Red Ape

What Red Ape does

Red Ape is a Sydney-based creative production studio, operating since 2008 as Apes Planet Pty Ltd, that specializes in illustration, storyboard, animatic, and motion graphics production for the advertising industry. The studio serves as a specialized production partner to tier-one advertising agencies and their brand clients — including Ogilvy, DDB, TBWA, Havas, McCann, Saatchi, and Hogarth — and to end brands such as Cadbury, Mastercard, Powerade, Foxtel, DHA, and Sorbent. Its core commercial offering spans four service areas (Storyboard, Animatic, Illustration/Graphic Design including 3D modelling, and Animation/Motion Graphics) packaged across a proprietary "Levels of Finish" tier system (Spider Monkey, Chimp, Gorilla, Kong) that standardizes quality and stylistic consistency across projects.

Underlying the offering is a curated in-house team plus a network of freelance artists trained in the proprietary finish tiers, with a dedicated producer assigned to each engagement to manage scope and delivery. The 4-step process runs from brief intake (via website, email, or phone) through producer-managed design execution to final high-resolution file delivery. The business model is purely project-based and quote-driven: clients are billed per deliverable or per project on bespoke scopes, with no subscription, retainer, or productized pricing publicly disclosed. All client acquisition is direct — through the website contact form, email, phone, portfolio-driven inbound from Behance/Instagram/Vimeo, and referrals within agency networks — with no channel partners, resellers, or self-serve motion. The company is privately held with no disclosed funding, no parent company, and a single headquarters in Sydney CBD.

Name

Red Ape

Legal name

Apes Planet Pty Ltd

Website

https://redape.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Red Ape is a Sydney-based creative production studio (founded 2008) that produces storyboards, animatics, illustrations, and motion graphics for tier-one advertising agencies and their brand clients, using a proprietary Levels of Finish quality-tier system to standardize output across project-based engagements.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Creative Production Services (Advertising Pre-Production)

akta.pro primary industry

Character & Creature Animation (MPADACAE)

Keywords

• Storyboard production
• Animatic services
• Illustration studio
• Motion graphics
• Advertising pre-production

Headquarters

HQ city

Sydney

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Creative Production Services: Project-based creative production fees charged per deliverable or per project. Clients (typically advertising agencies or brands) commission storyboards, animatics, illustrations, and motion graphics on a per-job basis. No recurring subscription model is described.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Red Ape is a creative production studio that delivers storyboard, animatic, illustration, and animation/motion graphics services to advertising agencies and brands. Each project is scoped to one of four proprietary "Levels of Finish" tiers (Spider Monkey, Chimp, Gorilla, Kong) plus storyboard and animatic stages, with a dedicated producer handling client briefs through to high-resolution file delivery.

Product overview

Red Ape is a Sydney-based creative production agency offering an integrated suite of visual storytelling services. The core offering spans four main service areas: Storyboard (professional pre-visualization), Animatic (motion-enhanced pre-production), Illustration/Graphic Design (stylized visuals, character design, 3D modelling), and Animation/Motion Graphics (full animation production). These services are offered across distinct 'Levels of Finish' tiers—Spider Monkey, Chimp, Gorilla, and Kong—which provide clients with different quality and complexity levels within a consistent style framework. The agency was founded in 2008 and serves major advertising agencies and brands, typically functioning as a specialized production partner within larger creative campaigns.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Storyboard Professional storyboard creation service in which artists produce highly detailed visual narratives using Red Ape's proprietary Levels of Finish system, guaranteeing consistency, quality, and speed for advertising and media projects. Targeted at advertising agencies and brand marketing teams.
• Animatic Service that animates storyboards by combining sound, music, and motion to create dynamic pre-visualizations representing the client's vision before final production. Targeted at advertising agencies and brand marketing teams.
• Illustration / Graphic Design In-house illustration and graphic design service including stylized illustrations, character design, and 3D modelling to produce visuals that capture brand essence and messaging. Targeted at advertising agencies and brand clients.
• Animation / Motion Graphics Animation and motion graphics service that adds movement and interactivity to projects using the latest technology and techniques to create visually stunning content for digital and broadcast distribution. Targeted at advertising agencies and brand clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• Consistent quality across all deliverables through standardized Levels of Finish system

Named customers20 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Psyop: Psyop is a multi-disciplinary animation and design studio producing character-led animation and commercial content for agencies and global brands, closely overlapping Red Ape's service mix of illustration, motion graphics, and animation for advertising campaigns.
• Hornet Inc. Hornet is a boutique animation and design studio producing commercial illustration, motion graphics, and animated content for global brands and ad agencies — a direct peer in style, scale, and customer type to Red Ape.
• Not To Scale: Not To Scale is an independent animation studio producing short-form animated content, motion graphics, and stylized illustration for global ad agencies and brands — overlapping Red Ape's pre-production and motion services.
• Giant Ant: Giant Ant is a boutique animation and design studio producing character-driven illustration and motion content for advertising and brand campaigns, comparable to Red Ape in scale and end-market.
• Buck: Buck is an independent design-driven animation and illustration studio serving global brands and agencies with motion graphics, character animation, and brand storytelling — a direct comparable to Red Ape's animation/illustration production model for advertising clients.
• Golden Wolf: Golden Wolf is a London-based animation studio producing stylized illustration, character animation, and motion design for advertising and entertainment — comparable to Red Ape in its character-and-finish-tier approach to commercial work.

Broad incumbents

• Wieden+Kennedy: Wieden+Kennedy is an independent global advertising agency with substantial in-house illustration and animation production capabilities — both a customer-base overlap and a potential competitor for illustration/animation budgets Red Ape serves.
• The Mill: The Mill is a global VFX, design, and animation powerhouse serving major brands and agencies across film, advertising, and digital — a much larger incumbent that competes for the same enterprise-level illustration/animation briefs Red Ape serves.

Regional players

• Guilty Content: Guilty is an Australian animation and content studio producing animated advertising, brand films, and illustration-led campaigns for Australian agencies and brands — a regional peer to Red Ape.
• Heckler: Heckler is an Australia-based creative production studio producing commercial film, animation, and content for brands and agencies — a same-market peer offering adjacent creative production services.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/redape_sydney
• Facebookfacebook.com/redapegroup

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Red Ape