5 Things That Caught Our Eye This Week – 27th November 2020
The popularity of a hangover from a holiday that we do not celebrate continues to amaze me as we once again have Black Friday foisted upon us by brands desperate to get rid of surplus stock under the guide of a ‘sale’.
On a more positive note, Christmas is saved and my street has already begun to resemble a neon wonderland. The ads this week are an eclectic hamper of ideas ranging from alcohol to knitting. Pencil Studio simultaneously stimulated debate and made me fancy a cider. BMB reminded me of the ghost of (deconstructed) Christmas jumpers past. BrandMe and TBWA encouraged my sweet tooth with Ribena and Chocolate digestives respectively. PB Creative attempted to help me to ‘find my happy place’, which I might argue contains fizzy drinks and chocolate biscuits anyway.
1. “Ribena Sparkling” by Brand Me
Ribena is everyone’s childhood in a drink. And they only went and made it fizzy! Ribena Sparkling launched its Blackcurrant and Raspberry carbonated drinks. Brand Me were responsible for the packaging and have somehow crafted a design that feels both familiar yet fresh, the perfect combination for appealing to their core market whilst also expanding its reach to those in search of a fizzy refreshment. What really impressed us though was the consideration given to currant (sorry!) sustainability trends. BrandMe had to take into consideration Ribena and Suntory’s sustainability policy to ensure PET bottle to bottle recyclability with a greater transparency area in the label to allow for 100% recyclability. Berry good job guys!
Client: Ribena
Agency: Brand Me
2. Unilever- “Find Your Happy Place” by Pb Creative
Based on stories of people ‘reclaiming your happy place’ , “Find Your Happy Place is designed to transform your mood and wash away anxiety, apparently. The first collection will encompass special moments which include coming home for the holidays, lazy weekends, watching the sunrise and lying under a starlit sky. The range will be exclusive to Walmart as Unilever have made this exclusive to the USA. So we can’t say and the scent, but the packaging certainly had a positive effect on out mood.
Agency: PB Creative
Client: Unilever
3. Hawksridge cider by Pencil Studio
Packaging seems a theme in this weeks ‘5 things’. We also loved Pencil Studio’s brilliant new packaging for Hawksridge cider. The colours are bold and refreshing and the flexographic effects caused debate in my household. I was reminded of eastern European art, whilst my other half swore it looked of Mexican origin. Debate is good, but guys I noticed you used an eagle on ‘Hawksridge’ cider packaging. I don’t want to give notes, but I can think of another animal of the ornithological persuasion you could have used? Perhaps too on the nose/beak? Still, these look incredibly lovely. Great work.
Client: Aston Manor
Agency: Pencil Studio
4. Innocent – “Start Bleating Knitting” by BMB
‘Start Bleating Knitting’ is a fun series of videos that tour the length of Britain and sets regional accents over images of playful sheep as you would expect from a brand like Innocent. I enjoyed the various voice overs and I now know what knitting would sound like, if it was commentated on by Spud from Trainspotting. However, I was also left wondering, is the cockney sheep a plastic? Or was he born within the sound of the Bow (Peep) Bells? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.
5. McVities – “Too good not to share” by TBWA
Without turning into a saint, I approve of any message that encourages ‘sharing’, especially at this time of year. However after watching TBWA’s ‘Too Good Not to Share’ I am left asking the question ‘Where was all the dunking?!’ I mean in a video about chocolate digestives I didn’t see biscuit kiss tea once! Heathens! [Edit: Did you know a McVities Digestive halves in calories if you dunk it in a tea?*]
Client: McVities
Agency: TBWA London
* Apparently it’s not true. WTF.