To promote its Bud Select brand, Anheuser Busch wanted to hit a nerve with beer drinkers in their late 20s and early 30s who are experiencing that oh so sweet time in life–they have a real job, disposable income and are not necessarily married, so they can go out and not have to worry about obligations. The company tapped DDB Chicago to create a Web-based animated series called “Crowntown” (www.crowntown.tv) featuring five friends who get into situations this age group can relate to. Instead of using real people, stick figure-like characters were derived from the five main spikes of the Bud Select logo and New York-based animation company PSYOP/Blacklist brought them to life.
“We wanted to figure out a way to make it so that no other beer could do what we were trying to do,” said Don Pogany, group creative director at DDB, adding that they also tried to consider Bud Select within the family of its two brethren–Budweiser and Bud Light.
“We wanted to create a little separation and distinction and make Bud Select a little bit more special. The same drinker might enjoy all three brands but at different times. Our way of looking at Bud Select was going from the notion of ‘hanging out’ to ‘going out.'”
The team had to be careful not to speak down to people or seem aloof. “We tried to develop situations that they might get into that would be a little more upscale like a Saturday night at a club, but still have some humor and realness,” said Pogany.
Take the “Bathroom” episode for example. Who couldn’t relate to the awkwardness that can come from being assisted by a bathroom attendant at a nightclub? Do you tip every time you go in the bathroom, and how much do you tip? In “Elevator,” Boone, one of the characters, gets stuck in an elevator with a beautiful redhead. The situation is less than ideal because he has an upset stomach and needs to use the restroom. He text messages his friends that if he doesn’t get out in 10 minutes, the unthinkable is going to happen. The irony is they are at the grocery store in the toilet paper aisle when they get his text.
Boone’s friends include Tee, Dutch, Jennie and Larry. Each has a distinct personality and background that exemplifies their life in Crowntown. The website also features mini profiles of each character and a map of Crowntown highlighting the spots where they spend most of their time, like the Flop Bar and Mixolydian, the music studio where a few of them work.
Pogany chose PSYOP/Blacklist to bring the characters to life because he liked how they maintained the character of the brushstrokes in the original crown logo. “They really kept it minimalist. You’ll see a key prop here and there, like the awning on the club, or get the sense of them being in the hot tub, but we wanted to be able to do that through negative space wherever we could,” he said.
To give animation director Pistachios a visual reference that might trigger some ideas, Pogany said they actually went to a stage and filmed actors performing the material. New episodes are currently in development. He said the next “season” will delve deeper into the back stories of the characters. The campaign is being promoted on YouTube and in banner ads.
Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt Find A Home In “Sentimental Value”
“Home is where the heart is.” The universality of that time-honored adage is in many respects at the core of Sentimental Value (Neon)--not just as it applies to the story but also as part of the process that went into telling that story. On the former score, director Joachim Trier’s film--which he wrote with long-time friend and colleague Eskil Vogt--is set in an old family home in Oslo that carries memories that help to define two sisters, now adults, and their strained relationship with a father who prioritized his filmmaking career over being a parent. The sisters are Nora (portrayed by Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas). Nora, the older sister, grew up to be an accomplished actor, following in the cinematic/stage career footsteps of her dad, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård in a Golden Globe-winning performance). After years of absence from Nora and Agnes’ lives, Gustav unexpectedly appears at the time-worn family residence to attend the funeral wake of the daughters’ mother but his prime motive for turning up is a movie that he wants to make in order to fuel his career comeback. And he has Nora in mind to play the lead in the film. She immediately refuses the role, which ends up going to a movie starlet (Elle Fanning). As shooting begins, psychological scars revert to open wounds and the presence of the American celeb forces Gustav, Nora and Agnes to look at themselves and their family’s fragile emotional underpinnings more closely. The family home is a repository of past lives spanning love, loss, alienation, joy, resentment and estrangement--as such, it’s a centerpiece for the characters in Sentimental Value and lends great insight into them. For example, at one point around the middle of the film, we see... Read More