I turned brand mascots into actors, and the client bought twice the spots.
Rate plan terms are the least interesting thing on television. Cricket already had characters nobody was using properly, so we gave them personalities, quirks and performances worth sitting through, and let the offer ride along.
ROLE
Art Direction · Copywriting · Creative Direction · Production Partner Direction · Edit and Post Oversight
CLIENT
Cricket Wireless
AGENCY
Argonaut
SCOPE
TV · Digital · OLV · Social
The problem
Prepaid wireless advertising is an offer category. Everyone is selling the same plans at the same prices and the work exists to deliver terms. Cricket had a cast of brand characters already in market, and they were being used as decoration rather than doing anything people would remember.
What I did
Turned mascots into actors. We wrote the characters as people with relatable personalities, backstories and quirks rather than as logos with faces, which gave the spots something to be about besides the rate plan.
Ran the production end to end. Director search, treatment review and awarding, preproduction, the shoot, the edit, voice record, and post, including animation integrated into live action.
Impact
The client bought twice the spots
Brand loyalty grew as the characters revealed their personalities
Characters written as performers rather than mascots, with quirks like a fear of heights, so the offer could ride inside something worth watching.
Animated characters integrated into live action, handled through the full post process. Ramon is a heartthrob, and the paparazzi can’t get enough of him.
Miles, Rose and Chip let loose during final sound editing, much to the sound engineer's detriment.