Top Tips for Cannes
‘Remember to Smile’ for Square by Sunday Gravy
This spot makes a tech product feel deeply human. I enjoy the warts-and-all approach to showcasing the service industry. It brings back memories of disassociating in the stockroom whilst looking for a customer’s shoe-size. The product shot is interesting as the Square order-board is shown to be the messenger of bad news (another birthday!) This adds to the authenticity of the film. The hero’s reaction also makes the pay-off of the new brand platform ‘Service Still Matters’ even richer.
‘Believe in Chicken Part 2: All Hail Gravy’ for KFC by Mother London
With so much negativity in the news cycle, surrealism has real stopping power. The dreamy grade, muted colours in the costume design and slick visual effects could be mistaken for an A24 movie. Even the caption of the YouTube video has been given a lot of (chicken) tender loving care. Using this space to preach a manifesto with epic lines such as ‘‘salvation in sauce is near” and “trust in the divine dunk” is a lesson in world-building. With ‘WitchTok’ and the occult trending on social media, the creepy tone is right for the target demographic. And impressively, we don’t see any branding until the very last ten seconds of this film.
And this is my wild card “stands no chance” from a super small indie. Doubt anyone outside of Australia would have seen it, I believe they created the product too.
The Sun is Not Your Friend for Slather by SICKDOGWOLFMAN
Ironic coming from someone whose workplace is called 72andSunny, but my favourite campaign is ‘The Sun is Not Your Friend’ for Slather by SICKDOGWOLFMAN. The brand’s anti-category positioning helps bring every Aussie into the SPF conversation, even the housebound gamers. Beautifully produced in collaboration with Haven’t You Done Well, the face-melting sequence breaks away from the typical dramatisation of cancerous cells that we are used to seeing in this category. It also taps into the current resurgence of body horror films with practical effects, like The Substance and Wolf Man (neither of which I have seen because I am a wuss). It’s bold, it’s gross and inherently Aussie without a single bikini shot.
Hayley Noble is a copywriter at 72andSunny ANZ.
