The first five commercials in a new animated campaign for Pepperidge Farm have just been completed by Hibbert Ralph Animation in the U.K. The campaign was designed by American illustrator Kevin Kobasic, and directed by HRAs Jerry Hibbert for Young & Rubicam New York. The spots feature Jon, the Pepperidge Farm deliveryman, delivering a variety of Pepperidge Farm products Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Mini Cookies, Swirl Bread, Farmhouse Bread and Texas Toast.
PIED PIPER As Jon is drives his Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies truck back to Pepperidge Farm, people stop what they are doing and run after the truck. It ends with a crowd gathered outside the farm as Jon opens the doors and invites them in.
SPECIAL DELIVERIES Jon and his co-workers are waiting anxiously like expectant parents. The bakers knock on the glass window and present the newest arrivals in the Pepperidge Farm family to them. Jon drives off in his delivery truck with the new mini cookies.
TOASTER CLOCK As Jons family sleeps, he places toasters with slices of swirl bread on each bedside table. The family awakens to the sound of the toasters popping and to the wonderful smell of the cinnamon from the toast.
SPATULA DELIVERY Jon carries in the loaves of Farmhouse Bread on a bakers spatula into a supermarket as if he were taking them straight from the oven. Shoppers react to the lovely smell of freshly baked bread as Jon lights up the sign Fresh from the oven taste.
CENTERPIECE Jon takes his freshly baked Texas Toast from the toaster oven and walks proudly to the table. He picks up the beautiful flower arrangement from the center of the table and tosses it out of the window in order to make way for his Texas Toast.
The color illustrations were bought to life with hand-drawn 2D animation and layers of effects passes, colored and partially composited on Animo 4.1. The final compositing with the agency creative team was in Henry at FrameStore CFC.
The style of art on Pepperidge Farm was based on presswork already carried out by illustrator Kevin Kobasic. Hibbert calls the style, "...loosely illustrative, using water colors and pen lines." In fact, watercolor artwork is not easy to animate, according to Hibbert because the texture can boil too much and become distracting. The trick is to control the application of watercolor texture and add it to the line work as a separate pass. Limited use of color is also a feature of the style.
Pepperidge Farm is a big brand in the States so it was great to be selected for a campaign that we hope will run and run, said Hibbert. Using FrameStore CFCs Front for daily approvals makes working with agencies in New York as easy as working with someone else in London, and certainly makes it possible to take on a very heavy workload like Pepperidge Farm on a short schedule.
HRA (www.hra-online.com) is a London-based studio that specializes in commercials, television graphics and promos.
Agency: Young & Rubicam New York Art Director: Juan Carlos Gutierrez Copywriter: Jared Elliot Agency Producer: Eric SolowayAnimation Production Company: Hibbert Ralph AnimationAnimation Director: Jerry HibbertAnimation Producer: Sue Lyster
