Grandma Ursula from Merge Mansion is raking up a mystery with the Oscar-winning Kathy Bates portraying her in the debut brand films from the puzzle game. The hit mobile puzzle game that has people buzzing about the characters behind the screen launched globally earlier this year and has close to 20 million downloads.
The very first live-action Merge Mansion brand campaign crafts a playful and suspicious tone as Grandma Ursula is determined to make her granddaughter Maddie’s search for answers as complicated and difficult as possible. Unique to the mobile game space, this brand is using an A-list celeb and prime broadcast and digital media to capture audiences and elevate to the likes of an entertainment franchise.
In this film Grandma Ursula isn’t where she appears to be, with the help of a decoy.
Jim Jenkins of O Positive directed the campaign for Wieden+Kennedy Portland.
Bates said, “Ursula and I fit like a pair of beloved old garden gloves! What a crazy grandma. I loved scurrying around the grand old house. So much fun working with the brilliant Jim Jenkins and Grace Rex who played my granddaughter—a very talented young actress.”
Credits
Client Metacore Games Oy/Merge Mansion Agency Wieden+Kennedy Portland Matt Sorrell, Jason Kreher, Katie Willis, Ryan Snyder, creative directors; Liam McKay, art director; will Curtis, Farha Chowdhury, copywriters; Orlee Tatarka, head of production; Ricara Stokes, executive producer; Nani Weinberg, film producer; Devin Brown, interactive producer; Mike Weihs, design director; Luke Wilhelmi, Hui Chen Ou Yang, Taylor Geick, designers; Scott Meisse, design producer; Indiana Matine, strategic planning. Production O Positive Jim Jenkins, director; Marc Grill, exec producer; Ralph Laucella, head of production; Sameet Patadia, production supervisor. Editorial Mackcut Gavin Cutler, editor; Brendan Hogan, assistant editor. Online Finish/VFX Yours Truly, KEVIN Tim Davies, executive creative director; Sue Troyan, sr. exec producer/partner; Andrew Cowderoy, VFX producer. Color Company 3 Dave Hussey, colorist; Mario Castro, sr. producer. Music New Math Music Jared Hunter, Kala Sherman, Dave Wittman, Ray Loewy, composers. Sound Design/Mix Field Day Noah Woodburn, sound designer, mixer; Leslie Carthy, exec producer. Graphics Yours Truly, KEVIN
“The Contextualist,” the latest chapter in Bloomberg Media’s “Context Changes Everything” brand platform, debuts today (3/6), creatively distinguishing Bloomberg.com & the Bloomberg app subscription’s value for global business and government leaders. The new concept builds on the campaign’s foundation of context--the power of Bloomberg’s journalism to draw deft connections between its wealth of news, insights and data in every corner of the world.
Golden Globe and BAFTA-award winning filmmaker Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) directed three new spots for the campaign via magna studios in his debut helming brand commercials. This spot titled “The Price of Tea in China” takes a well-known and seemingly simple idiom and unpacks its complexity as an international business story in a 30-second journey. (The other two commercials are “Bird in the Hand” and “Rising Tides.” The “Context” campaign continues to be developed in collaboration agency Wieden+Kennedy New York.
“‘Context Changes Everything’ has become an important rallying point with consumers to remind them what’s unique about Bloomberg as we continue to double down on global news coverage for them,” said Julia Beizer, COO, Bloomberg Media. “‘The Contextualist’ moves the brand forward by personifying the prevailing ideas of intellect, curiosity and ambition. We’ve gained more than 100,000 subscribers in the time since we first launched the campaign in September 2023, and it remains an important driving element of our investment to continue growing and engaging subscribers in the years to come.”
“As my directorial debut in the world of advertisement, I’m proud of this work for Bloomberg and how it addresses the importance of... Read More
