Digital Brew and Blue Juice: A Q&A with Michael Cardwell
August 25, 2026
Quick Answer: Digital Brew has partnered with Blue Juice, a craft-driven video studio in West Sussex, England, to give you a genuine transatlantic video production partnership. That means you get our Orlando animation and strategy team plus a full UK studio, crew, and post house, all reachable through the people you already work with. No new vendors to vet, no scrambling for a camera team in London the week before a shoot.
Why this matters for your next project
If you market for a company with customers on both sides of the Atlantic, you already know the problem. Your US agency does great work, then a UK shoot lands on your desk, and suddenly you are cold-emailing production companies in a country you have never filmed in, checking references you cannot really check, and hoping the crew shows up.
We have watched clients absorb that cost for years. It is not just money. It is the time you spend managing two agencies that have never spoken to each other, and the creative drift that happens when your brand gets interpreted twice.
So we did something about it…
Digital Brew and Blue Juice have joined forces, which means the story you want to tell in London, Brighton, or anywhere across Europe can now be produced by a team we know, trust, and vouch for personally.
Blue Juice has been building a reputation in the UK since 2009. Six senior people under one roof in West Sussex, a 1,600-square-foot stage, and a body of work for brands like Celestyal Cruises and TUI.
We sat down with our founder and CEO, Michael Cardwell, to talk about how this came together and what it opens up for you.
The Q&A
Big news this month. Tell us what’s happening.
We partnered with Blue Juice, a video production studio just outside London, founded by Craig Sawyer in 2009. We’re still two separate companies with our own brands, but we share talented crew and gear when a project calls for it.
So, when your project needs something on their side of the Atlantic, we bring them in. When their clients need animation or a US crew, they bring us in. Everybody wins, and the work gets better.
Why Blue Juice?
Here is what clicked for me: they hold the same standard we do.
Blue Juice sweats the small stuff, and they mean it in the way that actually counts. That is the culture we have built in Orlando, and finding it in another studio is rare.
I think that craft is the hardest thing to fake and the easiest thing to spot. Once you see it in someone else’s work, you know exactly what it took to get there, and you know you can trust them with yours.
What does this open up for a US marketer?
Room to think bigger, definitely.
If a European launch shows up on your roadmap…if your CEO is speaking at a conference in London, or if you want customer testimonials from three markets instead of one, you can call your producer here, and we handle the rest.
There is a nice bonus in the time zones, too. The UK runs five hours ahead of us, so on the right project, overnight becomes a working shift and your turnaround gets faster.
And for a UK marketer reading this?
You get a US animation and motion design team that has been at this since 2011, and a studio that treats video as a marketing problem first.
Explainers, 3D product work, motion graphics, and brand films…we cover all. Plus a crew and a real footprint in the States whenever your story needs to be told there.
Practical question people always ask: Does my project get handed off?
Your point of contact doesn’t change. The producer you trust stays your producer, stays accountable for the brief, and stays the person making sure everything matches the creative you approved.
If Blue Juice shoots for you in Sussex, our producer is still running it. That is the promise here. Your team got bigger, and that is all you should feel.
What kinds of projects are the strongest fit?
Three come to mind.
Transatlantic campaigns, where you need one consistent brand story filmed in multiple markets.
Live and event work, because Blue Juice is genuinely excellent at the calm, high-stakes stuff where there is no second take.
And hybrid projects: live action captured in the UK, animation and motion design built here, delivered as one finished piece.
What are you most excited about a year from now?
The first joint project. A partnership becomes real the first time two teams solve a hard problem together, and the client never notices the seam.
I also love what this says about the work. Two independent studios choosing to be better together, both keeping their names, both keeping their people. That is a great way to grow.
What you should do with this
If you have UK or European work anywhere on your roadmap, start the conversation now. Early planning gives you better creative and better options than a rush ever will.
And if you are just curious what a joint US and UK production looks like in practice, ask us. We will happily walk you through it, studio by studio.
Let’s brew this!
About Blue Juice. Blue Juice is a content creation agency based at Rosier Business Park in Billingshurst, West Sussex, founded in 2009 by Craig Sawyer. The studio offers film and photography space, green screen, blackout, pre and post production, live streaming, and equipment hire, with direct rail access to London and Brighton nearby. Learn more at bluejuice.co.uk.
About Digital Brew. Digital Brew is an animated explainer video and motion design studio in Orlando, Florida, founded in 2011 by Michael Cardwell. We produce 2D and 3D animation, motion graphics, and live action for B2B marketers in SaaS, healthcare, FinTech, manufacturing, and education.
