Hare makes them feel positive about the brand.

The puppet Creature Encounters built was the first physical realisation of that icon. The live event engagement work it was built for was the proof of concept that showed a brand character could work in three dimensions as powerfully as it did on screen.

"The client was very happy with the event and the finish of the character." - Reluca Anastasiu, Atomic London

A Note on the Process

Translating a precisely defined digital brand asset into a physical puppet is one of the most demanding briefs in character build — the aesthetic is fixed, the reference is exact, and there is no room for the interpretive latitude that a purely original commission allows. The challenge is fidelity without rigidity: building something that matches the icon precisely, while giving performers the mechanical tools to bring it to life.

The Red Hare is one of the clearest demonstrations of how Creature Encounters approaches that challenge — starting from the movement, building the skeleton, and letting the aesthetic follow the mechanics rather than fight them.

Thinking About Something Similar?

If you are a brand manager, creative director or experiential agency looking to realise a brand character as a physical puppet or animatronic figure for live events, product launches, brand activations or broadcast, we would love to talk.

We have extensive experience translating 2D and 3D brand assets into performance-ready physical characters — from large-scale walkabout rigs to intimate hand puppets. Every build starts with the same question: what does this character need to do, and how does it need to move?

To arrange an informal, no-obligation Discovery Call with Jamie and Michael, please use the Enquire button below.

Creature Encounters are designers, makers and performers of extraordinary puppet experiences, based in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. We have delivered bespoke puppet characters for brand activation, theatre, television, live events and visitor attractions across the UK and internationally, for clients including Atomic London / Greater Anglia Trains, Away Resorts, Mark Thompson Productions, Blackgang Chine, Robin Hill Country Park, Big Brum Theatre in Education, Lakeside Arts Nottingham, and the Remal International Festival in Kuwait.