Hunter Gatherer: Prius Goes Plural

Prius Goes Plural — the latest piece by Hunter Gatherer — is a lighthearted homage to classic kids programming of the 70′s and 80′s. While chewing over the endless possibilities of naming conventions for the company’s latest car, the spot is aimed at quizzing grownups on the many inventive ways of naming the company’s newest slew of clunkers. Through grammar, rhyming, and basic arithmetic, the piece aims to teach while also entertain — a ground rule for a good educational short. Todd St. John, the director and founder of Hunter Gatherer, elaborates:

“This is a stop-motion piece created to help launch the ‘Prius goes Plural’ campaign. It is a teaser campaign letting people know that Prius will be introducing new models and so, what to call more than one Prius?. The campaign was conceived by Saatchi & Saatchi, LA, who asked us to help to illustrate the print component, and also to create an animation. A Schoolhouse Rock / Electric Company type of jingle was settled on as a way to illustrate the complexity of plurals in a funny way. Almost all animation was created in-camera with some additional post and clean-up work.”

Like memorable pre-school programming before it, the piece borrows from the tenets of that classic format — feeling old school, but still fresh. What’s more, today, the lessons it aims to teach a generation of grownups remind us how greatly effective those timeless kid-shorts can be, where sing along lessons that once made us laugh, learn, and grown can also be used to sell product.


Saatchi & Saatchi / LA
ECD: Mike McKay
CD: Ryan Jacobs
ACD/Art Director: Matt Titone
Copywriter: Andy Kadin, Nathan Dills
Designer: Zach Richter
Director of Integrated Production/Multimedia: Tanya LeSeiur
Senior Broadcast Producer: Kait Boehm
Associate Producer: Charlie Maas
Project Managers: Alexis Ross
Account Director: Keith Ellis
Account Executive: Nicole Buckley
Planning: Sara Bamossy
Business Affairs Manager: Krista Horn

Production Company: HunterGatherer
HunterGatherer Credits:
Director: Todd St. John
Producer: Brigid Boyle
Art Direction & Design: Todd St. John & Gary Benzel
Junior Designer: Leta Sobierajski
Animation: Todd St. John, Leta Sobierajski, Fabian Tejada
Models: Jeff Shepherd, Todd St. John, Leta Sobierajski, Max Strizitch, Sophia Janowitz
Music: Skyrmish

Posted on Motionographer

Mr. Hide Merges Man, Machine Nature for Prius

prius_hide
Mr. Hide and The Sweet Shop have created a fantastical human-scape in this recent spot for Prius via Saatchi & Saatch, LA. For his first spot outside of the Japanese market, Hide brings a strong sense of humanity and visually arresting nuance.

This ambitious testament to the detail-oriented Director is supported by an Art Department and Production team who enlisted 200 extras in 269 costumes to build this cleverly choreographed world. This one is meant to be watched more than once.

On a side note, Mr. Hide’s feature, Donju is set to premier at Cannes.

Title: ‘Harmony’
Client: Toyota
Product: Toyota Prius
Agency, City: Saatchi & Saatchi, Los Angeles
Executive Creative Director: Mike McKay
Creative Director: Andrew Christou
Integrated Design Creative Designer: Ryan Jacobs
ACD/Art Director: Sean Farrell
Art Director: Tito Melega
Writer: Simon Mainwaring
Director Integrated Production/Multimedia: Tanya LeSieur
Senior Agency Producer: Jennifer Pearse
Production Company & City: The Sweet Shop, LA
Director: Mr. Hide
Executive Producer: Stephen Dickstein, Susan Rued Anderson
DOP: John Toon
Art Director: Guy Treadgold
Production Designer: Rick Kofoed
Offline Editor & Company: Nathan Pickles
Online Editor & Company: Avi Oron, Bikini Edit
Post Production: Perceptual Engineering/Fin Design/Brickyard
Production Service Company: The Sweet Shop, Auckland
Global Executive Producer: Sharlene George
Line Producer: Larisa Tiffin
Casting Director: Suzanne McAleer
Sound Design: Human
Audio Mix: Lime Studios

Posted on Motionographer