By Emily Vines

LONDON --

To launch Skittles Gum in the United Kingdom, creatives at TBWA London, created three spots for client MasterFoods that are running on the Web site meandmyfruitymouth.com. Director Tim Godsall helmed “Sing Song,” “Shelter” and “Cherubs,” with respective running times of :36, :46 and :60, through Independent Films, London. (He has since moved over to Stink Ltd., London, for U.K. work but continues to be repped in the U.S. by Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles.)

Upon initial viewing, the spots look like common television shows: a religious program featuring hymns, an outdoor survival guide, and an art review program. However, mid-way through each, the hosts unexpectedly say something quite inappropriate.

For example, while discussing a painting, the stuffy art critic in “Cherubs” comments that two of the celestial beings “appear to be bumming each other.” After pausing briefly he says, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” (The painting is a prop created for the spot and the noted artist is fictional.)

In “Shelter,” a wilderness guide explains how he is building a small below ground refuge in the forest. Then it occurs to him that with so much privacy one could satisfy one’s self in a sexual way without anyone knowing. He soon realizes he has shared too much information.

And, in “Sing Song,” a man stands outdoors singing a hymn about Jehovah, with the rolling countryside behind him and a serene black dog at his feet. Suddenly, he points beyond camera view, commenting on the size of a nearby horse’s sexual organ. Obviously he shouldn’t have said that, as he admits.

 

COMEDY & STRATEGY

“It’s a shame that just because you are talking to teenagers, people tend to treat them as children,” TBWA art director Frazer Jelleyman explained of the use of bawdy humor. “It was decided amongst everyone that the way forward was actually to treat teenagers as if they were adults, so what you’re doing is using adult humor.” Alasdair Graham was the copywriter; Kate Hitchings, producer; and Richard Powell the account director.

Continuing the irreverent theme, each spot ends with someone depositing their chewed gum on top of a box of Skittles Gum. In addition to finding the unusual product shot to be funny, the idea, Jelleyman explained, “was that the fruitiness of the thing has made the guy say something he wouldn’t have normally said — so what you do is take it out so that you wouldn’t say anything else.”

“I thought it was very clever writing, all of them, but particularly the cherubs bumming one another, the turns of phrase that the art critic had,” Godsall related. “Sometimes we get that kind of stuff wrong in our business. It was fun, smart writing.” Richard Packer was executive producer for Independent, Fergus Brown was producer, and Sebastian Pfeffenbichler was DP.

    Regarding the decision to run these spots online, an agency spokesperson related that television is no longer the only medium that big brands have to use, adding that the Web keeps costs down and allows the work to spread virally from one friend to another, which adds a personal element. Although this is primarily an Internet campaign, the spots have been cut for limited television broadcast in the U.K.

Tim Thornton-Allan edited the spots out of Marshall Street Editors, London. Charlie Roberts was assistant editor, Kathy Sawszak, producer.

Adrian Seery was colorist through Rushes Postproduction, London. David Smith and Phil Oldham were Flame artists through Absolute Post, London, with Sally Heath executive producing.

Ben Leeves and Adam West mixed the spots through Grand Central Sound Studios, London.

    The principal actors were Joe Hobbs in “Sing Song,” Murray McArthur in “Shelter,” and Charles Bruce in “Cherubs.”

MySHOOT Profiles