10.22.2006

Ben & Jerry's Gets an Animation Makeover



Having randomly met, at a party last night, the creative team that came up with the new Ben & Jerry's commercials, I was intrigued to track them down on YouTube. I found them, but wasn't completely blown away. The animation is very cool, and reminds me of the Wallace & Gromit style. Other than that the idea is pretty simple; take the names of each ice cream flavor and translate it literally into a short scene. The problem is, they translate them too literally. It would be better if they were able to be a bit more creative in their translations, so that when the name of the flavor is revealed, it is more of a pay off for the viewer to put it together. Another error is the translation of the 'Phish Food' flavor. They seem to forget that this is named after the band Phish, so it would have been cool to incorporate the band in some way. See additional spots here, here and here.

1 comment:

  1. One of the minds behind these spots in animation director Mark Gustafson. Remember that Nissan ad with GI Joe and Barbie years ago? Or maybe the ESPN "Believe" ad from last year? That's Mark's work, too. I work with him at LAIKA/house in Portland, Ore. The studio and the talent blows me away. Check them out - http://www.laika.com/house. The Entertainment side is making two movies on Phil Knight's $$$ - Coraline (Dir. Henry Selick) and Jack & Ben (CG feature).

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