Aardman Animations has joined forces with London ad agency isobel to create a whimsical campaign for shopping center Bullring in the U.K. town of Birmingham.
Building on the equity of the “Life’s Even More Exciting at The Centre” positioning, the new campaign features a four-tier revolving mechanical model–a quirky, playful interpretation of Bullring and Birmingham. An array of products including lipsticks, illuminated ladles, cheese graters and perfume sit alongside a number of recognizable architectural landmarks including the iconic Selfridges building which, in “Bullring land,” is clad in buttons.
Rob Fletcher, creative partner at isobel, said, “We wanted to show a world full of delight and joy–to capture the many and varied facets of Bullring and to communicate its position as the heart of Birmingham.” (Fletcher served as art director on the campaign, teaming with copywriter David Alexander.)
The campaign, which launches the “We Are So City” slogan, will feature 12 different executions each capturing a different shopping experience; season; event and/or festival. The campaign, which debuted on Monday (8/27), will include: TV, outdoor, press, advertorials, digital and in-store. For outdoor, isobel have worked closely with Aurasma, an augmented reality platform, to bring the creative executions to virtual life.
On choosing to work with director/photographer/illustrator Daniel Cohen of Aardman, Fletcher related, “We knew we wanted to take a different approach with this campaign and Aardman were the obvious partners….They understand the essence of ‘playfulness’ and ‘adventure’ which is key to the execution. The mechanical model has the magical, ‘characterful’ quality we hoped it would and they have an uncanny knack of rendering the ordinary extraordinary and smacking a big fat smile on your face in the process”.
The model, which consists of four contra rotating discs with miniature models and buildings interspersed with a host of desirable products, proved a perfect challenge for Aardman, known for its modelmaking prowess. The craft-led model build of the “We Are So City” world allowed Aardman’s Cohen to get in touch with his inner child. “I always like making worlds and try to imagine where I would want to live in that place,” said Cohen. “I kind of just think like a child…that’s what I really feel lucky to be able to do–then there’s no right or wrong.” Here are the TV spot and a making-of video:
Director Cassandra Brooksbank Joins Monument Content For Spots and Branded Content
Monument Content has signed director Cassandra “Cassie” Brooksbank for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. She brings to her directing and storytelling the experience and skills of a writer, conceptual artist, editor and visual effects artist.
Her body of work as a director includes Pepsi’s “Selfie” featuring Lionel Messi amid a flurry of fans, Barclays madcap women’s Soccer League spot where she collaborated closely with the agency to develop the creative, ultimately winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sports Industry Awards, and a grass-roots campaign for Fellow Coffee. The latter just didn’t brew buzz; it helped raise $1.2 million on Kickstarter.
Prior to joining Monument Content, Brooksbank had been repped in the U.S. for commercials by production house Hey Wonderful.
On the long-form front, she is repped by CAA for film and television. And on the horizon is her debut feature, My Masterpiece, produced by Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions and backed by Amazon.
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