This animated cider ad took viewers to a stop-motion world
Thatchers Cider and Bray Leino have won the Animation category at The Drum Awards for Creativity. Here is the award-winning case study.
Advertisement
Thatchers are the family cider makers, with a total commitment to the craft of perfection. Although they’ve seen consistent growth over the last decade, many people still think of cider as an old man’s drink... conjuring images of hay bales and country bumpkins. Therefore, it was important for us to change this perception – connecting with a different demographic, whilst communicating Thatchers’ commitment to perfection on many different levels.
The world of stop-motion animation felt like a fresh approach in the category; giving us the cut-through required, something that is totally ownable; something that would capture people’s imaginations. Our ad tells the story of 12.30 Tasting Time, a long-standing tradition that happens every Friday. This is a journey through the farm, where perfection is around every corner - then it’s onto tasting time, where our fourth-generation cider maker, Martin Thatcher, arrives in the iconic hot air balloon to give his verdict on a glistening pint of Thatchers Gold cider.... it’s perfect.
The world of stop-motion animation would allow us to present a heightened version of a real place, something that, like the cider, is expertly crafted. We could also take some creative licence and play with sight gags, something to raise a smile in the mind and give the story some added depth.
To make the perfect replica of Myrtle Farm in miniature, the model makers worked from hundreds of photographs as reference. With this ad, the trick was to make things as realistic as possible… but also to find a happy medium where it still has that wonderful stop-motion aesthetic – a balance of quirkiness and truth. So, what we created was a perfect replica of the Thatchers farm; a heightened, stop-motion, version of a real weekly event, beautifully modelled in miniature. A little drop of perfection in its own right.
This approach certainly paid off. We were able to transport 38M adults to Myrtle Farm when our ad aired, achieving 91% brand recognition. System 1 made it their ad of the week, and called it “the most effective cider ad we’ve seen”.