Cardiff Council: three animations for a cashless, paperless parking scheme

Cardiff Council needed residents to understand a new digital parking system before it replaced the paper one. So we made three short animations: what MiPermit is, how to use it, and why paying by phone beats fumbling for change in the rain.

The outcome

Three animated explainers, each doing a different job: an introduction to MiPermit and the switch away from paper permits, a walkthrough of how to register and pay, and a later campaign film making the case for cashless pay-and-display parking. Every video was delivered as a full bilingual production, in English and Welsh, with subtitled cuts of both.

The challenge

MiPermit was replacing something residents had used for years without thinking about it: a paper permit on the dashboard. The new system asked people to register online, understand a new emissions-based charging structure, and trust that a warden checking their number plate on a handheld device was just as reliable as a windscreen sticker. None of that explains itself.

A year or so after launch, a second brief followed: encourage cashless pay-and-display parking specifically, for residents still queuing at machines or digging through pockets for the right change. Same city, same product family, a different habit to shift.

MiPermit Cardiff. Do it today, not now in a minute. Parking made simple.

Our approach

One video per question, not one video trying to answer everything. Rather than cram registration, emissions charging, visitor permits and app navigation into a single film, we split the job into three: what it is, how to use it, and why it's worth doing. Each stands alone, so the Council could publish them separately as residents needed them.

01. What MiPermit is

The introduction film covers the whole shape of the scheme in just over a minute: parking, visitor, business and school street permits managed from one account, paper permits replaced by e-permits checked by number plate, automatic renewal, and the new emissions-based charging that rewards lower-emission vehicles. It closes on the launch offer, a 10% discount for early adopters.

Every scene was boarded before it was animated: a rough pass to lock the composition and the warden's pose, then colour once it held together.

02. How to use it

The second film is a straight walkthrough: register, choose a permit, add your vehicle details, pay, and you're done, cost worked out automatically from your registration. It also covers the part residents ask about most, visitor parking, which can be set up in the app, online, or by texting the vehicle registration and stay length to a short code.

03. Why go cashless

The benefit film came later, as its own campaign, and made a narrower case: paying for a parking bay by phone beats standing at a machine with a handful of change. It opens on that exact moment, someone counting coins in the rain, then walks through paying by app in a few taps, topping up remotely, and the fallback options (online, SMS or phone) for anyone without a smartphone to hand.

What it does for Cardiff Council

Three short, purpose-built films the Council can point residents to for exactly the question they have, in either language, whether that's understanding a new permit system, working out how to register, or simply being persuaded to leave the coins at home. Together they carried a genuinely large digital transformation, paper permits, emissions charging, cashless payment, into something residents could take in over a cup of tea.

Credits

• Client: Cardiff Council
• Studio: Alchemy
• Languages: English and Welsh, full separate productions across all three films