Wonderful Halos seedless mandarin oranges, or a couple of bad seeds. Which would you choose?
Those are your options in one of four oddball ads dropping today from Wonderful's in-house team and Hungry Man's Wayne McClammy (the director who turned Geico's trash-rummaging raccoons into stars).
"He's one of the few comedic directors who also has an awe-inspiring sense of cinematic storytelling," Wonderful Agency president Michael Perdigao tells Adweek.
McClammy deftly walks the line between farcical and fearful throughout the campaign, which urges kids and their parents to make wise snacking choices. Take, for example, these two sinister sisters and their malevolent mansion full of freaky figurines:
So, which twin is the evil one? Looks like both! So … goodbye, dollies!
Actually, those aren't twins. Just one actress and a bit of high-tech hocus-pocus.
"We auditioned hundreds of sets of twins, and ultimately we decided on the young girl featured in the spot who actually isn't a twin," Perdigao says. "During her audition, she displayed the right kind of tone we needed for that part, so we used the magic of Hollywood to create her twin."
As for the 250 dolls on set, McClammy's assistant spent weeks procuring them from eBay, Craigslist, swap meets, thrift stores and antique shops. "At one point, there was a creepy clown doll in the background," Perdigao recalls, "but it didn't make the cut."
In the next ad, a wacky witch tries to cast a tempting spell with a tart-tongued apple:
"Our 'Apples and Oranges' set was initially destroyed and production was shut down for a few weeks because of fires in the Riverside, Calif., area in August," Perdigao says. "When production was back up, we went back to the same area because the look of the forest destroyed by the fire was the exact feeling and vibe we wanted to capture in the spot."
Meanwhile, pint-sized construction-site trespassers get their comeuppance in this spot:
Way to go, gents. Enjoy the view from juvy!
Finally, a story set under the big top. Whatever you do, don't look down:
What, a circus without Wonderful's Ernie the Elephant? Perhaps the precocious pachyderm was at the concession stand procuring some pistachios.
"We drew our inspiration from the classic fairy-tale structure, where heroes are tempted by evil but then are guided by their pure values and intelligence to make the right decisions," Perdigao says.
Ultimately, he adds, the goal was to create work that would "educate consumers about our product and cause the viewer to do a double-take about what he or she has just seen and heard."
CREDITS
Client: Wonderful Halos
Agency: Wonderful Agency
Mike Perdigao – President
Steve Krauss – Chief Creative Officer
Darren Moran – Executive Creative Director
Jennifer Young– Creative Director
Alan Snider - ACD/Copywriter
Colin Jahn – Sr. Art Director
Alex Harman – Art Director
Anne Kurtzman – Head of Broadcast Production/Producer
Matthew Conrad - Producer
Production Company: Hungry Man
Wayne McClammy – Director
Mino Jarjoura – Executive Producer
Dan Duffy Executive Producer/Director of Sales
Dave Bernstein – Producer
Rodney Anderson – Production Supervisor
Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors
Christjan Jordan – Editor -
Pieter Viljoen – Asst. Editor
Helena Lee – Executive Producer
Dani DuHadway – Producer
MPC - Visual Effects
Paul O'Shea – Creative Director/VFX Supervisor
Karen Anderson – Executive Producer
Jamie Loudon – Sr. Producer
Ryan McDougal – CG Supervisor
Benji Davidson - VFX supervisor
Music/Sound Design
Beacon Street Music
Composers - Andrew Feltenstein, John Nau
Executive Producer - Adrea Lavezzoli
Associate Producer - Lindsey Lerman