OfficeMax’s Rubberband Man supply guy is immortalized in clay in a new :60 stop-motion animated spot created by DDB Chicago and directed by Chel White of Bent Image Lab, Portland, Ore.
Titled "Santa’s Helper," the Christmas-themed commercial finds the Rubberband Man pushing his cart around town, delivering gifts including a wastebasket, a paper cutter, a computer printer and a PDA to various residents. If one didn’t know better, one might assume the spot was pulled out of a vault and dusted off for airing, as it has a retro look reminiscent of classic Rankin/Bass holiday specials from the 1960s and ’70s, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
So why make the Rubberband Man character—played in the live-action spots with great panache by actor Eddie Steeples—an animated character? At the start of the creative process, the initial idea was to go the standard live route, according to DDB Chicago group creative director Don Pogany, who recalled that the creative team was envisioning potential vignettes for the spot when "we started talking about the holiday specials we all remembered from growing up. That got us off on that tangent." Before long, the creatives realized that they could still use the Rubberband Man character—but give him a different spin for the holiday season.
Once the idea was settled upon, the search for a director and animation shop began, and DDB Chicago awarded the job to White and Bent Image Lab based in large part on the fact that White is intimately familiar with the stop-motion animation techniques from the 1960s. In fact, he created a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer spoof for Saturday Night Live a few years ago.
White was thrilled to land the assignment. "I just personally loved the project," the director shared. "It was funny and creative and [offered] all of the things I look for in commercialwork."
Getting into
cHaracter
The first step was designing the character. Designer Colin Batty whipped up designs that were sculpted into clay figures by Scott Foster. Sara Neiman created costumes as well as the Afro-wig worn by the Rubberband Man. In creating the character, it helped that Bent Image Lab had access to Steeples and spent a day shooting reference footage of the actor. "It really helped us to capture his personality and his mannerisms," White remarked.
As for whether the goal was to replicate Steeples’ image exactly or simply depict his essence, White mused, "It was a balance because we were trying to capture an image, a caricature that looked like Eddie. But some of the earlier designs we had were more realistic but didn’t fit into that retro, kind of ’60s/’70s animation look [we were going for] as well. So we kind of simplified the character a bit to make him look more in the same world as everything else."
White and his crew, which included DP Mark Eifert, shot "Santa’s Helper" onstage at Bent Image Lab on 35mm film, using the same simple techniques employed by the filmmakers who made the Rankin/Bass films in the ’60s. "I wanted the look of this piece to be such that if you saw this commercial on TV, you’d go, ‘Oh, there’s an old commercial,’ until you saw the Palm Pilot or cell phone or computer printer. Then you’d realize it couldn’t be old," White said, pointing out, "We went to great lengths to get that look, and it started by us simply shooting on film and not going digital. Then instead of transferring the negative, we transferred a work print. … We also added a little bit more grain and dust in post."
According to White, DDB Chicago and OfficeMax were great to work with in that they were interested in producing something special. More specifically, rather than striving to cram every possible product they could into :60, "it was all in service to the story," White explained.
a whole new spin
Enhancing the visuals is a seasonal version of The Spinners’ hit "Rubberband Man," featuring a children’s choir and sleigh bells. Mat Morse of Spank! Music & Sound Design, Chicago, composed and arranged a new version of the song, with Ken Kolasny serving as executive producer.
Given the success of "Santa’s Helper," one has to wonder if the spot might become a Christmas classic much like the animated specials that inspired its creation. Asked whether "Santa’s Helper" will air again next year at Christmastime and potentially in the years to come, Pogany responded, "The intent was to do something that could run year after year, and I think that’s what [OfficeMax’s] plan is."
