Gas station advertising isn’t typically known as innovative. But a lively new animated commercial for BP titled “Babies” pumps some spirit and fun into the genre.
Part of a three-spot BP Helios Power campaign created by Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), New York, and directed by Ian Kovalik of San Francisco-based Mekanism, the :30 “Babies” opens on four bouncy babies happily driving along while grooving to an infectiously cheerful song called “Say Hey.”
Noticing their gas tank is nearly empty, the foursome looks for a gas station but finds slim pickings. The first place they spot is rather uninviting, with a mean-looking gas pump wearing an eye patch bullying the other gas pumps around it.
There is another gas station a bit further down the road, but that place is a run down mess.
Finally, the babies spot a bright BP station with smiling gas pumps. They pull over and enjoy great, friendly service, the BP gas pumps whistling while they fill up their tank.
Soon enough, the babies are merrily on their way, the BP gas pumps waving goodbye to them.
The spot ends with the tagline “BP. A little better gas station.”
Hey, baby
Why are babies the featured players in this spot? “These babies represent the idea that BP is thinking about future drivers,” O&M copywriter Ryan Ingram, who worked on “Babies” and the rest of the campaign with his art director partner Don Miller, explained.
Outlining the strategy behind the campaign overall, Richard Barker, director of global advertising/BP brand, marketing and innovation, said, “In a category where customer expectations are generally low, doing the important things ‘a little better’ can mean a lot.”
Barker continued, “Rather than focus purely on functional benefits, BP is aiming to create an emotional connection with its customers so that when they have a choice between turning in to BP or a competitor, they will choose BP.”
O&M chose to go the animation route in creating the commercials for the campaign. “Animation simplifies the idea and allows it to come through. It’s very direct,” Miller said of the decision to go with animation vs. live action spots. “And the nice thing is, you can do whatever you want to get an idea across. If you had real babies driving, it wouldn’t be the same.”
Prior to delving into the animation process, O&M needed to come up with a signature song for the campaign, turning to Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau of Beacon Street Studios, Venice, Calif. The resulting “Say Hey” sounds like something you might download from iTunes, which was exactly what the agency wanted. “We didn’t want it to fall into cartoon [music],” Ingram said. “We wanted something more modern, more like a band doing the song.”
When Kovalik and the crew at Mekanism heard the song, they were impressed. In fact, Kovalik noted that the music was one of the reasons they were eager to work on the project. “We were like, ‘Wow, this already feels like a success,’ ” Kovalik said.
The concept for the campaign was also a draw, of course. “The boards and stories were really focused and simple but at the same time super creative,” Kovalik said.
Then there was the chance to design and develop characters that were used not only in the commercials but throughout BP’s campaign, Kovalik added.
Competing against some of the biggest names in animation, Mekanism pulled out all the stops to win the BP assignment. Kovalik put together 10 different visual treatments, a 3-D animatic and fully boarded one of the scripts. “There is a certain kind of playfulness and fun and innocence to Ian’s work,” Ingram commented. “We were drawn to that.”
3-D delivery “Babies” as well as the other spots in the campaign–“Fuels” and “Lighthouse”–are 3D animated. “The whole process was very much like that of putting together a big budget Hollywood studio movie,” according to Kovalik, describing the animation set-up as a pipeline, with the characters drawn in Illustrator, then created in Maya.
O&M encouraged Kovalik and Mekanism to put their stamp on the project. “They really gave us license to go off,” Kovalik said. Take, for example, the gas pumps swaying to the music. Kovalik was influenced to add that touch by the work of Tex Avery, the late animator/director famed for bringing Looney Tunes characters such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to life. “He used a lot of hyperbole in the action, so that’s where the swaying gas pumps came from,” Kovalik shared.
In addition to injecting personality into everyday objects, Kovalik also plotted unusual camera moves. Because he was working in 3D, the director had total control of where to put the camera, so it gave him a chance, for example, to place the audience inside the car with the babies. Plotting out that action with his team was a rather interesting experience. “I put four of our desk chairs together, and everybody sat down and acted out what was happening in the car. That was a fun moment. We videotaped it,” Kovalik said, adding with a laugh, “That videotape is under lock and key. I’ll never show it to anyone.”
Kovalik and his crew spent months working on the campaign. The job took longer than it might have because multiple versions of each spot had to be produced for various markets. For instance, the action in the U.K. spots had to be flipped given that they drive on the opposite side of the street.
While the process was a long one, Kovalik said it was a lot of fun. “It was a feel-good campaign,” Kovalik reflected, “and that definitely affected everyone working on it.”
