It's not quite Life of Pi.
You're sitting, stranded at sea, in a lifeboat with your best friend, who you don't really even like that much, but he's the only other person around, so you'll go with what you've got. But soon the two of you are fighting over whether the imaginary cream or the imaginary cookies are the best part of your imaginary Oreos, and things quickly spiral out of control.
Still, better than if your shipmate were a tiger.
This spot—the latest from Wieden + Kennedy for Oreo—is the second of two spots that came out of the agency's Super Bowl assignment for the Mondelez brand. (The first, the slapstick number "Whisper Fight," aired on the big game. Both were directed by MJZ's Tom Kuntz.) W+K has also been rolling out a series of web videos about elaborate cookie-separation machines under the same "Cookies vs. Creme" campaign banner. Clocking in at a few minutes apiece, each of those succeeds in offering enough entertainment—in the form of wry, absurdist humor—to keep them from feeling like a total waste of time.
"Life Raft" packs a similarly comedic, if slightly more surreal, ethos into its 50 seconds. Without getting into spoilers, it features the kind of offbeat writing that's easy to laugh at, and invites the question, "Where did they come up with that?"—without flying so far off the handle as to be off-putting. And while it's a soft sell, the product stays at the center of the story line. That makes it strong, classic, memorable TV advertising worth envying.
CREDITS
Client: Oreo
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Jason Bagley / Craig Allen
Copywriter: Nathanial Lawlor
Art Director: Christina Gignac
Producer: Colleen Wellman
Account Team: Ken Smith / Jessie Young
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples / Susan Hoffman
Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Tom Kuntz
Executive Producer: Scott Howard
Line Producer: Emily Skinner
Director of Photography: Toby Irwin
Editorial Company: Mackenzie Cutler
Editor: Gavin Cutler
Assistant Editor: Ryan Steele
Post Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld
VFX Company: The Mill
Flame Lead Artist: Ant Walsham
2D Artists: Sarah Eim / Emma White / Trent Shumway / Patrick Munoz
3D Artists: Michael Panov / Brett Angeleillis
Production Coordinator: Ben Sposato
VFX Producer: Christina Thompson
Titles/Graphics: Clarice Chin
Music+Sound Company: Mackenzie Cutler
Sound Designer: Sam Shaffer / Mackenzie Cutler
Mix Company: Eleven Sound
Mixer: Loren Silber
Producer: Jessica Locke