NEW BIRDS EYE CAMPAIGN GIVES BWM MELBOURNE WINGS
Simplot Australia is building its Birds Eye nest, propelled by the launch last week of a new brand campaign created by Belgiovane Williams Mackay (BWM) Melbourne.
The new Birds Eye creative platform, ‘An Eye for Good Food’, represents a marked change in the brand’s positioning. An animated bird is the focal point in the new campaign.
It is the first work to emerge from BWM Melbourne since the agency won the $12 million Simplot marketing account in April, which includes the Birds Eye, I&J and Edgell brands.
BWM’s appointment by Simplot provided the impetus for the agency’s expansion in Melbourne, with a permanent team now based in Photon Group’s South Yarra offices.
Three Birds Eye product launches will support the new campaign – Stir Fry Flavour Infusions, Golden Crunch Monster Chips and Oven Bake Lightly Seasoned Fish. These products will be launched during August and September.
Jamie Mackay, Partner at BWM, said the agency’s Melbourne team was energised by the enthusiasm and ambition of their new client: “We are really excited about helping Simplot in their pursuit of buyers of frozen foods, particularly families, and strengthening their brand loyalty,” says Mackay.
“Our campaign will connect with consumers visually, particularly through the animated Birds Eye Bird, which communicates understanding and empathy with the wink of an eye.”
The campaign uses a range of media, incorporating TV, magazines, outdoor and digital components, plus in-store demonstrations.
BWM’s Melbourne-based creative director Rocky Ranallo, with executive creative director Rob Belgiovane, oversaw the creative development of this campaign.
View the Stir Fry Flavour Infusions spot
CREDITS
Simplot Marketing: Tara Lordsmith, Sam Laycock and Suzanne Harman
Agency: BWM, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: Rob Belgiovane
Creative Director: Rocky Ranallo
Creative Group Head: Jenny Barnett
Strategic Planning: Jamie Mackay
Account Management: Katie Molloy
TV Department: Whitney Hawthorne
Director: Barton Landsman
Producer: Marge McInnes
Production Company: @radical.media
75 Comments
The whole ad comes out very laboured in my opinion. It seems like they tried too hard with the joke. Did they need to explicitly explain that the kid put the sachet in?
Maybe they could have cut after the mum hangs up the phone to her sitting down to dinner, she digs in and pulls out her fork with the sachet on it.
Hey Lynchy, the most anticipated campaign of the year is the Droga VB stuff & lots of people really want to have their say about it.
Why isn’t it on the blog???
I know the Droga guys wont want it talked about, but it should be posted.
“…connect with consumers visually, particularly through the animated Birds Eye Bird, which communicates understanding and empathy with the wink of an eye.”
That’s fantastic! Brilliant thinking!
Saw the commercial, had a laugh at it’s accurate depiction of kids. Thanks to this blog, I now know it is Birdseye. Or is it?
This ad will be pulled soon because she fails to pull over before calling him back. We see her take a hand off the wheel and glance downwards. This kind of irresponsible driving runs counter to Prevailing Community Standards on health and safety. Specifically she fails to keep the conversation short or advise her son that she is driving and may have to end the call. Someone is bound to complain and the complaint will be upheld. Betcha.
Nice spot. Simple meal ideas that even the thickest of teens can prepare? That’s what I got out of it.
I’m really suprised this was considered worthy of posting.
why cant every ad produced in australia be this cut-through and funny. great direction and brilliant casting. really out of the box thinking that has late nights written all over it. and what a twist!! if you missed it… the boy actually drops the sachet in, without opening it (classic mistake and always funny, even my mum almost smiled). you go guys!… who said we get payed to much for ideas. watch out cannes!! all other work should be judged by this truly inspired spot. Easily fits into the ‘damn, why didn’t i think of that idea’ category.
“Maybe they could have cut after the mum hangs up the phone to her sitting down to dinner, she digs in and pulls out her fork with the sachet on it. ”
Did you learn your comedy skills from The Brady Bunch, 10:26…that’s vintage Cindy.
Cue music as Alice looks on in dismay: Wah wah waaaah
How totally predictable, a food ad that makes a monkey out of blokes. It’s fine, it really is, but that’s all. It’s not moving anything on at all. Feels very old fashioned.
I love this ad. And so do all the mothers I know with teenage sons. It was being talked about at a school function. We could all relate to it so it’s hitting the target market.
So I gather by the censorship that bagging the droga ad isn’t allowed?
2:09 hit the nail right on the head, this is A grade advertising, cannes here we come.
hahahahaha good one 2:09 you almost had me
Where the fuck is the campaign?
The first big thing they’ve done and it’s not on the blog.
Sounds very, very, very fucking fishy to me.
And, guys, ‘using the same director’ doesn’t justify the enormous remuneration you’re being paid to do what I tell juniors not to do daily.
Appalling.
A terrible start to a promising agency.
Pure Birdshit.
4.49, That was the most obvious agency post I’ve ever read.
5:01
Nope.
Looks like they are a little nervous of their first ad.
Can’t say I’m surprised.
I can’t believe this got picked over H&K’s stuff I helped out on.
God help us.
P-Diddy.
Average script plus average actors makes for a ‘campaign (that) will connect with consumers’. WTF.
Craft your work and ask for more money for talent before you produce wallpaper.
This ad doesn’t really work. On the way back from lunch I saw an twenty-something office worker fall over and badly gash her knee. Remembering the animated Bird’s Eye bird, I immediately attempted to communicate understanding and empathy with the wink of an eye. She burst into tears and told me to fuck off.
Wow, with work like oz are really marking their territory for Cannes 09.
To me it seems a cut above the average one of these ads. Regarding the guy re-writing this spot, the only reason it is above average is because it’s kind of underplayed. It’s funny because she has the afterthought and rings back- which feels kind of real. The observation is she has to tell him every instruction. If she found the sachet in her food it would make too of the small joke and would feel bub bub barrrrrr….
Great to see the junior critics out in force once again, still jealous as they’re sitting in some unknown agency writing recruitment ads.
Guess it’s better than working at Macca’s hey kids?
5:43 That’s fucking funny.
There you go BWM. That’s comedy.
8.30, I think you need to give credit where credit’s due.
I think even the juniors fresh out of nappies on this blog have been able to spot that this is one’s a dudder of an idea that yet again repeats the ‘male as fish out of water in the kitchen’ cliche.
8.30. Your attempt at sardonic humor is almost as tired and cliche-ridden as your ad. Keep posting though. It can only get better.
Australian advertising at its finest! The reason we work in this business. So we can knock off at 5 and go for a surf.
ZZZZZZZZZZZ
The real problem with this ad is not what happens in it, or whether the actors are credible.
Ironically, despite the PR spin, it’s the branding.
I saw this spot a number of times on the tellie before I registered who it was for.
Not a very auspicious start for the winking bird’s eye device, boys.
It could have been for anything in a packet.
acting is shite.
Sorry but have a few issues, just another spot where the man (or young man) is portrayed as thick as a brick. puleeese people can we find humour elsewhere, just lazy.
I think the casting and direction are quite good but i think it s truly insulting to portray the teenager so thick as to put a plastic packet into a stirfry. im a father of two of them but neither of them was anywhere near as thick at even 8 years old as this kid is meant to be at 18. Oh and if its so simple and quick to cook why doesnt mum just do it when she gets home. oh and why are they cooking dinner in middle of the day broad daylight
oh and lastly i hate it for the same reason I hate most of the ads at the moment, utterly ridiculous media schedule. totally inescapable that any ad no matter how good will be like water torture come the closing ceremony
I’m confused. I thought it was the plastic that gave food like this flavour. (The dumb kid is not so dumb after all.)
Also, it’s good that the branding is bad … don’t want to give the brand a bad name by being remembered.
5:43 – gold.
5:43 – you’re a legend. That’s the funniest post I’ve ever read on this blog.
I really think that we’ll be posting the next ‘easy off BAM!” execution. It’s at about the same level on the advertising food chain.
BWM! And the dirt is gone!
Just wondering when the D5 VB ad will be put up for scutiny?
It’s not bad but… it needs something, hmmmmm… I know Benny Hill music … then were talking comedy.
Everything’s funny with Benny Hill music ya know.
Fuck this shit. Show us the VB ads Droga5. We deserve to see it.
Are you guys that ashamed of it?
Sorry 1:07 – don’t mean to put a hole in your theory, but the old bag is using handsfree whilst driving – and that’s still legal. But if she were drive to Benny Hill music then it would be illegal. I’m pretty sure about that. Anyone know about this law?
9.50 – that’s an insult to whoever does the ‘BAM’ creative. They at least dont have the hide to post their work and the blog and attempt to talk it up.
Why don’t you just talk about the VB ad on this thread? If you’re allowed to that is.
What an amusing anecdote. I’m sure the kid’s mum laughed about it later with her wife.
Have you seen the animated steam on the food shot of this ad? It’s like they were burning a rubber tyre, as subtle as the blitz.
as a ‘junior’ in the industry, is this the kind of advertising i should be inspired by? is it? granted… it may be a hard brand not to do an everday ad for, but is this it… really? is this the kind of ad that will make my book stand out. if it is, then i’ve obviously made a horrible career choice. please tell me this ad isn’t what i’m aiming for. i thought i might have to think much harder about the future of advertising, and how not to make ads that make people hate advertising. if i’m wrong, please tell me. and please leave your name, so i know not to ask you for advice through AWARD school.
BWM! doesn’t work. Look again at the Bird’s Eye ad. The dirt’s still there.
Can someone send a link to the VB Gold ad for fuck sake?
12.34pm, unnecessary use of quotation marks. Plus, your little rant was shit.
If you want to see one of teh VB ads, here it is.
If you want to comment, do so on youtube.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=5hxJ6YaJZmg
12:34 if you’re inspired by ads full stop you have problems.
So the ad was based on a comedy skit..big deal…so was one of the most awarded ads of all time.
Heineken ‘photo booth.’
3.25, so poeple sholuldn’t be inspired by ads? great point. so what are we all doing?
Photo Booth was of course for Hamlet, but it was not just based on a sketch it was frame for frame THE sketch.
Good sketch though. I think Gregor Fisher made a living out of it.
5:36 Heineken Photo Booth eh. Have a link to it?
It’s a direct rip. Not creative really, is it?
Surely it should have a big fat dirty © BBC or whatever at the end of it!? This is theft.
Yeah 3:34 pm
Great comment. You REALLY know what’s going on.
As for you 4:45 am, get back to your dirty little den you call a cubicle and keep working on that 10pp brochure.
And you 10:13 pm
Why don’t you stop signing your name anonymously and tell us who you really are….
– Oh the shadows from which you draw your daggers.
12.34, are you serious? Advertising is advertising, ferchrissakes. Occasionally, something brilliant will come along to affirm our belief that creativity can help business, but most of the time non-creative efforts can do the job just as easily (just ask any promo agency).
(P.S. I wish some of the Droga work was here, not just the PR)
Have a look at AWARD 1991. There’s about 5 ads that make blokes look rather silly in the kitchen. They weren’t that funny then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlYMID5qCdE
Hamlet ad.
And if you want to see Droga 5 ads. V Australia that is on air is their account.
crew, it’s an ad for packet stir-fry. chill.
seffy
Always heard hamlet was a rip off but i’ve never seen the original sketch. Guess it was long before utube days. The British seem perfectly fine with ripping off stuff which goes on to win major metal. “Creature Comforts”, “Ain’t milk brilliant” etc. Seems unbelievable to me that you win Gold D&Ad for picking a good sketch and then weaving your product in there. Even Whatsup seems diminished to me knowing it was a short film first. The original writer should get the credit.
Australia’s OK with it too.
Sam Kekovich’s character was orginally written for The Fat, but appropriated pretty much as-is for Lamb. Result: AWARD pencils.
Years ago, FCB in Melbourne pretty much lifted a scene from a John Candy/McCauly Kulkin movie and won AWARD pencils for it. Heinz soup I think.
Garry Larson cartoons for flyspray.
On and on and on it goes. This is seriously old news guys. Appropriation has always been acceptable, as long as it isn’t from other ads.
Honour amongst thieves I guess.
Truth is, that’s our job. Whatever we can use to sell our client’s product/build his brand, is fine. If it does it better than something we can make up ourselves, then even better. Let’s be honest, if we were clever enough to do it in the first place we’d all rather be writing movies, comedy or being rock stars. Pay’s good though eh?
Who would have thought that a Bird’s Eye ad would segue into a discussion about the endless play of interconnected discourse within the advertising canon at the hands of an anonymous silent majority? Baudrillard would be proud.
If you, 1.40, spent more time on your advertising and a little less time studying french postmodern theory, you might not have to be so anonymous when you comment.
Is this blog a Protected Zone?
Looks like it.
Let’s be frank: they don’t deserve it.
And the way they’re hiding, it seems pretty clear they’re feeling guilty.
3.46. Perhaps you are familiar with Derrida’s views? “The name: What does one call thus? What does one understand under the name of name? And what occurs when one gives a name? What does one give then? One does not offer a thing, one delivers nothing, and still something comes to be, which comes down to giving that which one does not have, as Plotinus said of the Good. What happens, above all, when it is necessary to sur-name, renaming there where, precisely, the name comes to be found lacking? What makes the proper name into a sort of sur-name, pseudonym, or cryptonym at once singular and singularly untranslatable?”. Hope this clears things up for you. 1.40pm
So 5.39,
are you saying there’s nothing wrong with throwing the sachet in unopened?
If you’re going to borrow an idea from a sketch, make it a good one, make it a funny one,make it something that beer drinkers would actually like. For god’s sake do your jobs or get out of the way of better agencies with better creatives.
Yes, 12.24. But as 12,45 alludes to, if you borrow something, make sure it’s relevant, and make sure you do it at least as well as the original. Hamlet and Bud (with Wassup) did the smart thing and hired the same cast for the ad. Oh, and the sketch fit in nicely with the brands. And also, the sketch wasn’t the whole idea (at least not with Hamlet) but just one more execution in the campaign. The ad that dare not speak it’s name fails on all these fronts.
Random pearl of wisdom.
“If you’re going to do comedy, make it funny.”
Hate the lead guy’s performance. Really bad direction.
This is so cliche boring food ad – just swapped dumb dad for dumb kid. And what is that crap about the empathetic wink of the eye? Brilliant outdoor too. A large pack, boring headline and a tiny little logo that you can’t even make out (let alone feel the empathy from it’s winking eye which obviously can’t wink in a static medium). Bring back boring old John Waters, okay so it was invisible, but it wasn’t as cliched and boring as this crap. Hope the BWM Melb team have some new biz prospects in the wings coz they won’t last long with this shite.
Thanks
I love birds eye soup, it’s a home country favorite. Tajturkistan’s national dish in fact.
10. 03
Invisible John Waters is actually probably worse than this. It is, as you say, invisible and won’t do anything, whereas while this is cringy, it’s obviously not too invisible and it’s not going to damage the brand as such, so it will at least communicate about the sachet and the veg.