Real Fact #6001: This is one loopy campaign.
Deutsch pours on the silly for Snapple in new ads that breathe life into those numbered bits of (dubious) information printed inside the brand's bottle caps.
Thankfully, this isn't one of those "aspirational" campaigns that feels like a stretch for the product. There's no lofty message or deep dive for insight. There are, however, actors dressed in bee costumes, buzzing into a maternity ward for a very special delivery:
There's also a dolphin nosing around a perfume counter. Ah, the sweet scent of absurdity!
"This type of approach works because it's simple and lighthearted," Guto Araki, group creative director at Deutsch, tells AdFreak. "It still surprises people when a commercial can make them laugh. People are tired of brands asking them to do or be something."
One thing you really don't want to do is dance during the National Anthem in Massachusetts, especially when there's a legal eagle around to make a bust:
"We start every spot with the pop of the Snapple cap," Araki says. "From that point on, it's like we are unleashing the genie from the bottle. It's a sneak peak into the character's imagination, which is always a mix of what they're thinking and the reality they know—the way a nurse imagines a bee being born, or how a waitress sees a king of hearts being teased by the other kings."
Yeah, you gotta hand it to those kings. They're real cards:
"The kings stayed in character the whole day—even when we weren't shooting," Araki recalls. "Many of the lines from the spot were improvised by the talent. They came in ready with card jokes—'The deck is stacked,' 'Shuffle on back, it's not a full house without you.' It was pretty entertaining."
Finally, to illustrate the "fact" that the first spam was sent by telegraph in 1864, the team, led by Hungry Man director Dave Laden, went all out to painstakingly recreate an age where a $20 million windfall meant "Horses for everyone!"
"We actually hired a professional to 'age' the set," Araki says. "The person's entire job is to make the set look authentic to the 1800s."
Nice work if you can get it.
The campaign, tagged "Make time for Snapple," really satisfies. The spots are odd enough to capture and hold your attention, and the "fact" reveals are pretty cool payoffs (though the telegraph office is perhaps a tad too busy to take everything in at a single viewing—keep it simple, guys!).
"Even the product shots were fun to make," says Araki. "I remember seeing the puppeteer caressing a Snapple bottle with a dolphin fin and thinking how lucky we all are to work in this business."
The commercials will run through the summer, mainly on cable TV, with additional bizarro video content online from The Richards Group featuring the same characters. Check out a few of those spots below. That dolphin runway walk will haunt your nightmares! Quick, throw it back!
CREDITS
Snapple:
EVP, Chief Commercial Officer: Jim Trebilcock
SVP, Core 5/Noncarbonated Marketing: Regan Ebert
VP, Core Flavors and Snapple: Dave Falk
Director, Core Flavors: Brent Chism
Senior Brand Manager, Snapple: Kevin Brandvold
Director, Creative Content Marketing: Nita Sherrard
Deutsch:
Chief Creative Officer, North America: Pete Favat
Executive Creative Director: Bob Cianfrone
Group Creative Director: Guto Araki
Art Director: Curtis Petraglia
Copywriter: Andrew Kong
Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo
Executive Integrated Producer: Megan Meloth
Senior Integrated Producer: Ali Issari
Music Director: Dave Rocco
Music Producer: Eryk Rich
Senior Concept Producer: Sam Barbera
Group Account Director: Adam Graves
Account Director: Christi Johnson
Account Supervisor: Taylor Reid
Associate Account Executive: Jonathan King
Exectuive Planning Director: Jeffrey Blish
Group Planning Director: Mitch Polatin
Associate Planning Director: Jessica Friedman
Account Planner: Sabena Suri
Director of Integrated Business Affairs: Abilino Guillermo
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Denise Wright
Director or Broadcast Traffic: Carie Bonillo
Broadcast Traffic Manager: Terence Dowling
CEO, North America: Mike Sheldon
President, Los Angeles: Kim Getty
Live Action Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Dave Laden
Executive Producer: Kevin Byrne
Executive Producer/Director of Sales: Dan Duffy
Line Producer: Dave Bernstein
Editorial Company: Cosmo Street
Editors: Tessa Davis, Lawrence Young
Assistant Editor: Habib Semaan
Executive Producer: Yvette Cobarrubias-Sears
Producer: Gigi May
Post Facility/Color: MPC LA
Executive Producer: Meghan Lang
Executive Producer: Rebecca Boorsma
Colorist: Ricky Gausis
Color assist: Dimitri Rajapakse
Post/VFX: a52
VFX Supervisor: Andy McKenna
Head of CG: Kirk Shintani
Producer: Stacey Kessler-Aungst
Executive Producer: Patrick Nugent
Head of Production: Kim Christensen
Audio Post Company: 740 Sound
Executive Producer: Geena Richard
Mixer: Larry Winer