Enzo’s Monday Motion #157: Food with Character
As Quentin Tarantino would say it: ‘personality goes a long way’. Advice that is food for thought for these five tasty spots.
If you can’t eat them, beat them
Food brand Birds Eye joins forces with a massive collective of supermarkets (e.g. Aldi, Lidl, and Sainsbury’s) to fight children obesity with a veggie-pocalypse tv-ad.
Pulse Films and VFX studio nineteentwenty create a visually superb spot. The recipe feels well balanced with a touch of Gremlins-creepiness, some Walking-Dead spices and a sniff of action-movie. They serve a spot that balances on the edges of terror but doesn’t cross the line of being too scary for kids. Big up to directing chef Ninian Doff.
I’m a bit ambiguous regarding the concept of adam&eveDDB: the approach is kind of negative but the end justifies the means. As a young parent, you sometimes need to go unconventional. I have to admit it puts kids in control of their food choices in a playful way and those two factors make them normally hungry for more.
The Cream of the Crop
Even though I’ve never watched a single episode of The Great British Bake Off, I can’t wait for the next season. This is all due to the brilliant trailer they consistently serve.
The in house creatives of Channel4 (4Creative) continued with their anthropomorphic pastries. It’s a joy to watch and the concept — music match is again spot on. Unfortunately, it’s not as surprising as it was last year and on a productional level, it seems a bit less exciting as well. Maybe it’s because of the completely new kitchen staff (MPC instead of BlinkInk). If I were Channel4 I would stick to the team or let the other production party cook their own special dish.
Playtime
American ice-cream chain Dairy Queen has a soft spot for children. Agency Barkley teamed up with Mill+ director Matt Darnall for DQ’s 13th Miracle Treat Day.
The commercial does exactly what the programme is for: bringing back a smile on hospitalised children by triggering their imagination. The style looks good and it’s smart how they embedded the corporate identity with the colour pallet and packaging. Maybe the end is a bit cheesy, but it does tie up the call to action: visit DQ to help the kids.
Don’t let them go bad
A gang of rotten veggies terrorises a house. Who can come to the rescue…?
R/GA New York was challenged to promote the smarter and healthier fridges of Samsung. The concept of preventing food from going bad is very clever. Director Peter Sluszka tried to stay close to the original food, using actual rotting features like eyes and mouth. A strong feature which unfortunately didn’t help to build the characters. They are simply not as strong as for example the rogue veggies from the first example by Birds Eye. With a little more research and character development by production partner Hornet it could have been a stronger spot.
Keep it simple
There are more ways to give an object personality than simply adding a pair of eyes or a mouth. The Dutch show how it’s done.
The spot is not only small in size and duration. The miniature production had a similar budget, making it all even more outstanding. Studio Mals and SetReset show their craftsmanship and conceptual skills. Take a look inside the kitchen and get hungry for more.
