# ROVE Rebrands Around Design and Animation, Adds Ashley McKim Consulting

The Portland, Maine-founded studio has replaced its two-person live-action identity with a design, animation and motion-led brand, a new website built with STOKT, and a sales and marketing partnership that sits alongside its existing Aspire Artists Agency representation.

Canonical URL: https://freelancenews.online/news/rove-rebrands-around-design-and-animation-adds-ashley-mckim-consulting-4487677c
Published: 2026-10-20T00:18:05.520Z
Updated: 2026-10-20T00:18:05.520Z
Source published: 2026-10-19T22:52:07.000Z
Event date: Not established
Review status: source-reviewed
Review method: Automated comparison against retrieved source text; not independent fact-checking.

## Report

A new brand identity and website have been introduced by ROVE. The studio describes the change as a reflection of how it has grown: once a live-action shop run by two people, it is now a creative studio whose work is led by design, animation and motion. Signing with Ashley McKim Consulting is also marked by the same announcement, for strategic sales and marketing across brands and agencies.

The announcement gives specific origins for the studio: Gabe Bornstein and Jay Brown founded ROVE in 2017 in Portland, Maine. It now works as a remote team across the U.S. and Canada. The name itself is unchanged; the word "Beyond" carries the studio's stated approach to moving between disciplines, from design and animation through live action, VFX and production.

Brown's quoted rationale ties the identity work directly to how the studio wants to be understood. He says ROVE has grown into a studio driven by design and animation and that it was time for the brand to tell that story, adding that the team does not want to be defined by a single style or discipline. That is the studio's own account of why the refresh happened; the announcement offers no external assessment of the old identity or of the new one.

STOKT partnered on building the website. A fresh showreel and more detailed case studies are gathered by the site, the announcement says, covering clients including Google, NOBULL and Spotify. Project pages are said to open up the studio's process in design, animation, live action and finishing, and a playful touch is included: an interactive mini-game sits on the 404 error page.

Partly in-house and partly collaborative are the credits for the identity. The rebrand was led by ROVE's internal creative team, which worked with a wider group of collaborators. On the wordmark and core stamp, Irene Feleo collaborated, with other artists contributing their own interpretations of the stamp, and to elements of the brand identity Connor Linde contributed. The system was then carried by the studio through website art direction, motion identity, the showreel and presentation materials.

The second strand of the announcement is representation. ROVE's existing representation by Aspire Artists Agency, which the announcement says continues to focus on broadcast and streaming entertainment, is joined by Ashley McKim Consulting. Disney and Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas is among ROVE's work in that space. Toyota, Converse and NOBULL are given as part of the studio's broader client list.

The new identity and work can be viewed at rovebeyond.com, per the announcement. The credits list closes with headshots courtesy of ROVE, supplied by Ashley McKim Consulting — a detail that indicates the announcement itself was distributed with the involvement of the new marketing representative.

For freelance designers and motion artists, the most concrete takeaway is structural rather than aesthetic. A studio that began as a live-action operation is now marketing design and animation as its core while keeping live action, VFX and finishing within the offer. That is the kind of positioning shift that can change which collaborators a studio looks for and how it briefs them, though the announcement does not say so explicitly.

The representation arrangement is also worth noting for anyone who pitches studios of this size. ROVE now describes two distinct channels: Ashley McKim Consulting for brand and agency sales and marketing, and Aspire Artists Agency for broadcast and streaming entertainment. Splitting representation by market segment is a recognizable way for a studio to pursue different buyer types; the announcement presents the two relationships as complementary rather than as a replacement.

The rebrand also illustrates a pattern familiar to freelancers who take on identity work: the studio kept creative direction in-house and brought in named specialists for discrete pieces, such as a wordmark and core stamp, rather than handing the whole system to an outside agency. The announcement credits the internal team with leading the effort and carrying the system across web, motion and presentation.

There are real limits to what this announcement establishes. It is a studio's own account of its rebrand, distributed with headshots supplied through its new marketing representative, and it does not disclose budget, timeline, headcount, revenue or how the new positioning has performed commercially. No independent evaluation of the identity or the site is offered in the source material.

Nor does the announcement say whether the rebrand changes how ROVE engages freelancers, what its rates or terms are, or whether the remote team across the U.S. and Canada includes contract contributors. Those details are absent, and readers should not infer them from the launch language. The client names are as listed by the studio and were not independently verified here.

What can be said with confidence is narrower but useful: a studio founded in 2017 has publicly repositioned itself around design and animation, rebuilt its site with a named partner, credited specific collaborators, and added a second representation relationship while keeping its first. The name stayed the same; the pitch did not.

For freelancers watching studio positioning, the practical move is to read the case studies and showreel as a statement of the work ROVE now wants to be briefed on, and to treat the two-agency representation split as a signal of which buyers it is pursuing. Whether that repositioning holds will depend on work the announcement does not yet show.

## Key points

- ROVE, founded in Portland, Maine, in 2017 by Gabe Bornstein and Jay Brown, has replaced its two-person live-action identity with a design, animation and motion-led brand.
- The studio signed Ashley McKim Consulting for strategic sales and marketing to brands and agencies, while Aspire Artists Agency continues to focus on broadcast and streaming entertainment.
- The new site, built with STOKT, collects a new showreel and expanded case studies for clients including Google, NOBULL and Spotify, plus an interactive mini-game on the 404 page.
- Identity credits include in-house creative leadership, Irene Feleo on the wordmark and core stamp, and Connor Linde on brand identity elements.
- The announcement does not disclose budget, timeline, headcount, rates or how freelancers are engaged.

## Practical implications — editorial interpretation

Editorial interpretation: freelancers and small studios can read this as a case of a mid-sized shop narrowing its public pitch to design and animation while keeping live action and VFX in the offer, and splitting sales representation by buyer segment. For collaborators, the credited breakdown — in-house direction with named specialists for the wordmark, stamp and identity elements — shows a common way studios parcel out identity work. The announcement gives no information on rates, terms or how ROVE engages contract talent, so it should not be used to benchmark those.

## Limitations and unknowns

This is the studio's own announcement, distributed with headshots supplied via its new marketing representative; no independent evaluation of the identity or website is provided. Budget, timeline, team size, revenue and commercial results are not disclosed. The announcement does not state whether the rebrand affects how ROVE hires or works with freelancers, nor whether its remote U.S. and Canada team includes contractors. Client names are as listed by the studio and were not independently verified.

## Sources

- [1] motionographer.com: ROVE Launches a New Identity and Website, Signs Ashley McKim Consulting
  https://motionographer.com/news/rove-new-brand-identity-website-ashley-mckim/
  Retrieved: 2026-10-20T00:17:28.097Z

## Claim references

- ROVE was founded in Portland, Maine, in 2017 by Gabe Bornstein and Jay Brown and has moved from a two-person live-action shop to a design, animation and motion-led studio. [source 1]
- ROVE signed with Ashley McKim Consulting for strategic sales and marketing across brands and agencies, while Aspire Artists Agency continues to focus on broadcast and streaming entertainment. [source 1]
- The new website was built with STOKT and includes a new showreel, expanded case studies for clients including Google, NOBULL and Spotify, and an interactive mini-game on the 404 page. [source 1]
- Irene Feleo collaborated on the wordmark and core stamp, Connor Linde contributed to brand identity elements, and ROVE's in-house team led the rebrand. [source 1]
- ROVE's broader client list includes Toyota, Converse and NOBULL, and its broadcast work includes Disney and Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas. [source 1]
- Jay Brown said the studio has grown into one driven by design and animation and does not want to be defined by a single style or discipline. [source 1]