Financial advertising sheds its stuffiness again, this time with an adventure into the absurd. Fold7’s campaign, No Nasty Surprises, for Capital One UK, features a puppy that turns out to be wilful and very messy badger, who brings chaos into the life of its new owner, Stu.
The message – by association – is that when it comes to credit, you should always know what you’re getting upfront, effectively communicating the brand’s intention to change the world of credit for the better, one small good thing at a time.
The new campaign extends Capital One UK’s One Good Thing brand platform, first launched in August 2022, with another humorous play on a traditionally serious subject.
The film was directed by Ninian Doff of RESET, with Black Kite Studios creating the CG badger and VFX for the project. Photographing a European Badger skeleton at the Grant Museum of Zoology allowed Black Kite to trace the animal’s proportions accurately, usually hidden by fur. The team and director collaborated closely to portray the realistic personality and appearance of the badger. An actor’s expressions were used as a base for the animation, and the CG team then created a set of facial movements that allowed the badger to emote. After crafting and rendering the badger into each shot, the 2D team used the interaction, shadows and lighting references of the onset badger pelt to achieve the photoreal creature featured in the film.
Dave Billing, executive creative director at Fold7, commented, “This is, at its heart, a simple parable – a story about what happens when you don’t look before you leap. We’ve all heard of hapless punters who buy what turn out to be far from miniature pigs; but we wanted to take a path less travelled. It’s been a joy revealing the less cuddly side of one of Britain’s favourite woodland creatures, and a pleasure to work on such a brilliant brief with our ambitious, energetic client team at Capital One UK.”
The always-on campaign will run for 12 months across BVOD, cinema, OLV, digital display, social and radio. The AV spot will be shown in 60-, 40-, 30-, 20- and 15-second versions, with 15- and 10-second cut downs in social and a 30-second radio spot.
Credits:
Creative Agency: Fold7
ECD: Dave Billing
Creative Directors: Kieron Roe & Dom Moira
Creatives: Dan Burkitt & Philippa Baines
Chief Strategy Officer: Yelena Gaufman
Head of Production: Michelle Hickey
AV Producer: Sian Parker
Junior Producer: Izy Brand
Business Director: Lou Woolf
Account Director: Charlotte Fitzpatrick
Account Manager: Issy Webster
Production Company: RESET
Director: Ninian Doff
DOP: Tat Radcliffe
Executive Producer: Chris Barrett
Producer: Lucy Gossage
Editor: Leo King @ Stitch
VFX: Black Kite Studios
Colour: George K
VFX Supervisor: Amir Bazazi
Head of VFX: Adam Crocker
Shoot Supervisors: Adam Crocker & Jonny Freeman
Head of CG: Dan Moore
3D Lead: Milen Piskuliyski
3D Artist: Rafa Zabala, James Hansell, Sophie Langton, Ethan Francis & William Bell
Animation Supervisor: James Bown
Animation:Alex Alvarez, Loay Shaban
Rigging: Martin Villert, Chris Gill
CG FX: Gabriela di Vincenzo, Joel Paulin & Marcel Ruegenberg
Concept: Grant Bonser
2D Lead: Jonny Freeman
2D Artist: Laurence Lavoie, Itay Greenberg, David Birkhill, James Belch, Mauro Nodari & Pablo Oliver
Executive Producer: Hannah Ruddleston
Senior Producer: Kirsty Ratcliffe & Hazel Gibson
Music & Sound (AV & Radio): String and Tins
Sound Design & Mix: Adam Smyth
Social Cutdowns: Culum Simpson
Foley: Cobblestone
Audio Producers: Esi Jonuzi & Laura-Leigh Smith
Music Supervision: Adam Smyth & Matt Saunders
Music Composer: Matt Hawken
Media Agency: The 7stars
Media Commercial Director: Emily King
Media Planning: Jasmine Allen, Adam Clarke
Client: Capital One
Head of Marketing: Katie King
Head of Brand: Steph Marshall
Brand Manager: Thomas Shaw-Mellors
Brand Marketing Executive: Caitlin Bowers
PR & Content Lead: Katie Ford
