Integrated Campaign - The Ben & Jerry's Breakup
Brief:
Initial ideas:
- Do you need a man in your life? how about two?
- There are two men that have always got your back when the main one in your life doesn't.
- Ben and Jerry break up.
Aim of campaign:
- Trying to sell more ice cream / new flavour
campaign ideas:
-The Ben & Jerry's Mix up [endif]
-Best friends game are you ben or are you jerry [endif]
-We cant decide on a flavour – through ice cream – we need help otherwise we will break up
-Ar / vr – game - in a factory making the ice cream , throwing it at someone?
-Ice cream event - sponsorship
-Winter flavours / beach event
-Movies - sponsored break up movie night, one big slumber party with the cheesiest chick-flicks and bean bags. Make a positive out of negative and may be even make friends.
- Use the company cow in something - put picture of an exes face onto it and it says mooo
- The Ben & Jerry's break up. This idea would cause even more heartbreak than when eating the product. Everyone would panic that there favourite ice cream duo would break up = massive scandal.
The concept: Ben & Jerry's Break Up:
I decided to make ben and jerry in vector forms to try and stick to their brand qualities and values as vector designs feature on their packaging as well as illustrations:
Making Ben & Jerry:
To make Ben & Jerry I used a stock vector from my previous illustration (rinse the rapper) I used the male skeleton to construct the characters. I made there heads lean into one another to reinforce there friendship. I chose colours that represented the brand (green: grass always features on the packaging) (Blue: because its the background colours) I experimented with other ideas such as the yellow within the logo but they didn't work as well as these ones do. To get the facial features I used this reference image to build up the facial features and the hair. I made the appropriate accessories and glasses. I found the only best way to get the beard texture was to use lots of dots. I also gave them subtle differences in clothing.
I tested my idea out with a single screen shot of the two together (see first shot of treatment) The idea was widely received with me achieving over 100 like on Instagram through the relevant hashtags. This is how I knew the concept would work across multiple media platforms.
The initial idea: animation advert Tv/social media
Within my initial treatment concept idea, I storyboarded what I planned to do as an advert. Initially it was going to be one big campaign video that would feature on Facebook, Instagram, twitter - it would be on multiple media platforms. However after consoling with my lecturer we decided we would break the video down. I decided to break it down into 5 different segments. This was because we found that i would be trying to get across too many messages. By separating the videos out the messages would be clearer and more direct the viewers.
I found this out when I was starting to edit a rough cut of my campaign and I wanted to use a variety of music to help convey the different parts of the narratives. As you can see below this did not work because it was too hectic and confusing.
Final five videos that will feature website and social media sites:
You've got a friend in me:
The Break up:
Going their separate ways: Jerry's flavour
Bens Flavour:
the Reunion:
For the songs that feature in the videos, I researched into the cheesiest break up songs I could find and think of. I think they work well with imagery as the musics and lyrics help to convey the message being put across. How one issue I found was that all but the last video was uploaded to Instagram. This is due to the length of it featuring a copyright song. If this was real campaign the company may have been able to pay for the rights or the length of the video would have been shortened to avert the issue.
However if I was to make these videos again, the key thing would be to make one more video, highlighting that they don't work on their own and they need each other. Not just using the website to help convey this message. As I thought this message would be clear in the way they came up with rubbish flavour ideas.
Another issue that arose was; to completely test the idea out I uploaded them all to my Instagram account. They all worked other than the final video. Instagram picked up on the copyright from the music. However when posting them to YouTube (publicly) they all loaded. This was an interesting discovery as the final video is longer than the rest and this is probably why. The less of the song used the less likely it is taken down.
Making the videos:
To make the videos I had to edit them and construct them all separately. The videos that took the most time to make would be the second and the last due to the multiple elements the sound effects. As you can see from the screen shot below there were multiple elements involved in constructing the videos.
I learnt 3 new skills within the project within my editing techniques in Adobe after effects.
- Learning how to make confetti - youtube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NmIRiwAw7o
- Making a starburst effect - playing around with the effects within the software
- making the mouths move with the slit effect - this effect allowed me to select the length of the mouth and set multiple key frames for the mouth movements to sync up with the lyrics of the song. This technqiue provided key comedic elements to my videos that helped to keep them within and on brand of Ben & Jerry's. Keeping to their core brand values.
Website campaign ideas:
As well as making an animation of the two breaking up and realising they can not work without each other - (right Twix and left Twix - campaign) I came up with some spin off aspects of the campaign - 3 ideas based around the topic of break ups.
The first idea was: Whats your break up flavour? People would answer rough questions based on their break up to analyse what flavour there break up is. People would then buy this said flavour to help them get over it
The second idea was: A dating app based on what your favourite Ben & Jerry's flavour was. You would then be matched with either someone who likes the same flavour or the best flavour combination.
The third idea was: An agony aunt style idea, but it would be answered by 'BEN & JERRY' which could be impractical and hilarious, but also completely pointless. People could ask them random questions on how to improve there relationship or fun ways to get over a break up.
Final website concepts:
For the website I decided to make three options for the public to interact with. the first two choices were either Ben or Jerry's flavour ice cream. The last was an alternative; to petition to save ben and jerry and to get them to come back together. The whole idea was that it built a current platform for the product to be launched on. However there could still be places for spin off ideas such as the ones mentioned previously. The website is clear and concise, as I thought about the UX. The less buttons the better. The website is stand alone or can be integrated within the original site. Traffic to the sight is provided by the clear call to action at the end of every video using the hashtag #saveBen&Jerry and the website URL.
The main features of the site would be the home page: features the two and have click buttons to vote for Team Ben or Team Jerry. However, I also provided an alternative option/button to help get them back together.
The theme of the site stays the same throughout with the same header of the characters and the hashtag, and Logo. The user would be directed to a page where they can sign the petition by providing their name and email.
This key information helps the next part of the campaign. By providing their email, we are then able to send them updates on how the campaign is going (who's winning, loosing etc)
Poster element of campaign that would be digital and print:
Pack shot of new flavour - ben and jerry having the time of their lives in there new found friendship (stronger than ever) To lead on from the final video of ben and jerry singing "I will always love you" in space, it leads into the poster of the two in space on a unicorn having the time of their life. I used Ziggy Stardust as a homage to how the company names there ice cream flavours as they are named after great music artists. However the name I came up with does not not follow this attribute and subverts there conventions. But it give the gist of the concept which is what its supposed to do.
Poster Research: Before I made the poster I researched into how Ben & Jerry's use print marketing for there company and what they have done before. I found they focus a lot on the typographic element. This works well within their designs so i took direct inspiration from these aspects. However all the previous posters have a constant of grass and cows. For my version i wanted to go beyond planet earth and really embrace the brands core values: Peace, Love and ice cream which I believe this poster represents and works as the final step of the campaign visually.
The final aspect of the campaign would be a sponsorship of an event
- Ben & Jerry's can sponsor the break up themed pop night featured in time out magazine. The company can hand out free samples of the new flavour as taster samples for the night. The event is perfectly timed and on brand / campaign. The night features the cheesiest break up songs aided by the helping hand of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.