During the annual Academy Awards broadcast, television viewers get a rare and tantalizing look at animated short films, filled with lush imagery and grown-up storylines that are a far cry from standard American TV fare. Ron Diamond, the founder of Acme Filmworks, Hollywood, gets more than a glimpse—he seeks these maverick animators out, scouting out talent at film festivals around the world, and often signing them to his company’s roster of commercial animation directors.
When Diamond, along with former financial partners Jeff Wishengrad and Mike Miller, founded Acme in ’90, there wasn’t an abundance of international spot animation options readily available stateside. (Editors Miller and Wishengrad, who parted ways with Diamond in ’93, remain partners with Rhonda Peacock in MWP Editorial, Santa Monica.) "What we wanted to do," says Diamond, "was not just go for edgy work. We wanted to fit the right director with the right project."
Acme’s first reel contained no ads, only excerpts from short animated films. "It was new and different and exciting for agencies. We were able to introduce them to people who are first and foremost storytellers and artists, but who can also bring those skills into advertising."
Acme director/animator Peter Chung, who created MTV’s Aeon Flux, recently brought his storytelling skills to a new campaign for the Checkers and Rally’s chain of restaurants. "Fuel Gauge," the first of three ads for the fast-food purveyors, was directed by Chung via Crispin Porter + Bogusky Advertising, Miami. The spot is now airing in regional markets—the Southeast for Checkers, and the Midwest for Rally’s restaurants. Chung’s signature style, exemplified by Aeon Flux, is sexier, subtler, and more violent than the usual animated commercials. The ad stars "Holly," who is perhaps the most ruthless, ravenously hungry female character ever seen in a fast-food restaurant commercial. Built like a centerfold, squinting like Dirty Harry, Holly literally drives over people when she craves a bacon cheeseburger. "It’s a really inventive campaign on a sociopolitical level," says Diamond. Though many animated spots, including previous Chung efforts, end with a live-action shot of the product, the Checkers’ burger is animated—although a bit more realistically than Holly.
Sara Gennett Lopez, director of broadcast at the agency, says that the client was looking to boost its image among its target consumers: men between the ages of 18-25. "Our creatives showed [the client] clips of Aeon Flux as a visual reference, to show them what adult-style animation was, so they’d know we didn’t mean Bugs Bunny [or other] kid cartoons," says Lopez. "We were gleeful and delighted when we sold them on the idea of total animation, with no cutting to food photography."
The result, according to Chung and Lopez, is a spot that can test the limits of audience expectations. Reactions to the spot, Lopez says, have been divided 60/40 between those who are outraged by Holly’s sexuality and taste for violence, and those who are thrilled by it. "Animation plunges you completely into a different world," says Chung. "You can pretend the world is that way; you don’t have to remain yourself. With this spot … you would be surprised at the degree to which male viewers identify with the female character."
"One thing that animation can do is get people to look beyond the literal—the facial features, the skin color," says Diamond. "[‘Fuel Gauge’] is unusual because most fast food is sold based on the food itself. Here, it’s more [about] the attitude of wanting the food."
Niche Market
"I can’t tell you how many times an agency creative has called and said, ‘I want to see something that looks like it was done by an Eastern Bloc director who spent ten years working on it in his garage," Diamond says. Many of Acme’s directors, in fact, are European: Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein of Germany, who have done Nestle spots; Aleksandra Korejvvo of Poland, who has worked on Campbell’s Soup; the father and son team of Paul and Menno De Nooijer of The Netherlands, who has done work for Tower Records; and Joanna Quinn of Great Britain, who most recently worked on animated ads for Whiskas cat food.
Combined with the company’s U.S.-based directors, Diamond says that Acme’s current roster is "amazingly varied." Clients can choose from the work of Chung, who was born in Korea, but is based in Los Angeles; or New Yorker Bill Plympton, who specializes in comic, colored pencil work; or the photocollage style of Scott Ingalls, also of Los Angeles, who has done spots for Pepsi and IronKids breads.
Plympton, who has directed feature films such as The Tune and the forthcoming Mutant Aliens, completed a six-spot package for Geico auto insurance via The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., last year. "I love doing spots, and I love working with Ron," Plympton says. "I think animated spots can reach for a higher artistic level, and they are kind of aimed at smart people who don’t have to be hit over the head with a shot of the product."
Diamond, who had a background in producing feature films (The Dark Backward, The Chocolate War, Drawn from Memory), has seen the animation field—and the business of promoting animated work—change a great deal over the past decade. It took nearly a year for Acme’s first showreel to generate commercial assignments, and the process of booking directors was complicated. Now, with several animated projects to its credit, Diamond predicts that clients will become more excited by—and open-minded about—animated ads. "In terms of different styles, there’s more of a balance than ever before," Diamond says. "Our directors get great receptions. Their opportunities are growing."f
