Oh, what a doll: JWT Sydney, Zoom and John Cox re-creates the magic of childhood for Allen’s
This Sunday night June 7, a new Allen’s lollies TV commercial, created by JWT Sydney, will make its network TV premiere.
Titled ‘Smiles’, a 9m tall blonde doll walks through a colourfully crowded street showering the crowd with lollies to the enormous delight of children and adults beneath her.
Believed to be the largest walking doll in the world, she was created by Australian Academy Award winner John Cox in his Gold Coast studio.
“Allen’s is so invested in this BIG idea, we have invested not only inthis TVC commercial and a significant media buy, but we areconsidering using our beautiful walking doll, “Ellie”, for futureappearances and we want to continue to bring smiles via the Allens’brand,” said John Broome, Head of Marketing, Confectionary &Snacks, Nestlé Australia Ltd.
While those in the industry who have seen the TVC have assumed it wasmade overseas, the TVC was filmed in Brisbane in April, closing off twostreets for the weekend including part of Queen Street. After talkingto eight directors in ten different countries over a two month period,JWT selected Queensland-based globe-trotting Aussie Mark Toia for thevital role of director.
“The doll was designed to remind us all of our childhood. She’s the quintessential doll
that’s been part of popular culture for decades,” says John Cox who was tasked with
creating an iconic walking doll that would move smoothly and capture the nation with her
face. Cox’s team worked for two months and spent a large portion of the TV commercial’s
total budget creating the doll.
For Cox, it wasn’t necessarily the finished doll that gave him the most joy or excitement.
“It was the milestones during the two month build that were wonderful for us, such as
opening the mould to reveal the dolls smooth face and seeing the big blue eyes work their
magic for the first time as they opened and closed,” added Cox.
It is considered that Cox and his team were the only Australians likely to be able to create
a doll of this size and appeal.
John Lam, JWT Sydney Associate Creative Director and Creative Group Head Jason Ross,
the team that created the concept and the TVC, have been working on this project for
twelve months. “It’s been an extraordinary experience. Everyone involved has injected
not only their talent, but their passion, into the project. John Cox and Mark Toia have
delivered a truly magical commercial and long held dream for JWT and the Allen’s
Team.”
Lam and Ross took Inspiration from a Mexican Festival puppet and a 7m French puppet.
The French puppet is believed to have cost $2M to build, yet this project didn’t have that
kind of budget. The Cox created walking doll is generations ahead of the overseas
inspiration in terms of her very advanced mechanics and instant physical appeal.
At many stages throughout the commercial’s twelve month journey, the JWT team led by Lam and Group Account Director Peter Bosilkovski championing the big idea were told “It can’t be done”. Lam says the commercial is a testament to an incredible client who really held the faith.
For JWT and the Allen’s team, being able to spend the budget here in Australia was a
terrific bonus that at times didn’t necessarily look possible.
Sought after Australian commercial director Mark Toia served as Director of Photography
and Editor, shooting the entire TVC with only two digital cameras, one of which was
located on a 67th floor roof top. “When the job came to me, I was brought in as a solution
maker. I thought WOW this is big…….big logistics, big crowds, big doll. I went to see
John’s work quite a few times to see what they were doing and after the first few weeks, I
knew we were in a good place. What really got me in was that it wasn’t just a digital
puppet – they wanted to make a real doll.” said Toia. “I couldn’t have done the job
without John – if John couldn’t do it, I would have pulled out of the job.”
The music for the Allen’s Makes SmilesTM commercial had to be optimistic and reminiscent
of childhood. The classic children’s nursery rhyme Knick Knack Paddy-Wack was selected
and is sung by a Melbourne School Choir whose involvement exemplifies the generosity of
spirit of everyone involved.
“Our spot for Allen’s is both magical and optimistic. These are powerful ingredients
for a commercial at any time, but even more so with all the gloom around at the
moment, ” says Andrew Fraser, Executive Creative Director, JWT Sydney.
Agency: JWT Sydney
Creative Director: Andrew Fraser
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: John Lam
Creative Group Head, Copywriter: Jason Ross
Peter Bosilkovski – Group Account Director
Fiona Tenaglia – Account Director
Head of Broadcast/producer – Gerri Hamill
Planner – Luke Atkinson
Production company; Zoom Film and Television, Brisbane.
Director – Mark Toia
Producer – Keri Grant
DOP – Mark Toia
Editor – Mark Toia
Post Production; Cutting Edge, Brisbane.
Doll Maker – John Cox
Music – Level Two Music
Composers/Producers; JoJo Petrina, and John Lee.
Sound designer; Nylon Studios, engineer, Simon Lister.
86 Comments
Nice one. Great to see a BIG production of this quality come from local talent. Well done to all involved.
This is nice. Though I was a little let down when it got to the TVC.
Why go to all that trouble to make and craft as giant real doll and then use didgi effects for the bubbles? Kind of kills it for me. Not sure about trying to make it look like the guys with the doll just walked down the street with it and everyone was surprised either…..?
It’s nice though, Just falls a little flat.
Anyone else….?
It’s okay, not amazing.
Constructively, I think it’d be much better if the bubbles felt real and if
it felt less like they’d planted cute smiles everywhere.
The music’s also a bit heavy handed.
Also, next time, i’d put the making of at the end, it’s like telling
someone how great your idea is before you present it and sets
you up for less of the reaction you might be looking for…
I wanted to love this and in a way I do, but for what it’s worth I would’ve loved to see the doll walk without the help of cider farmers from Dorset and the end line is way too sweet. But well done Jon.
What a big project.
Sorry, this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qaub5RijWE&feature=related
Should have painted out the ropes :oP
Magic.
This is cool lets make an ad out of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBXr15K2uSc
I guess it’s alright. But it’s got nothing on Fully Loaded Can.
nice idea. very charming and love the doll!!!!! well done.
Loved the doll but the final ad didn’t work for me, as if the parts were bigger than the sum. It’ll be interesting if it works without the “making of” buildup.
nice idea. very charming and love the doll!!!!! well done.
Not bad, but the magic and special fx ruined it for me. Plus I’m sick of all these ‘big crowds getting excited in the city’ ads. Sure, it’s beautifully realised, but PS2 did it years ago, and much better.
I can’t be bothered watching a self indulgent ‘making of’ before seeing the ad.
There is an idea there but for me the final ad falls flat. The making of is very impressive, but you have a 10 meter doll with a big fork lift coming out of its but and some hick looking yokels pulling ropes.
It just feels a little unfinished. Would have liked to see the doll walking without all the wires and cranes.
Just putting my 2 cents worth in. Just a great opportunity to make something big and it just falls a little short…
Awesome doll though and congrats Johnny with the new gig… Look forward to more good creative coming out of JWT again.
Y
This is grande, and an amazing job at making it happen
Big. Well done Mr Ross.
2Gs
Ropes hold the spot down, badly.
The full press release is almost as tall as the doll.
Who cares enough about advertising to read all that?
Jake. You’re spot on. That puppet is amazing.
This one, sadly, is big waste of fibreglass.
I’m sad to say it’s slightly symptomatic of Aussie advertising right now.
Firstly, a quick zoom through YouTube (where we’ve already seen at least two gigantic walking puppets – one of them an actual viral ad by BBH) to get the idea..
Secondly, not really understand that real human emotions to a walking puppet would be far more interesting than turning the whole thing into just another ad with fake reactions by actors.
And why, for the love of god, fuck up the sheer beauty of the thing (YOU MADE IT FOR REAL GUYS!!!) by adding loads of CGI, thus negating the work you put into the puppet itself.
10/10 for the effort (amazing)
4/10 for the idea (you nicked it from youtube, come on.)
9/10 for client difficulty (Allens? Fuck me!)
3/10 for the ad. You had it all there, but couldn’t help turning it into AN AD.
It’s bloody different for confect. Well done.
A Stella effort indeed! Congratulations to everyone who was involved with bringing this project to life.
Sweet work guys.
I agree with you Phil but I’d give less than 4 for the ‘idea’. It was magic when it was first spread around the net a couple of years back but this is ‘borrowed magic’, which is inferior to actually creating your own.
Brave effort for a client like Nestle. Well done!!!
Bound to become an Australian classic.
Wanted to like it but it felt very anti-climatic. CG was also kinda weird.
For people that are praising this, could you please tell me what I’m supposed to tell my AWARD school class when they ask, “But what’s the idea?”
Cool
Leo 8
I suspect the making-of was made for the client, which often happens when they spend a lot of money and want to hype up their sales force etc. Nothing wrong with that. Perhaps not best uploaded to the blog though. We’re far too clever to be impressed by how things are actually achieved.
Huge crowd gathering for amazing event.
How wonderfully original.
I wont even start on the reference…
Same idea as the Streets ad, but without the ‘Aussieness’……aren’t we all a little tired of street parades anyway? Obviously Droga5 aren’t….what with their VB effort…boring.
Doesn’t make me want to eat lollies, but then again I’m not a boy sitting on his fathers shoulders looking at a huge doll with an eery smile on my face.
There are 20 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute. Don’t think it’s a crime if your idea can be found there. However the CGI breaks the spell for me, much nicer to believe that it all happened.
Great ad for the category. I did get a smile.
Just showed this ad to my kids – it seems to work.
It’s such a shame, that people within our industry have so much hatred. So much, it’s a disgrace.
Making of builds up what turns out to be a really flat ad. What a let down! Music makes it even worse… sorry.
I was one of the other production companies that tried to win this job.
I have to honestly say that I don’t no how ZOOM pulled it off, the budget was small compared to the idea.
Well done I say, It’s very big and everything JWT asked for they got in spades, probably more.
signed jealous.
the problem is when you present ideas to people these days, you have to give them a lot of references and mood films. or they won’t buy into the idea.
Imagine the scenario, these guys show a bunch of scripts to the CD, the account, people, the client etc. Some of it is original stuff that they can’t show much reference for, but it could have been good.
No one else but them can really imagine it. So it doesn’t go through.
They also show these clips from youtube and say: hey look, we can also do this.
Everyone gets stoked. Now, we can see it. Let’s do it.
And so you inherently land up copying other people’s work.
The actual spot is pretty underwhelming given all the ‘making-of’ build-up.
And there’s a typo on the end title card.
TOIA you bastard!
Thats phukin awesome, I showed the wife and kids, they said why don’t you do ad’s like that daddy. I hate you
WOW JWT congratulations!
I for the life of me I don’t no why people on this blog are hanging shit on this. It’s great advertising. So nicely shot, directed, everything is sweeeeet. Awesome doll how long has this john cox guy been around.
Must agree though the bubbles look a bit over cooked, I bet Allens made you push them to far. I bet the kids won’t care. Us AD wankers are just being picky.
Also Good to see a director shooting his own pictures, for a change very talented nice work marc.
Jason Ross makes smiles.
How did a school choir get roped into a freebie for a rich, giant multinational – charity and spirit indeed!!!
Just wished there was a tad more doll walking but hats off for pulling off something decent for a traditionally difficult client.
Cheap approach to a big idea is always going to draw the critics out. Red camera looks blown-out and sits somewhere between, ” we didn’t have the budget for film” but it’s not meant to look like a bunch of handicams…. there is no sense of scale to the event – excluding the size of the doll, especially when there are cutaways to groups of cheering extra’s, which is old-wave and cheap. The positive is that the Doll looks good and kids will remember it, either by having nightmares or wanting their parents to buy them one, no wonder the suit’s happy , it will track well…. 8:06 pm don’t be so emotional, if our industry can’t take criticism on craft then we can’t progress and complete on a world class level.
Congratulations for actually getting half decent TV up in this climate. Thats deserves an award.
She needs balls of meat!
wow….“real” work from JWT….they are changing. should slap them on the back for that at least
8.06: Gay.
would have been heeps better if they removed all the ropes, scaffolding and people walking the giant. it just doesnt make any sense with them pulling her along..
Well done Mark Toia – awesome effort, looks great.
It would’ve been better if laser beams came out of her eyes at the end, and melted all the kiddies – then she went beserk and crushed half the city under her giant feet.
Luckily all you jealous small creatives (if you are really that) are not the target audience..
Just showed my kids and they went wild…
Maybe if you concentrated on a target audience you would have ads that worked instead of sitting there high and mighty waiting for the axe to fall on your dismal careers..
Get back bones and appreciate good work when you see it clowns!
Did they really not pay the kids to sing?
The next agency that approves a street crowd / big crowd running in streets ad deserves to be lynch mobbed at their office.
I cant believe someone earlier mentioned they showed it to their kids to see if it would work, like some sort of research experiment. Fu*kin sad.
11:02
This is not a blog for 5yr olds mate.
If you put work up expect honest criticism from with in the industry.
If you can’t handle it don’t put work up.
simple.
9 meter idea.
9 inch soundtrack
holy shit
I beg to differ 4pm.. It is a blog for 5 year olds, It’s not for senior creatives, they don’t post here. Ive been in the game long enough to know that!!
As for honest criticism, NOTHING on this blog is ever honest criticism, its jealous creatives who all want to say how they would have done it if they had a chance and that’s just the point, you don’t so you tear idea’s apart.
You want to give honest criticism, post with your real name and where you work and lets take the anonymous option away. Then let’s see how brave you all are and how open you are to tell the world how you would have made it a Cannes Winner!
It’s not my work, Im not a creative, I just work in the industry and love coming on this site to see how small minded and full of self importance you all are!
http://playhimoffkeyboardcat.com/
4:41 The blind leading the blind. If you can’t answer your own question, you shouldn’t be teaching AS.
8.50pm, what’s wrong with you, get a life, really, get a life.
My daughter wants me to buy the doll for her.
The Pros:
For a confectionery ad this is a bold and nice idea. Especially from an agency that consistently pumps out crap like VIVA product demos. Congrats to Andrew and the guys at JWT for making it happen. You had a another boring client and came up with something different. We’ll be expecting better ideas from you guys across the board now… don’t let us down.
The Cons:
This ad is poorly executed, even for the budget. It feels like watching the animatic or storyboard for the ad rather than the ad itself. The RED camera makes it look hyper-real, sterile and flat rather than fantastical, playful and fun.
The doll may as well have been a Ford Festiva driving down the road based on the reactions of the crowd. The performances are cheesy and weak and the ad falls flat because of them.
This idea needed a director that could bring that childhood innocence and excitement to the screen. One that directs performance as well as shots to create a ‘feel’ rather than a ‘look’.
Nice idea JWT, but next time you come up with a great idea for a confectionery ad, try not to use a director that will make it a car commercial.
8:50, it’s fairly obvious most of the posts come from CD’s, ex CD’s and senior writers.
If you knew who they were, they occasionally use their name, mostly go under anonymous.
Good luck finding a hobby.
Nick Nolte called – he wants his shoes back.
June 6, 2009 9:44 PM
Paul,
Sounds like a very jealous director (not working) trying to hang shit on another director (who’s always working) hahah
I’m sure Toia is pissing him self laughing reading your comments. Ive never met a harder working bloke.
Real sour grapes mate.
Oh and your gripe on over a red camera footage is complete wrong, We have just had an ad shot on red and the colourist said he’d never seen pictures as clean or as rich. He then put it side by side with last years ad we shot on 35. Most of us could not tell the difference unless we got our heads right up near the screen. The 35 looked soft, other than that no difference at all.
Grow up kid, your an amateur.
Go socceroos!!! Bring on South Africa 2010.
I wanted to like it but it fails on practically every count.
Track – wrong. Relevance to the ad is beyond me. At least get kids to sing it to add some personality.
Giant doll – no idea what its role is – maybe if the lollies were baby shaped lollies I’d understand – but for snakes!
The pack features a smile, so maybe make ‘smiling’ the visual idea – just a thought.
There’s so much going on but nothing seems to jell.
Hey June 6 9:44
Id like to see you hang shit (as 9:33 had put it) on Toia to his face, I doubt you or your reputation would last very long after that little face to face.
I’d love to no who you are. Paul… If your name is Paul. I’m sure i can work it out.
Name “Paul”, Director, jealous type, insecure, not working much, hardly any scripts coming in, possibly tried to win the Allens job and got rejected.
Getting the head of TV to pull out all the directors reels named Paul. next stop the bin
Go socceroos ???
Nice spot and good use of borrowed interest. There’s question the idea came from the amazing Saltan’s Elephant Tour by Royal de Luxe as they’ve gone out of their way to recreate it stylistically, and done a beautiful job of recreating the giant marionette of the girl, albeit a Blond version for the majority Anglo-Australian market.
However it’s important to give credit where it’s due, especially if the advertising industry wants to be taken seriously as creators, not replicators of current populist culture. To be blunt if I were Royal de Luxe I’d be asking Allen’s for royalties.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNezusAYEwA&feature=channel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sultan%27s_Elephant
Why are so many commercials these days a direct rip off from Youtube?
Come on guys – It’s suppose to be a creative field…?
Caught this ad on the box last night. As a strategy, I think it’s going to do very well for Allen’s lollies for many years to come. Well done to all those involved.
Everything is a rip off these days but this is the most blatant rip off I’ve ever seen.
June 8, 2009 11:53 AM
You’re clueless. I really hope that you don’t work in the industry.
When I first saw Royal de Luxe do this I thought it was amazing.
There is a difference between being inspired and blatantly stealing and poorly executing someone elses idea.
I dont care if this was copied I have never seen it, it is absolutely brilliant, I am a 50 year old and I stop to watch the ad, my grandaughter is crazy about it, to the point she wants the doll no matter what, and if she cant have the doll wants the lollies so the man that created it has got a winner for Allens, so stop whinging the rest of the jealous people out there!!!!!!!!!!!!
One thing all you industry smart arses might like to take into account the next time you want to bag someones work is whether it works for the client and from my contacts in the retail confectionery industry I can tell you it does.
Also if you are so great technically then why the fuck weren’t you asked to work on the project.?
The ad is conceptually brilliant ,well executed despite the difficulties and makes people smile including my 80 year old mother and it’s making people buy the product which after all is what making ad’s about isn’t it?
With ego’s and attitudes like those displayed in the comments here it’s no wonder talented ,imaginative creative people take their careers overseas where they are appreciated.
Well done JWT,keep up the good work.
I LOVE this ad!!!!!!!!!!!! Love the music, love the idea, love EVERYTHING about it – Great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Viva Allens lollies!!!!!!!!!!!
Those people who think its okay that the idea has been copied from French street theatre company Royal de Lux should consider what it would be like to have their idea copied and made into an advert – Royal de Lux have an intergrity to their work and have made a decision not to sell their ideas to multi national advertising campaigns. To steal the idea is a terrbile thing and to than sell it to Allens is even worse. Artists will spend years working on their ideas to all of a sudden see it on a coca cola add because some advertising researcher has seen their work at a festival and than sold the idea – with no recognition of where the work came from or consideration of whether that artist wants their work attached to allens, coca cola etc. And, the saddest thing about it is they don’t care.
I’m one of the “cider farmers from Dorset” who designed, fabricated and operated Ellie. Our brief was to build a nine meter tall walking “string puppet” operated by “puppeteers”. Why does there have to be a post mortem done on the ad ?
The target audience are kids, and the ad hits the bulls eye. Ask your kids if they notice which camera was used or if the ropes are the wrong colour. THEY DON’T CARE !! They see it for what it is, a lot of fun.
And to the knockers, lets see you have a go. Turn off your computers and take part in life !
The comments about the Australian giant marionette are most interesting since another large figure has been created in the USA for a TV Commercial for Mayflower Moving Van & Storage Company—in their commercial, the gimmick is that the Movers can move anything including a giant girl marionette.
There have been complaints that the Aussie & American large puppets are ripoffs of Royal Deluxe’s large marionette of a girl created in France. Well, thanks to what is becoming an international discussion, more people in addition to the thousands who already saw a big elephant & a big girl on youtube or in person, Royal Deluxe’s Sultan Elephant giant marionette and their giant girl are getting even more well-deserved attention.
That is a lot more free advertising than most creative artist/puppeteers get these days.
In the making of all these giant puppets, a lot of creative problem-solving was involved.