What do you do if youre a 75-year-old company producing a beloved holiday candy and youve never done any television advertising? Well, if youre Bethlehem-based Just Born, Inc., the makers of Marshmallow Peeps, you hop right into the 21st century with tails wagging, of course, and bring your gooey creation into all-too-real life with computer graphics. Courtesy of Portland-based Will Vinton Studios and New York agency Griffin Bacal, Just Born is transporting animated Peeps into the living rooms and television playpens of America for the first time.
Peeps are a sugar-lovin youngsters dream and an adults edible tchotchke par excellence: soft (if fresh), sweet, colorful, and kitschy. During Easter, the marshmallow concoctions come in the guise of chicks and bunnies of various colors (blue is being introduced this Easter), and are an entrenched holiday tradition.
Peeps Choir is a :15 Broadway number set to an arrangement of Rockin Robin. A large cast of computer animated Peeps and Bunnies-in sparkling yellow and blue-twirl, jump, and spin around each other on a stage in front of a curtain backdrop. As the chorus vocally and physically peeps, the lyrics assure viewers, Peeps are sure to make your day when Easter-time is headin your way.
Julius Wile, Griffin Bacals co-creative director for the spot along with Michael Dean, explained that bringing these American icons to life was a once-in-a-lifetime creative undertaking. Its rare that you get an opportunity where you find the client who has such a branded icon in the culture that hasnt been spoiled by advertising-hasnt been tainted by bad advertising or good advertising, he says.
Just Born decided to spring the chicks and bunnies on the television nest because the company wanted to strengthen Peeps brand awareness. Wendy Esch, assistant product manager at Just Born, explained that the television campaign is one phase of a larger effort that includes the introduction of new seasonal products for holidays such as Hallo-
ween and Valentines Day. The company makes 600 million Peeps a year, and is rolling out Peeps Jellybeans, Peeps Eggs, and Peeps Ghosts this year.
Rockin Robin was chosen because the song is, after all, about a bird with spirit and because the song was in the public domain. Gayle Ayers, the director of the spot for Will Vinton, watched musicals with big dance floors full of people such as Bye Bye Birdie, Meet Me in St. Louis, and West Side Story in preparation for directing her computer-generated dancers.
After looking at those [musicals] and thinking about the choreography and what was trendy right now, we decided to make it feel like those Peeps were dancing in pairs and give it kind of more of a swing flavor, she said. To develop the spots choreography, Will Vinton creatives practiced dance moves while in the office to determine how the chicks and bunnies would move. Ayers noted that it is difficult to create realistic dance moves for creatures that do not have arms or legs while attempting to remain true to the Peeps marshmallow texture. When you start thinking about dancing but you dont have any arms and legs, it gets pretty odd pretty quickly, she said with a chuckle.
