Mixed media and animation studio th1ng has created a TV spot for Air Wick advertising commissioned by Euro RSCG London. The commercial was directed by Andy Powell and breaks on national television in mid February.
The spot is being shown as part of a larger marketing initiative to launch the Air Wick's latest autospray
Air Wick Freshmatic i-Motion .
Powell, who has recently directed four Air Wick idents for the Emmerdale soap sponsorship on ITV, was briefed to represent i-Motion as the product ideally suited to the demands of a typical modern household. In doing so the spot had to demonstrate that i-Motion not only delivers continuous fragrence, but also its motion sensor automatically adjusts the level of fragrance when triggered by movement.
The advertisement is a 3D animation that portrays the life of Air Wick's iconic Rabbit family in a speeded up mode mixed with real time animation.
The ad displays the life of rabbits busy in their day to day environment with the main focus on a rabbit mom. She speaks directly to audience and explains the benefits, and functionality of i-Motion. As she addresses audience in real time, everything that is seen behind her is taking place in fast-speed motion. We see rabbits running around completely engaged with their schedules and tasks. Toward the end of the sequence the two separate times come together when the rabbit husband enters the house. On his arrival, the rabbit wife stops addressing the audience and turns her attention to greeting her husband. The advert concludes with a promotional tagline: "Air Wick, it's good to be home."
The main technique is centered on the variation of action pace and the use of two separate timelines with real time being juxtaposed with fast forward animation. The underlying message of the advert focuses on innovation championed by Air Wick.
The 30 second commercial is almost entirely a product of CGI and took four weeks to complete. The Maya and RenderMan software was used for CGI frames while Aftereffects was used for editing effects. All compositing and production was carried out in-house at th1ng.
Credits:
Project: Air Wick i-Motion
Client: Reckitt Benckiser
Creative Agency: Euro RSCG London
Agency contact: Zoe Yendell
Writer: Mick French
Director: Andy Powell
Compositing: Ravi Swami; Ross MacDowell
Lead animator: Ben Wiggs
Art Director: Henry Rossiter
Editor: Danny Atkinson
Production Company: th1ng
Producer: Lydia Russell
Executive Producer: Dominic Buttimore
Post Production: th1ng
