Two sheep that can speak–and have the voices and faces of teenage boys–team with a kid who has blender hands to tout Smoothie Mix Skittles. A man in a bird’s nest is fed Skittles. A sculpture is a work of culinary art, made out of Starburst fruit chews. And a mariachi band drowns in the delicious flavor of the new Baja flavor from Starburst.
These are just some of the images from TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York’s work on the Skittles and Starburst accounts (both are part of MasterFoods). Ian Reichenthal and Scott Vitrone, group creative directors, and respectively, copywriter and art director, have created and/or overseen–along with agency executive creative director Gerry Graf–each of these spots, which aim to sell the candies to the teenage set, which is a notoriously difficult demographic to reach. TBWA/Chiat/Day began working with Skittles last year–previous efforts for the colored candies focused on images of wonder and magic created by the now shuttered D’Arcy Massius Benton & Bowles; the concept was later updated when the account was at BBDO New York. For its first efforts on behalf of Skittles, TBWA/Chiat/Day created “Nest,” which featured a slightly odd-looking gentleman sitting in a birds nest, being fed Skittles by a large bird, followed by the tag: “Taste the Rainbow.” The package also included a spot in which a trio of teens is on a rainbow; one falls off when he questions the existence of the rainbow. A third spot featured a guy with a rainbow over his head that showered him with Skittles. Ulf Johansson of Smith & Jones, Los Angeles, directed the commercials.
“I credit MasterFoods for buying that first round of Skittles work,” relates Vitrone. “The brand had been probably a little more traditional, more mainstream. We thank them quite often for doing that. And it worked. And once something works, it’s always easier to go there.”
“Skittles has always done stuff that included magic,” adds Reichenthal. “What we’re doing now is the intersection of imaginary and real, and we think it’s just a more contemporary take on something that’s part of Skittles.”
For Smoothie Mix Skittles, the pair worked with copywriter Ashley Davis and art director Craig Allen on “Blender Hands” and “Sheep Boys.” The spots feature the aforementioned sheep with guys faces and voices discussing mixing flavors like orange and mango and peach and pair, and a kid who replaces his hands with mixers in order to get the blend of flavors, only to find out that Skittles has done it for him. Martin Granger of bicoastal/international Moxie Pictures directed the spots.
Vitrone and Reichenthal relate that they often work with directors they’ve built relationships with in the past, including Johansson, Rocky Morton of bicoastal/international MJZ, and the Happy team–a.k.a. Guy Shelmerdine and Richard Farmer–from bicoastal Smuggler. For the Smoothie Skittles work, the agency creatives opted for Granger, the first time they had worked with the director. “His reel is just so funny,” says Reichenthal of Granger, “and it was the same kind of funny we were hoping for.”
“We knew he would nail these conversations and make them humorous,” relates Vitrone. “All the surroundings and visual gags, we could all have fun together, but we knew we needed Martin to nail the performance and the casting.”
Casting is key to the success of both the Skittles and Starburst work. “We look at a lot of people for all the roles–especially the speaking roles–and try to find fresh faces, and people who are just funny,” notes Reichenthal. “They may be people who weren’t expected in that role, but people who can be funny in a way we didn’t intend.”
Part of the appeal to teens with the agency’s Skittles and Starburst work, Vitrone relates, is that the kids cast in the spots look like average teens. “It’s been a little bit of an education with MasterFoods,” he explains, noting that the look of the ads done by TBWA/Chiat/Day are stylistically different–particularly in the case of Skittles–than what the client had done in the past. “We always try to find faces and people that aren’t TV personalities, that aren’t the commercial faces. Especially when you’re dealing in that age group–sixteen-year-olds–it’s really, really hard to find someone who can not only act, but also isn’t doing that rosy-cheeked, skateboard-y, sideways baseball hat [look]. The whole kids market is flooded with that same look. To find interesting kids takes an extra effort, and I think it’s been worth it.”
TASTE TEST
The agency was awarded the Starburst account late last year, and one of the first spots created by the shop certainly turned heads. Debuting earlier this year, the ad, “Art Center,” featured a high school-aged guy who creates a bust of the girl he has a crush on entirely out of Starburst fruit chews. Set to Lionel Richie’s “Hello,” the boy unveils his creation, but it turns out he’s more interested in the candy than the girl–he begins munching on his creation as he explains what flavors he used to created each part of the face. (Davis and Allen were, respectively, copywriter and art director on the spot, with Vitrone and Reichenthal serving as creative directors.) For Starburst, relates Vitrone, the tone hasn’t altered greatly from previous efforts. “It hasn’t been as big a step [as with Skittles],” he explains. “It was tweaking it a little more.”
The latest endeavor for the fruit chew candy continues in the quirky/humorous vein. To introduce the candy’s new Baja California flavor, the pair created “Fiesta.” The spot opens on two teenage guys, and one is eating a Starburst. He notes that its flavor is like a “Fiesta in my mouth.” Cut to the inside of his mouth, where a mariachi band is playing. Suddenly the band is getting chewed up and swept away in a tide of greenish colored liquid. Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man directed the ad, which was shot over two days in Rio de Janeiro. “We built a giant model of a mouth. It was very surreal,” reports Reichenthal. “They flooded the mouth with seven-thousand liters of liquid–it was water with food coloring and milk in it–and we did that over and over again.” “It was trippy,” affirms Vitrone. “A giant mouth and everyone speaking Portuguese.”
Reichenthal and Vitrone joined TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York a year and a half ago. The pair met seven years ago when they teamed up at Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore., where among other projects, they worked on Nike’s “Horror,” a spot directed by Phil Joanou, then of bicoastal Villains–he’s now with MJZ. The commercial was a send-up of horror films which feature a masked maniac chasing after a beautiful young woman. After W + K, Reichenthal and Vitrone moved East, landing at Cliff Freeman and Partners, where they worked on accounts such as Budget Rent A Car, and Mike’s Hard Lemonade, for which they created spots such as “Ape-Like Man” and “Second Evil Head,” which featured, respectively, creatures who looked like apes wreaking havoc in a parking lot, and a guy who has an evil head growing out his neck. The difficulties with each situation are assuaged by a refreshing Mike’s Hard Lemonade. (Both spots were helmed by Morton of MJZ.) After freelancing, the creative pair joined their current roost.
Reichenthal and Vitrone have been busy of late with the launch of the newly merged Sprint Nextel–the agency was awarded the account earlier this summer. (TBWA/Chiat/Day had previously handled Nextel.) The pair earlier this year created “Dance Party” for Nextel–directed by Jim Jenkins of Hungry Man–which featured three office workers dancing along to Salt ‘N Peppa’s “Push It.” An exasperated boss thinks they’re goofing off, asking them about the whereabouts of some important equipment and a fellow employee. The three workers stop dancing and use their Nextel walkie-talkie and data inventory features to answer their boss in a matter of just a few seconds. Immediately, the guys resume their workplace dance. As part of the seven-spot launch campaign, Vitrone and Reichenthal, along with Graf and copwriters Eric Kallman and Paul Bartow, created “I Seen It,” directed by Bryan Buckley of Hungry Man. The spot features two guys in a diner discussing the offerings from the newly merged telecommunications firm.
Reichenthal and Vitrone are also in the early stages on some work for Combos, while collaborating on a Skittles print package. We had a meeting with MasterFoods a while ago, and our client said, ‘I don’t think you’re pushing this far enough,’ which you rarely hear from clients,” says Vitrone. “In that moment I knew, this is cool. When you’re client is telling you that, you’re in a good place in the relationship.”
