A horned, hairy monster represents a pre-teen's ravenous appetite which, left unchecked, swells to Godzilla-esque proportions in the first-ever ad campaign for Foster Farms Corn Dogs. On the plus side, that furry freak is a beast on the soccer field (we'd pick him for our team any day!)—and the middle-schooler jonesing for a snack never once morphs into Marilyn Monroe:
"We talked to working moms across the nation about the ever-present growling rumble that a 12-year-old boy's stomach makes when they're hungry," says Franklin Tipton, partner and creative director at Odysseus Arms, which developed the integrated push that breaks today across TV, digital, mobile and local activations.
"The idea of an appetite appearing suddenly, growing rapidly, all fussy and monstrous, only to be dispatched by seven grams of protein [from a Foster Farms Corn Dog], nailed what the moms felt about feeding young boys."
Emmy winner Dave Laden's work on silly spots with various varmints for Snapple and Yelp made him the perfect choice to direct, and here he captures just the right self-consciously corny tone. Legacy Effects built two suit sizes for the shoot, and some scenes were achieved using green-screen techniques.
"The Monster Appetite was tricky to style," says Tipton. "Too scary and it leaned toward unappetizing. Too silly or goofy and the idea becomes too juvenile." Ultimately, the look suggests an escapee from Maurice Sendak or The Muppet Show, with, according to Tipton, a yellow/brown hue designed to mirror "the texture of the [product's] cornbread coating."
Dude's so adorable. Couldn't you just eat him up?
CREDITS
Client: Foster Farms Corn Dogs
Foster Farms Marketing Director: Jonathan Swadley
Integrated Marketing Director: Ira Brill
Creative Agency: Odysseus Arms
Design Director: Libby Brockhoff
Creative Director: Franklin Tipton
Managing Director: Eric Dunn
Art Director: Rachel Ngun
Executive Producer: Cherie L. Appleby
Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Dave Laden
Managing Partner/Executive Producer: Kevin Byrne
Producer: Caleb Dewart
Director of Photography: Chrisophe Lanzenberg
Editorial: Final Cut
Editor: Paul Zucker
Assistant Editor: Dillon Stoneburner
Executive Producer: Eric McCasline
Production VFX: Significant Others
Executive Producer: Alek Rost
VFX, Flame Artist: Dirk Greene
Producer: Garrett Braren
Sound Mix: Beacon Street
Composer: Andrew Feltenstein
Mix Artist and Sound Design: Rommel Molina
Executive Producer: Adrea Lavezzoli
Props/Monster Design: Legacy Effects
Production Designer: Alan Scott
Design and Build: Theodore Haines