Persil gets creative with stains in stop-frame animation film
Persil has employed the talents of Oscar winning animation studio, Aardman, for a new animated feature which uses school shirts and everyday food stains as a canvas for its ‘Monster Stains’ film.
To create the animation a team of ten artists crafted a colour palette from 28 common household stains, including jam, chocolate and gravy. They then used the colours to paint a single frame on a white school shirt before photographing it, washing it clean with Persil, drying and ironing it and staring again for the next frame.
The process was repeated 2,576 times to create the 60 seconds of stop-frame animation which follows two colourful monsters overcoming their fears and getting dirty in the process - illustrating Persil’s philosophy that ‘Dirt Is Good’.
The Unilever-owned brand recruited a number of partners for the campaign which was led by Ogilvy and launched in cinemas and online today (29 April). UK animation studio, Aardman, created the film while international production company, Kode Media, produced, shot and edited all of the live action elements in the film.
James Hayhurst, brand equity director at Unilever said: “These entertaining films bring a whole new slant to the traditional laundry product demo and the idea that where there's a stain, there's a story. The characters capture the fun-loving spirit of the ‘Dirt Is Good’ brand philosophy and the short form content is a perfect way to connect with our consumers on their mobile devices and in the e-commerce environment.”
Aardman’s creative director, Merlin Crossingham, added: “we have a history of embracing big challenges and when Ogilvy came to us with such an interesting project, we jumped in with both feet. The finished spots are playful stories with delightful characters, created in a truly unique way and we hope you enjoy them.”
Ogilvy also used the colours from the stains to create a complete bespoke typeface especially for the campaign.