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Private company

Blink

Logo: Sarah Waters, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

British production company

Blink is a British independent development studio and production company. They make TV series, commercials, music videos, short films, branded content and video games. The company structure comprises Blink Industries (TV & Film), Blinkink (commercials & music videos with a focus on mixed media/animation), Blink Productions (commercials & music videos with a focus on live action) and Blink Games (video game development).2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1985Founded1

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Blink is a British independent development studio and production company. They make TV series, commercials, music videos, short films, branded content and video games. The company structure comprises Blink Industries (TV & Film), Blinkink (commercials & music videos with a focus on mixed media/animation), Blink Productions (commercials & music videos with a focus on live action) and Blink Games (video game development). The group operates from 3 studio locations in London.2

Products and brands

Blink Productions was founded in 1985 by producer James Studholme and director Bob Lawrie, originally with a reputation of being a "quirky, small animation shop" before they reinvented the company as a live action commercials operation during the first half of the 1990s. Michelle Jaffe joined the company in 1991 as a live action producer and became a partner in 1997, with responsibility for operations and production.

Lawrie left the company in 1999 while Studholme went on to lead the company through its expansion and evolution over the subsequent decades.

Blink has represented many of the industry's renowned directors, often during the breakthrough stage of their career, some of whom have also progressed into successful film and television careers as well. Examples include Dougal Wilson, Nick Ball, Ivan Zacharias, Tom Kingsley, Aoife McArdle, Ben Wheatley, Andreas Nilsson, David Wilson, Pedro Martin Calero, Mark Denton, Blue Source, Juan Cabral, Adam Smith, Benito Montorio, Tom Tagholm, and Chris Sweeney. During the 2000s, Blink Productions provided the foundation to launch a number of specialised sub-divisions in addition to Blinkink and Blink Industries. These included Major Tom (music for film & tv), Colonel Blimp (music videos), Blink Art (illustration & photography) and White Lodge (fashion film).

Blink Productions has remained the group's live-action commercial focused division throughout its history. Blink's peers within the advertising industry have credited the company's success to a "clever diversity of a brand giving it greater longevity and taking full advantage of an expanding marketplace".

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Paul Weston joined the group as Executive Producer of Colonel Blimp in 2013. Colonel Blimp merged into Blink Productions in 2017 and Weston became the Managing Director of Blink Productions in 2022.

Blink have made commercials for major brands including IKEA, Guinness, BBC, Nike, Cadbury, John Lewis, Channel 4, Harvey Nichols, giffgaff, FIFA and Virgin.

Blink / Colonel Blimp have produced music videos for artists including Björk, The Weeknd, Dua Lipa, Sad Night Dynamite, Lily Allen, Will Young, Coldplay, Rag'n'Bone Man, The Streets, Bree Runway, George Michael, U2, Tinie Tempah, The Maccabees, Bat for Lashes, and Declan McKenna.

Blink Productions has been the recipient of numerous industry accolades. It was named the UK's "Production Company of the Year" by Campaign in 1996, 2011 and 2012, by Televisual Magazine in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 and at the British Arrow Awards in 2013 and 2015.

Blink has also been the recipient of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity Grand Prix in 2008, 2015, and 2016.

Notable Projects include:

"We're the Superhumans" for Channel 4's Rio Paralympics coverage in 2016. Directed by Dougal Wilson, the ad was launched in 2016 as part of the channel's Year of Disability and features a cast of more than 140 people with disabilities. It won the Film Grand Prix at the 2017 Cannes Lion Festival.

Blink has produced several of the popular John Lewis Christmas commercial series - these were directed by Dougal Wilson and soundtracked by cover versions of famous songs by contemporary musical artists. Released in 2011, 'The Long Wait' featured a cover of The Smiths' Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by Slow Moving Millie. Wilson went on to direct 'The Journey]' (2012), 'Monty's Christmas', (2014) 'Buster The Boxer' (2016) and 'Excitable Edgar' (2019).

The Weeknd 'Secrets' Music video. Directed by Pedro Martin Calero, the video was filmed against the Brutalist architecture of the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Toronto Reference Library. Featuring fellow Canadian singer, Black Atlass, the music video has culminated 205 million views on YouTube to date.

'Gorilla', a commercial directed by Juan Cabral for Cadbury. The advert first aired in 2007 and features an actor in a gorilla costume drumming to 'In The Air Tonight' by Phil Collins. 'Gorilla' was voted ITV's favourite TV advert of 2007 and 5th best advert of the decade in an online poll by tellyads.com. It also won numerous top advertising industry awards, such as the Film Grand Prix Lion at the Cannes Lions 2008, Gold at the British Television Advertising Awards in 2008, and Black and Yellow Pencils at the D&AD Awards 2008.

From Wikipedia’s article on Blink (company), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1985Founded Founded1

Sources

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