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By Jessica Davies | News Editor

December 17, 2012 | 2 min read

Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman Animations and Google+ have kicked off a video campaign to promote the social network’s Hangouts feature during the festive season.

The production company has for the first time combined all its famous characters including Shaun the Sheep, Wallace and Gromit, and Chicken Run’s Ginger in a video aimed at encouraging people separated from family and friends over Christmas to connect via Google+.

The campaign marks the first time Aardman has combined all its major characters in once piece of creative, having previously avoided “colliding” their respective worlds, according to creative director Merlin Crossingham.

Aardman first started using Google+ Hangouts during the creative process – a first for the production company. The multi-person video chat tool was used to convey creative ideas with its agencies BBH and Adam & Eve, a factor which led to greater productivity, he said.

“It was a valuable tool in terms of productivity as it was much more flexible than previous systems we’ve used. As a creative it’s a very useful communications tool for creating and sharing visual ideas,” said Crossingham.

Google+ head of marketing for EMEA, Cristian Cussen said the partnership marks the first time it has worked with a content creator to showcase Hangouts.

The social network now claims 500m registered accounts globally but is yet to issue break-out figures to show UK uptake. It also claims 235m account holders actively +1 content across the rest of its product portfolio including Gmail and YouTube. The internet giant continues to integrate Google+ and YouTube along with its search engine as part of its strategy to unify customer profiles across its portfolio.

Cussen said the integration of Google+ and Google Search has led to an average 10% increase in click-through-rates (CTRs) on paid search ads globally. "The ads now show how many people have +1ed a brand for example and it translates into higher CTRs for brands," he added.