Has the Cucumber Eye Crew really hit Cannes? That’s one takeaway you might have gleaned from watching a frantic TV ad for Youth Dose Eye Treatment, the new anti-aging cream from the beauty and personal care brand Kiehl’s, created by AKQA and produced by Aggressive (www.aggressive.tv), the production and design studio.
Titled “Youth Dose,” the spot borrows liberally from a wide range of visual stimuli familiar to anyone spending time on Snapchat or grazing the world of YouTube, cable news and beauty pubs, where competing claims, tips and secrets abound. The spot features everything from parodies of slick cosmetic ads to not-quite-buffered YouTube tutorials and testimonials from video influencers, tying them together into a fast paced, multimedia barrage of beauty-fad sensory overload.
“We cracked open a Pandora’s box of references on this project,” explains Aggressive Creative Director Alex Topaller, “crafting a glitching, Internet-pop cacophony of the stranger-than-fiction world of beauty regimens, for which Kiehl’s Youth Dose offers an effortless solution.”
Working with the New York and Portland offices of AKQA, “Youth Dose” allowed Aggressive to utilize all of its key strengths as a studio, combining beautifully shot and stylized live-action content with outrageous design and transition-driven visual storytelling.
“What’s key is that all of the scenes and references were precisely conceived and curated to feel authentic and relatable,” adds Aggressive Creative Director Dan Shapiro. “With organic live action scenes as our bookends, we used a combination of studio-shot, lighting-driven pickup elements, sprinkled liberally with stock footage, motion design and CG animation.”
Adds Topaller, “We felt there was a chance to create something really clever, cheeky and ownable here, resulting in a design-driven film that’s accessible and enjoyable to watch in its own right, while tastefully positioning Kiehl’s Youth Dose as the natural choice for any woman’s cosmetic toolkit.”
To view the spot, go to: https://vimeo.com/280455738.
“Youth Dose” Credits:
Client: Kiehl’s
Agency: AKQA
Creative Director: Philipp Dietz, Art Director: Hera Yeung, Executive Producer: Heather Harlow
Directed by: Aggressive
Production & VFX: Aggressive
Creative Directors: Alex Topaller, Daniel Shapiro, Executive Producer: Robert Berman, DP: Eli Born, Editor: Adam Thomson, Production Design: Pam Morris, Art Director: Alex Mikhaylov, Design: Alex MIkhaylov, Alex Gorin, 2D Artist: Alex Gorin, 3D Artists: Max Chelyadnikov, Roman Senko, E.D.Satan, Compositing: Alex Gorin, Max Chelyadnikov, Roman Senko, Colorist: Jaime O’Bradovich, Storyboard Artist: Mercer Boffey, Music & Sound Design: Wesley Slover
For more information on Aggressive (www.aggressive.tv) or contact Daniel Shapiro via phone or email below. Aggressive is represented by Blah Blah Blah on the East Coast and in the Midwest, Saarinen & Pico on the West Coast and Go East in Europe and Asia.
