It’s snowing sugar and spice in a six-second holiday-themed 3D animation for Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal created by The Napoleon Group—the leading full-service previsualization and commercial test company—and commissioned by McCann Worldgroup.
Produced for Cinnamon Toast Crunch’s social media—Vine, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr—the spot features a seasonal snowglobe with two of the popular, playful and aptly named Cinnamon Toast Crunch Crazy Squares inside, happily catching falling flakes on their tongues. It’s not the usual winter precipitation they’re blissfully devouring, however, but flurries of white and golden brown—the sugar and cinnamon baked into their signature swirls.
The digital short demonstrates the breadth and flexibility of The Napoleon Group’s capabilities and how easily a custom pipeline can be crafted for any project on any platform—existing or emerging. Twitter’s Vine app allows users to create and share six-second looping videos. Instagram, the hugely popular photo-sharing app acquired by Facebook for $1 billion, features 15-second videos. Brands have eagerly embraced the possibilities of both apps and The Napoleon Group enthusiastically welcomed the opportunity to explore them. And raise the bar.
"We made a conscious decision to up the production value using our 3D assets and animation,” says The Napoleon Group’s Head of Production Perry Morton. “As a result, the piece is essentially broadcast quality. It's a lot of fun to produce this type of content and we look forward to an ongoing collaboration with the Cinnamon Toast Crunch brand. While we typically focus on CTC test commercials, telling a short-format story is a Napoleon specialty—one that we are well equipped to produce.”
For its part, McCann Worldgroup was thrilled with the result.
"The Napoleon Group is cinnamagnificent,” says Steve Centeno, SVP/Creative Director at McCann Worldgroup. “They did a beautiful job on our characters. We don't hand over our Squares to just anyone—we're pretty protective who does them—and Napoleon took really good care of our little guys. And on a tight schedule. It's a Christmas miracle!"
The Napoleon Group
Art. Craft. Ingenuity. Those are the deliverables that distinguish The Napoleon Group and the reasons creative thinkers and innovative brands trust us to instill impact and performance in their previsualization and test advertising.
Drawing on an evolving portfolio of specialized services and styles—animatics, cinematics, live production, art, audio, 3D VFX/motion graphics—Napoleon fashions captivating experiences that spark consumer curiosity, inspire brand loyalty and fuel product sales. In short, we provide deeper consumer insights and consistently higher test scores by creating customized content that connects, compels and converts.
Founded in 1985, The Napoleon Group is a full-service previz and post-production company with a legacy of unrivaled authority and an eye firmly focused on the future. Seizing an opportunity for growth and expansion in 2013, Napoleon moved to New York's nexus of creativity and technology, the vibrant Flatiron District, and created a dream studio—a one-of-a-kind, more than 14,000-square-foot contemporary office and facility on two floors that's perfectly suited to the changing nature of the advertising business.
The new project-centric space features a 12-camera Vicon Bonita motion-capture system, a spacious green-screen stage and custom-built edit and audio suites that combine comfort with a stylish efficiency, all seamlessly tied together with state-of-the-art infrastructure. The studio boasts an open-air workspace for 40-plus animators, editors, designers, illustrators, modelers, compositors, scripters, character artists, motion-graphics artists, producers and creative directors that facilitates creative synergy among staff and clients alike and inspires our savvy storytellers to greater heights.
For industry-leading talent, a collaborative culture and a facility designed to exhilarate, agencies seeking a truly creative partnership know where to turn: The Napoleon Group. www.napny.com
