Whether or not the Geico caveman will make it in primetime this fall remains to be seen. But the workers inside Coca Cola’s Happiness Factory, whom audiences first met in 2006 in a TV spot, have become movie stars. Earlier this month, “Happiness Factory–The Movie” was unveiled at an online global premiere event in virtual world Second Life, kicking off phase two of the “Coke Side of Life” campaign.
In the original TV spot, directed by Todd Mueller and Kylie Matulick of Psyop, New York, via Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam, audiences were taken deep inside a Coca-Cola vending machine, revealing a magical, fantasy world replete with whimsical animated characters all dedicated to dispensing a cold cool bottle of Coke.
In the movie, available at http://www.coca-cola.com/HF/index.jsp and again helmed by Mueller and Matulick via W+K Amsterdam, it is just another happy day in the Happiness Factory. The Chinoinks are busily dispensing Coke, the Cappers are capping and the Kissy Puppies are spreading love around the factory when suddenly disaster strikes. The alarm bells ring, the red light flashes and the unthinkable happens–the “Happiness Factory” runs out of Coke.
The movie shows the adventures of a heroic factory worker as he embarks on a quest to replenish the Coke, putting the happiness back in the “Happiness Factory” to get it up and running again.
Watching the three-and-a-half-minute film at the exclusive online gala event was an international crowd of nearly 100 avatars dressed in red carpet fashions, including singer Avril Lavigne and reporters from more than 16 countries worldwide.
Marc Mathieu, senior VP, global brand marketing and creative excellence, The Coca-Cola Company, and host of the premiere event said, “Everything about this campaign takes its lead from the entertainment industry–from the movie-style trailers to the authentically designed movie posters to the promotional packaging. It was only fitting that for our launch we chose a full-fledged movie ‘premiere’.”
Since launching in 2006, the original “Happiness Factory” has gone on to become the highest rated global spot The Coca-Cola Company has ever tested. Now airing in more than 100 countries, the ad has received numerous advertising industry accolades, winning a Silver Lion at the 2007 Cannes advertising awards, the Grand Prix Gold Prize at the 2006 Epica Awards and most recently a nomination for a primetime commercial Emmy in the United States.
The launch of the sequel marks the next phase in the award-winning “Coke Side of Life” campaign, which is continuing to drive Coca-Cola trademark brands to perform at their best globally in nearly a decade.
Mathieu added, “In ‘Happiness Factory–The Movie’, the iconic Coca-Cola contour bottle and the enduring mystery of the brand’s secret formula, come together to create a great piece of entertainment for the audience and an effective way for us to express the values of the Coca-Cola brand. We hope that our consumers will have fun with the campaign and think it is a sequel worth waiting for.”
The campaign also includes 30- and 60- second trailers, movie-inspired poster ads, promotional packaging, character licensing and interactive digital elements. “Happiness Factory–The Movie” was produced by W+K Amsterdam using “state-of-the-art” animation techniques and a team of more than 50 3-D animators from PSYOP.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More