From Richmond, Va.-based creative agency Familiar Creatures comes a quirky, humorous new campaign for Kernel Season’s, a popcorn seasoning that’s part of the Sauer Brands family. Launching nationally, the “Just Add Interesting” campaign includes this “Gold Mine” commercial in which a man on a couch benefits from a giant hand which enters his living room out of the blue, sprinkling Kernel Season’s over his bowl of popcorn. The unapologetically odd spot then finds the seasoned popcorn, which comes in 20-plus tasty flavors, in turn attracting another unexpected guest–a miner character who breaks through the couch, whistling a catchy tune.
This is the first work by Familiar Creatures for the brand, founded over 20 years ago, since being appointed as its lead creative agency at the end of 2022.
In partnering with Kernel Season’s, the agency really began at building the brand from the ground up, including cultivating its vision and values, as well as their tone and most importantly–their positioning. It was after running their brand workshop with the client, that they landed on “Popcorn’s Mischievous Best Friend”–aka that playful nudge and “kick” plain popcorn’s always needed. “For centuries, popcorn has played it safe with salt and butter. We wanted to convey that Kernel Season’s role is to be that movie character with the spunk and spontaneity to take popcorn on a joyride with popcorn’s dad’s sports car–much to popcorn’s chagrin and or delight,” explained Justin Bajan, co-founder/creative director at Familiar Creatures.
The creative team ultimately developed several creative platforms and landed on “Just Add Interesting” to launch the brand’s new messaging. Huge fans of filmmaking duo Ben Hurst + Dave Thomas’ high concept comedy hi-jinx for years, Familiar Creatures enlisted the directors to shoot their campaign in Austin, Texas. “A unique aspect of our videos is that they always feature a giant hand coming from out of nowhere to sprinkle the product onto the scene and popcorn,” said Bajan. “Ben & Dave decided the smartest way to pull this off was with ‘forced perspective,’ a technique that allows two very different sized things to exist in the same space without a green screen, as done in movies like Elf and Lord of the Rings.”
On creating the spots, characters were key – relatable, lovable, and expressive with the ability to regard the most absurd of scenarios with relative restraint. For the role of the ‘Miner,’ in “Gold Mine,” Familiar Creatures cast a first-time actor who blew them away with his look and personality. “Ben + Dave had fantastic on-set instincts and Munn Powell, the DP, really helped bring a natural yet quirky look and feel,” shared Bajan.” We always figured we would do the whistling in post, but rolled sound just in case and ended up using our talent’s natural whistling abilities in the spot.”
CreditsClient Sauer Brands/Kernel Season’s Alina Allen, brand manager; Christina Jarboe, social media manager; John Dijulio, designer. Agency Familiar Creatures Justin Bajan, Dustin Artz, co-founders/creative directors; T. Scott Major, art director; Kate Luxton, brand director; Scott Friske, head of production. Production Ben Hurst + Dave Thomas, directors; Erin Malloy, producer. Postproduction Familiar Creatures Tiffany Burchard, editor; Matthew Schwab, colorist; Chris Hagen, VFX/Flame artist; Ryan Musselman, VFX/3D. Audio Post Overcoast Music + Sound Matt Whitworth, partner/head of postproduction; Travis Tucker, partner/exec producer. Media Agency Lewis Media Partners
NHS England, M&C Saatchi UK, Director Tom Tagholm Team On PSA Highlighting The Overlooked Signs Of A Stroke
National Health Service (NHS) England has unveiled a multichannel campaign, “Act FAST,” to raise awareness of the individual signs of a stroke and get people to call 999 as soon as they suspect they may be experiencing any one symptom. The push, which is part of the ongoing “Help Us, Help You” campaign, was developed in partnership with M&C Saatchi UK.
The campaign depicts everyday situations where everything might seem relatively normal, but where there’s the sign of someone experiencing a stroke.
A key component of the campaign is this :30--directed by Tom Tagholm of Various Films--which sets up the idea that initially, a stroke might not seem like much, highlighting key symptoms: from struggling to use a paint roller, to not being able to smile when watching TV, to slurring your speech when reading a story to your grandchild. The PSA emphasizes that time is critical, ending with the line: “Face or arm or speech, at the first sign, it’s time to call 999.”
Jo Bacon, Group CEO, M&C Saatchi UK, said, “We want to ensure people take action on the first symptom, rather than waiting for more conclusive signs. To help them understand that even when everything seems normal, something serious might be happening.”
Matt Lee, executive creative director, M&C Saatchi UK, commented: “This is important work. We wanted to explore that precise moment when your world shifts, quietly yet powerfully, off its axis during a stroke. We highlight how a tiny external moment can actually be seismic—an extraordinary gear change, framed in a really ordinary way.”
Director Tagholm shared, “My Dad suffered a stroke a few years ago and was saved from the worst by acting quickly, and by the work of the NHS. So there’s... Read More