Rousing Rabbit Interludes in Commercials
Out of the Chinese Zodiac’s, repeating twelve-year cycle of animal classifications, ‘The Year Of The Rabbit’ is believed to be the one that abounds with creativity and artistic expression.
For many Advertising Agencies however, every year ‘abounds with creativity and artistic expression’ with rabbits often popping up in fable inspired scenarios, or as metaphoric icons in advertising campaigns and commercials.
1. Tubi, Rabbit Holes
Advertising Agency: Mischief, New York, USA
Production Company: MJZ, Los Angeles, California, USA
Production Services Company: The Lift, Mexico City, Mexico
Post Production and VFX Studios: Untold, Los Angeles, California, USA
Tubi is the Fox Corporation USA’s, advertising-supported, free video streaming service, with a frequently updated library of feature films and shows.
Their 2023 Big Game campaign took viewers by surprise with their Tubi ‘Rabbit Holes’ commercial, directed by renowned filmmaker Tom Kuntz.
Mischief Agency’s, creatively impactful, and impressively produced commercial, featuring life-size rabbits, coercing people from all walks of life to take a deep dive into viewing what they’re most passionate about, was lauded by the Clio Awards Jury as the year’s best Super Bowl commercial.
2. Samsung Exynos 2200, The Marketplace
Advertising Agency: BBH, London, UK
Production Company: MJZ, Los Angeles, California, USA
VFX Studio: The Mill, Paris, France
Aimed at the active 638 million console-based ‘gamers’ in the world, Samsung Electronic’s System LSI Business division, have pioneered a mobile processor of high-definition, immersive gaming experiences, for their new generation of smart phones.
Masterly directed by renowned filmmaker Matthijs Van Heijningen (who is also a ‘gamer’), the ‘Samsung Marketplace’ commercial, is an inspirationally conceived scenario about ‘Alice’ in a game-player’s ‘Wonderland’.
Lured by a ‘White Rabbit’, into un underground marketplace of arms sales, Alice encounters an array of alien creatures, brought to life by ‘The Mill’s’ special effects and 3D creations, in an impressively produced commercial that is highly entertaining and cinematic.
3. IKEA, The Hare and The Tortoise
Advertising Agency: Mother, London, UK
Production Company: Pulse Films, London, UK
Post Production Company: NineteenTwenty, London, UK
The metaphoric ‘The Hare and The Tortoise’ commercial, inspired by Aesop’s fable, to promote IKEA’s Ofelia Vass sustainable cotton bedding, is entertainingly engaging with a life-size hare and tortoise scenario, of how ‘a good night’s sleep is key for a brilliant tomorrow’.
Masterly directed by filmmaker Sam Pilling, and impressively produced, with a ‘voiceover’ by Swedish actor Per Mattson, the soundtrack features English Rapper, Roots Manuva’s ‘Witness The Fitness’, composed and arranged by British music producer, Rodney Smith.
4. Mercedes-Benz AMG GT, Fable
Advertising Agency: Merkley+Partners, New York, USA
Production Company: RSA Films, Los Angeles, California, USA
Post Production and VFX Studios: MPC, Los Angeles, California, USA
The 2015, Mercedes-Benz AMG GT Commercial, directed by renowned special effects artist, designer, and filmmaker, Robert Stromberg, is an inventively fun take of Aesop’s ‘The Tortoise and The Hare’ fable, with impressively produced live action and animation, that is a cinematic and highly entertaining classic.
5. O2 Mobile Network, Follow The Rabbit
Advertising Agency: VCCP, London, UK
Production Company: Outsider. London, UK
Post Production and VFX Studio: The Mill, London, UK
VCCP’s integrated advertising campaign, ‘Follow The Rabbit’, for British telecommunications services, and mobile network operator O2, was spearheaded by a TV and online commercial, directed by filmmaking duo, Nic Goffey and Dominic Hawley.
Aimed at reminding people that nothing beats getting out the house, apartment, or office, and enjoying the thrill of a live concert, if music lovers follow O2’s blue rabbits, they will discover the best entertainment events and venues in town.
Displaying characteristics of a ‘music video’, the impressively produced commercial, features a soundtrack of the song “EML Ritual” by electronic music composers and songwriters , Tom Rowlands, and Ed Simons, know as the Chemical Brothers.
6. VW Rabbit, The Chase
Advertising Agency: DDB, Barcelona, Spain
Production Company: Errecerre International, Madrid, Spain
This classic Volkswagen Rabbit/Golf commercial, directed by Spanish filmmaker and producer, Daniel Benmayor, features an entertaining scenario of scores of Greyhounds chasing a very ‘savvy’ rabbit.
The cleverly conceived, single minded, ‘rabbit and chasing hounds’ analogy’, very effectively highlights the agile VW Rabbit’s price advantage.
7. Sony Bravia, Play-Doh Rabbits
Advertising Agency: Fallon, London, UK
Production Company: Gorgeous Enterprises, London, UK
Animation Production Company: Passion Pictures, London, UK
Post Production Company: MPC, London, UK
The Sony ’Colour Like No Other’ advertising campaign, for the Bravia, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TV, was conceived by Creative Director Juan Cabral.
One of the multi award-winning campaign’s famed commercials, was the ingenious and creatively aspirational ‘Play-Doh Rabbits’.
Live-action scenes, filmed in New York USA, and directed by filmmaker Frank Budgen, were combined with stop frame animation over a period of thee weeks.
40 animators used over two tones of plasticine, to shape, mould, and construct, figures and shapes, of numerous configurations, in a history-making, creative collaboration of dedication and amazing passion, that is a timeless delight to behold.