In a round world, it can be a tough life for squares, but creatives at McCann-Erickson, New York, looked at the situation in a more positive light for client Wendy’s. Instead of seeing the four-sided shape as an outcast, they point out the innovation of the lone square, specifically Smart Square, the animated character shaped like a Wendy’s hamburger.
In “Ooh Child,” a Web film on www.GoodToBeSquare.com, Square encounters many clichés that exemplify tough times, then he shows all of the round “beadies” how to come out ahead. The stick-like animation is presented in front of a plain red background. As the beadies chatter in their high-pitched voices, Square finds the needle in the haystack, saves a beady that is up a creek without a paddle, and shows some of them how to stop burning their candle at both ends. The beadies represent the masses, who don’t think for themselves and instead follow the pack, McCann VP/executive producer Kathy Love said. After showing the beadies that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, Square questions, “Why, why are they following me?”
This Smart Square campaign is an effort to appeal to a young audience, 18-35 year olds, McCann executive VP/group creative director Jim McKennan explained, and the short is meant to give Wendy’s “a younger, more contemporary face.” Sharon Ehrlich was the senior copywriter and Daniel Rodriguez was the senior art director.
The complexities of these seemingly simple characters unfold to the tune of “Ooh Child” by The Five Stairsteps. The song fit the criteria of being uplifting and retro. “It was also [chosen] because the viral piece was the precursor to the TV [spots],” Love noted. “We wanted it to be open ended, like things are going to get better, things are going to get easier.”
There are also four TV commercials in this campaign: “Stuck in a Rut” (:30), “Heat Lamp” (:30), “Made Fresh” (:15) and “Leftovers” (:15). The spots were created in the same style as the Internet film. Another part of this effort are fun elements on the Good To Be Square Web site like emoticons called beadicons, which can be used with instant messaging systems.
Aaron Stewart directed the film and the spots out of Hornet, New York. “It’s really hard to find someone who does simple and does it well,” Love related. “We knew we never wanted to overcomplicate these characters, they’re really iconic, graphic shapes, and we talked to Aaron and liked his work. His style was perfect for what we were trying to do.” Having done work for MTV and VH1, Stewart understood the market they were going after, observed Love.
To drive traffic to the site, Internet ads ran on sites like Yahoo.com. And, McKennan said, the viral nature of the film was important.
Additional credit at McCann Erickson goes to Joyce King Thomas, executive creative director/chief creative officer, and Mike Boris, music producer.
For Hornet, Michael Feder was executive producer, Danielle Amaral and Hana Shimizu were producers, William Bredbeck and JJ Caroll were animators, and Anita Chao served as the editor.
