We were lucky to catch up with Greg Walter recently and have shared our conversation below.

Greg, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

About 6 years ago we did mostly work in kids media animation, doing long form storytelling and songwriting for clients like Sesame Street. But we ran into a couple of brick walls. First, it was really hard to get enough budget to push ourselves creatively. Second, there wasn’t a real thirst for innovative content. The emphasis was on creating a LOT of content rather than short, high quality bursts of content, which is what we really like do to.

So we started the studio over with a completely new focus: sports. We had done one project in sports with the Seattle Sounders MLS team, but had no contacts outside of that and nothing in our portfolio to suggest we could make the switch.

So I stopped taking a pay check, and we basically shut the studio down for a few months and did nothing but sports passion projects to build a portfolio. Once we had these in hand, we slowly started building a following in the sports community. We learned a ton of new animation skills and styles that we thought would work well in the sports world, We basically went all in. If it hadn’t worked, we would have gone under. But sports looked like such fertile ground for animation that it felt like a risk worth taking. Luckily, it landed, and we now do about 95% of our work in pro sports.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I do what I do because I like stoking fandom. Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful and under-tapped energy sources in the world. If you can get people excited about talking and thinking about the thing that they love, you can bring out the best, most open and unguarded version of that person. That’s why I love sports. It’s not about what happens on the field for me. It’s about the power and passion of fandom.

One of the reasons we chose to niche in sports and not in branding is that there’s a fundamental difference in the goal you’re trying to achieve. In most branding, you’re trying to get someone who may not know you to be excited about your thing, or your idea. You’re trying to convert people. In sports, you don’t have to convert anyone. Their fandom already exists. So your goal in sports is to take the fandom that already exists, and build it into a bonfire.

This is really fun design space, and it’s really what gets me up in the morning.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Over the last two years, we’ve built our social media following on Instagram and TikTok from about 6k followers to over 500K. We didn’t plan on having this success. We just had some down time and did a passion project to see how it would be received. And it took off.

You can see the “NBA Playoffs: Knockout” show that we did on our socials at @2TallAnimation, but I think the main lesson here is that, whether it’s for social media or not, passion projects are always worth doing when you can. Most studios I know have made huge pivots on passion projects. They’re the best way to innovate, and show that you’re able to break new creative ground. Clients don’t generally pay for untested innovation, so you have to do it on your own.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that I can do this all by myself. 2Tall was just me for the first couple of years, but it was only when I was able to expand the team that we got good at what we do. I was able to specialize in motion and creative direction, and hire other people on to do what they’re best at. When I hired Ian Mork on as Visual Lead, it opened up a ton of possibilities. Hiring Lexi Morgan to handle Operations and Production last year was amazing, because like a lot of creatives, I’m not a very organized person and she’s exceptional at what she does. Shore up your weaknesses by partnering with people whose skills complement yours. I only wish I had done it sooner!

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2tallanimation/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2TallAnimation/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/2tallgreg/
• Twitter: https://x.com/2TallAnimation
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClm87rQz9iRmUCKoGMYmZdg
• Other: TikTok
  https://www.tiktok.com/@2tallanimation

Image Credits

Artwork in images by Ian Mork and Alvaro Tapia Hidalgo