Grill’d introduces ‘Righteous Burgers’ in first ever brand campaign via The Monkeys
Grill’d has launched its first major brand campaign, taking aim at evil with the help of a righteous burger vigilante. The campaign, developed by The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive, first aired on Saturday during the AFL Grand Final.
The campaign features a fearless burger vigilante who boldly sticks up for what is right in an industry of unsustainable, unnatural and unhealthy food practices. This animated hero takes on evil scientists, eco-villains and a toy-toting clown in his quest to make the world a better place.
The campaign launches this week in WA and QLD, and it will run on broadcast television, BVOD, radio, online, and across social.
“Consumers are more concerned than ever about the impact their consumption has on others and the planet,” said Simon Crowe, founder of Grill’d. “This campaign highlights our ongoing commitment to sustainable, natural and healthy practices – as well as delicious burgers.”
Since opening in 2004, Grill’d has grown from a single restaurant in Melbourne to over 150 restaurants Australia-wide. In this time, Grill’d has cemented itself as the healthy, guilt-free solution to fast-food – while helping Australians to consume more consciously.
In the past 12 months, Grill’d recycled over 660,000 litres of cooking oil to create biodiesel; all Grill’d packaging is made from cardboard and paper sourced from sustainable forests; and as of last week, 62 restaurants have been converted to green power.
Grill’d has an Australia-first sourcing promise and works with local farmers and suppliers to keep its food distribution footprint low, and ensure all products are made with the freshest ingredients.
“Grill’d has always worked to create a better food industry – whether it be through our support of local communities and supply chains, or by investing in more sustainable practices,” Crowe says. “We’re excited to be launching our new ‘Righteous Burgers’ brand campaign, which captures our ambition to be the healthy and sustainable solution to the fast-food category.”
“We hope this campaign will continue to drive home our mission with consumers – to lead the industry in making healthier, better burgers for ourselves and the planet.”
Says Hugh Gurney, Creative Director at The Monkeys: “In the burger industry, there are many villains. The world needed a hero. So, we created a vigilante that was part Batman, part Beatrix Kiddo, and part burger. The campaign seeks to establish ‘Righteous Burgers’ as an enduring brand idea, which inspires loads of incredible creative ideas in the future.”
Adds Joe Sibley, Creative Director at The Monkeys: “We drew inspiration from the introductions of shows like Captain Planet and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles… heroes in a half-shell, turtle power! We wanted the campaign to be distinctive, memorable and — most importantly — wildly enjoyable.”
Agency: The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive
Chief Executive Officer, Melbourne: Paul McMillan
Chief Creative Officer, Melbourne: Ant Keogh
Creative Director: Hugh Gurney
Creative Director: Joe Sibley
Group Account Director: Sophie Gosper
Account Director: Tom Patterson
Account Manager: Isaac Montebello
Chief Strategy Officer, Melbourne: Mike Derepas
Head of Production: Romanca Mundrea
Senior Producer: Jo Alach
Senior Craft Designer: Raph Tamkalis
Senior Designer: Chris Thompson
Media: PMG
Founder & Planning Director: Dianne Richardson
Account Director: Sam Waldren
Production Company: Unlisted
Executive Producer: Katie Mackin
Producer: Su Mei Chia
Animation: WIZZ
Director: Gary Levesque
Producer: Claire Madigan
Songwriter: Hugh Sibley
Music Production: Electric Dreams
Shred-lord: Tom Rouch
Music EP: Leyla Varela
Sound Design: Squeak E. Clean Studios
Head Sound Designer: Paul Le Couteur
EP: Ceri Davis
Photography: Adrian Lander
Client: Grill’d
Founder and Managing Director: Simon Crowe
CEO: Adam Stapleton
Marketing Director: Kerrie Wade
Head of Brand: Grace Eadie
57 Comments
This is great
Pretty good. ??
This is ace
Didn’t HJ’s already run a campaign about Righteous burgers?
Lots to like about this, I just wish it wasn’t so ugly. A better choice in illustration style would’ve made this really memorable.
This is awesome.
Thought The Royals had them?
This is really fun but that burger patty looks like a hockey puck. Weird that they wave the healthy burger flag when the food looks more processed than Macca’s or HJs
Meat is not sustainable. Nor is it particularly healthy. How is this allowed to air? Truth aside – it’s a fun execution, but so way too on the nose.
Nice. Been waiting to see the influx of animated ads due to the fact that we can’t shoot anything right now.
Well done Monkey’s. This one is well deserved.
Lol, the retro animation style is exactly what makes this.
Rad x1000
That animation is offensive even down to the colour choices.
Could have been cool. Miss.
Kind of communicates unhealthy burgers
This is fun and a cool idea but far too much happening at once to even absorb anything
Stuck in my head now
The best thing about this is that Joe managed to get a TMNT theme song line into his quote. Muy bueno Joseph.
The retro aesthetic isn’t lost on me, but it’s an ugly one – particularly the design of the burger
The use of the toothpick flag as a distinctive brand asset that actually defeats the enemy is really clever. Well done.
Saving our planet is the thing to do! Love ‘em.
Really love this work. Great job by the monkeys
FKN awesome. Takes me back to Captain Planet with the animation style. And that jingle made me proper laugh out loud. Well done team.
Wish I’d made it.
…will stand out. Nothing else looks like this on Aus TV. Good.
I love this! Great song, great animation – very memorable
This is great work for many reasons. Congratulations to all.
{insert bullshit here}
This is great – and fun! A breath of fresh air from all the covid ads going on right now…
These are awesome, but I swear the song is just a Skybombers b-side.
Don’t hate this but Clems had a similar line for Hungry Jacks. If you are going to pitch your self as anti-mass fast food… maybe don’t steal their line.
Nice.
the execution of the theme song is terrible
Burger King, Chipotle and Starburst Strawberries and Cream…
advertising that actually entertains me. well done monkeys.
If you are going to self generate comments praising your own work,for goodness sake make it less obvious.
This commentary is just embarrassing for the agency.
This is really fun, great work Monkeys
OK idea. Really let down by the art direction and animation, music too. Uninspired.
Telling people that burgers are healthy is pretty unethical. But I’ve come to expect that from this industry.
That Joe Gurney sure missed out on the songwriting credits. Love this H&J – well done.
“Uninspired”. Mate, when was the last time you saw an ad in the style of an 80’s cartoon?
To be fair, it was only a matter of time until something like this came along as everyone is resorting to animation at the moment but come on man, to deny this is good is just petty.
And to the comments above using the tried-and-true Campaign Brief method of undermining work by claiming agency comments, I’ve been one of the most vocally enthusiastic people on here and actually have zero fondness for the Monkeys because after years of trying they’ve never let me into the clubhouse. That said, this is fresh, original work in an oversaturated sea of blandness in Australia and is 100% worthy of the praise it is getting.
I like this. 99% of ads are excrutiatingly boring these days. The same tired old directors telling the same tired old jokes with the same cast. This is fun and its ballsy. In terms of the design style I don’t mind it.
This is brilliant advertising. Back to what works well, memorable tune, brand living up to their purpose and acting boldly without fear. Too many brands are scared these days. Refreshing. Good work to Grilled and The monkeys. Hope they don’t fall short on media buy
Beef is hardly sustainable, who are we kidding here?
And if I had a dollar for the amount of times I’ve seen ‘we made it into a cartoon’ as the entire concept get applauded within the echo chamber of advertising – I’d be a rich lass
Agreed. The beef industry is one of the worst polluters on earth (didn’t we all watch Food Inc. on Netflix?). That said, the message here is they’re better than their competitors, they just kinda… are still very bad but let’s not talk about that.
As for other retro-animated ads getting praise, I genuinely can’t think of one other right now other than big CGI John Lewis-esque spots. Care to share?
I get it, you don’t eat meat. That’s okay, but this is an industry blog about creativity in advertising not a PETA petition.
Like the majority of the comments here The Melbourne Monkeys have done a great job for their client with this one. Should sell a bunch of righteous burgers. Yum yum.
https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/thenewdaily.com.au/life/eat-drink/2018/05/28/grilld-burgers-mcdonalds-health/amp/
I just read through the study mentioned in that article. It’s quite misleading. The main criticism comes from not publicly communicating the company’s approach to nutrition, rather than the actual nutritional content of their burgers.
The righteous burger company that gone done for wage theft… riggggghhhhhtttttt. Wolf in sheeps’ clothing here.
Oof, if only you got in with the first comment.
I love this idea/concept, but I hate the animation style and the music. I think it works and will do well for Grill;d
Can’t wait for the cease and desist from Maccas over the lookalike clown.
Are we not allowed to question a strategy that is dishonest on an advertising industry blog? I also commented on the execution saying it was fun, but that I thought it was way too on the nose. A superhero taking on the baddies is as nuanced as a sledgehammer. The effusive praise for it doesn’t mean it’s great – means the bar is pretty low.
Lol mate. You’re talking to a guy who’s traded alcohol for Maccas the last few months.
Found the Millennial.
To the responder.
I stand by my comment. Saying it is different from other Australian Advertising doesn’t make it good.
I don’t like how my comment came off, so I apologise for that. I wish I had more time to offer a real critique as I do think a trick was missed with the art direction on this. I usually comment positively (for what its worth)
Is that a joke? Saving cows to kill them later anyway so… what’s righteous bout that?
The message is they don’t pump them full of hormones. Thought that was pretty self evident.
Very similar to some animations done by Chipotle 10 years back. I know for a fact that Grill’d loved these animations and would have asked for something similar. Nothing original about this and a bit tired of the old “perception in reality” thing with Grilld. Last time I checked no recycling offered instore and meat is not sustainable. This ad should be done for false advertising – fact!