Cricket Wireless mascots go Hollywood in long-form holiday spot
Cricket Wireless has become known for its furry and oddly shaped animated mascots. For the holidays, it is giving four of those characters the Hollywood treatment in a three-minute Christmas fairytale.
Cricket Wireless characters get their own film
The cell provider is launching a blockbuster of a holiday campaign with the help of its agency of record Argonaut. The short film, ‘Four for the Holidays,’ brings its animated characters to life on a holiday adventure.
The film is a story of four friends with holiday plans that take them across the US, Mexico, and Canada. After finishing up what appears to be a holiday musical shoot, furry character Dusty asks his friends Rose, Chip, and Ramon to join him for New Year’s Eve. But all have plans to spend time elsewhere. They text, post, and share joyous holiday moments, but as time goes on, they realize they’re missing each other most of all. At the end of the film, the four characters reunite and discover that, in a season of sharing, the best holiday plans are the ones that bring friends together.
Another element of the campaign has Cricket Wireless characters engaging in interactive content via the brand’s social media channels. Using live-rendering technology, Cricket characters Dusty and Rose were transformed on-screen to embody fully expressive 3D Cricket characters, answering questions from celebrity host Mario Lopez, as well as from customers in real time on Facebook Live.
There also will be a ‘Make a Stranger Smile’ social video, using live-rendering to have characters interact with an unsuspecting bus rider.
The campaign leverages everything from celebrity cameos to social teasers to movie-poster billboards “promoting” the film. Snippets of the campaign will be shown on television and on social, including brand ambassadors and influencers.
See the film and campaign elements by clicking the Creative Works box below.
