Christine MacKay
- Director
- Animation Department
- Editorial Department
Christine MacKay founded Salamandra.uk in 2014 which specialises in animation for business, advertising, brand marketing, thought leadership, digital PR strategy and visual problem solving. Christine also has expert knowledge, working client and agency side on three continents, in building collaborative frictionless teams, building a strong company culture and as a serial networker, business development and cross pollinating businesses. Her team works as visual problem solvers across 17 different industries, from children's book illustrations to corporate explainers, training videos or immersive augmented and virtual presentations, her skilled team of creatives produces unique and powerful multifaceted visual assets and creates content that resonates with their clients' target audiences, memorably.
Christine has animation studios in Eton and Dundee. Her Eton studio is less than seven minutes' walk from the iconic Windsor Castle and is a former Eton College tearoom and her Dundee studio is situated in the UK's only UNESCO City of Design and is housed in the famous Gaming Vision Building, a former Jute mill, a stroll away from the magnificent new V&A Museum.
Christine has always had an affinity for imagery, from her first childhood crush on cartoon character Marine Boy, to a deep emotional response eliciting welling eyes at Botticelli's Primavera in Florence. This love for imagery has been with her through decades of travelling and throughout her career and after falling in love with animation whilst working in New Zealand, she decided to run with her passion and founded Salamandra.uk. At the time, animation as a medium wasn't so common within B2B communication, however, it has grown enormously since then and now, in this climate, animation has become a positive solution, not just for education and business but also for entertainment for all ages whilst filming is not an option.
Christine is a member of Animation UK, Animation Women UK, Eton Community Association, London Scotland House, Pink Shoe Club, Agencynomics, The Hospital Club, Little Black Book, Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, is a life-time honorary member of The Agency Collective, a supporter of Resource Productions, the Royal Television Society and has been named as one of Britain's top 100 female entrepreneurs by f:Entrepreneur #Ialso and her business has been listed in the Small Biz 100 for 2020. Her studios have been recognised at the following awards; The British Urban Film Festival, Moondance International Film Festival, Cardiff Animation Festival, The Orlando International Film Festival, The Drum Digital Awards, The Drum Recommends Awards, The Slough Business Awards, SME News: Business Elite Awards 2020, The Great British Entrepreneur Awards, The Lift-Off Sessions, The Latitude Film Festival, The PM Digital Society, The Best Business Women Awards, The LA Independent Shorts Award and The LA Indie Short Festival. Christine founded The Tech and SaaS Multimedia Marketing Meetup group and co-founded The Pharma Multichannel Marketing Meetup as vehicles to grow communities and to get Brands, Marketeers and Agencies together to share learnings and case studies on current trending topics. Christine is a firm believer in giving back and taking part in her community and donates part of Salamandra.uk's profits to the Windsor Homeless Project and Dundee Survivors Group which are both homeless charities situated near both of her animation studios. She and her team have hosted students and adults with learning difficulties, local apprentices, interns and work experience secondary students from local schools and colleges to her studios and ensures they go away armed with projects or experiences under their belts to better understand the animation industry and how a studio works. Christine has volunteered on the Animation Apprenticeships board setting Levels 4 & 7 for the industry, on the National Citizen Service (NCS) Dragon's Den, Public Speaking at local state and private schools (including Eton College) and various Salamandra.uk team charity fundraising events, including getting everyone into tutus for a fundraising ballet class!
Christine is a member of Animation UK, Animation Women UK, Eton Community Association, London Scotland House, Pink Shoe Club, Agencynomics, The Hospital Club, Little Black Book, Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, is a life-time honorary member of The Agency Collective, a supporter of Resource Productions, the Royal Television Society and has been named as one of Britain's top 100 female entrepreneurs by f:Entrepreneur #Ialso and her business has been listed in the Small Biz 100 for 2020. Her studios have been recognised at the following awards; The British Urban Film Festival, Moondance International Film Festival, Cardiff Animation Festival, The Orlando International Film Festival, The Drum Digital Awards, The Drum Recommends Awards, The Slough Business Awards, SME News: Business Elite Awards 2020, The Great British Entrepreneur Awards, The Lift-Off Sessions, The Latitude Film Festival, The PM Digital Society, The Best Business Women Awards, The LA Independent Shorts Award and The LA Indie Short Festival. Christine founded The Tech and SaaS Multimedia Marketing Meetup group and co-founded The Pharma Multichannel Marketing Meetup as vehicles to grow communities and to get Brands, Marketeers and Agencies together to share learnings and case studies on current trending topics. Christine is a firm believer in giving back and taking part in her community and donates part of Salamandra.uk's profits to the Windsor Homeless Project and Dundee Survivors Group which are both homeless charities situated near both of her animation studios. She and her team have hosted students and adults with learning difficulties, local apprentices, interns and work experience secondary students from local schools and colleges to her studios and ensures they go away armed with projects or experiences under their belts to better understand the animation industry and how a studio works. Christine has volunteered on the Animation Apprenticeships board setting Levels 4 & 7 for the industry, on the National Citizen Service (NCS) Dragon's Den, Public Speaking at local state and private schools (including Eton College) and various Salamandra.uk team charity fundraising events, including getting everyone into tutus for a fundraising ballet class!