Center Parcs is in the short break holiday business with five Villages across the U.K.; Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, Elveden Forest in Suffolk, Longleat Forest in Wiltshire, Whinfell Forest in Cumbria and Woburn Forest in Bedfordshire. To show that these Villages with acres of forests are a great place for families to come together, London agency Brothers and Sisters created this TV ad celebrating the forest environment as an immersive playground.
Directed by Eric Lynne of Partizan and using the well-known children’s game of consequences, the TV commercial follows a family of four through the forest telling a story. Starting as all good stories do with “once upon a time,” the imaginative tale builds between mom and dad, son and daughter–each sharing different lines. The characters from their imaginative story, including a robot, a leaf monster and a great forest whale, magically spring to life around them as the story builds.
Electric Theatre Collective collaborated with Hollywood concept artists who have worked on movies for the likes of Marvel to design the characters in the 50-second spot titled “The Forest is your Playground.” The characters took over two months to develop, with painstaking detail to ensure they fit naturally in the forest environment. The piece took 1,200 hours of animation in addition to the time spent modeling and lighting each of the characters.
Colin Whaley, sales and marketing director at Center Parcs, commented, “Our research shows that in modern life, parents rarely get the chance to get on the same level as their children and give them undivided attention. This new campaign shows how through imaginative play and simply using the things around you such as the forest and nature, you can be together as family.”
