“You are a living legend.” That’s not what you expect a penguin to wake you up to tell you in the middle of the night. The surprising, and very funny, spot was produced by The Producers for Momentum Energy. There’s also a tortoise applauding a man in a bath.
The campaign, Nature Approves, reminds Australians that nature would be greatly helped if they switch to a greener energy plan, positioning Momentum Energy as an energy company that would be approved by Nature.
Filmed in Melbourne, Nature Approves is Momentum Energy’s first direct production with The Producers.
The full campaign covers a series of videos, along with out of home, radio and digital, featuring wildlife, some of whom are at risk from climate change.
Its first video instalment features a large sea turtle, who makes the long journey to join a man in a bath and deliver a thank you message in person. The bubbly execution was a collaborative effort, noted director, Jesse James McElroy, who worked with a puppetry company to create the spot’s hero talent.
McElroy stated, “Putting together this project was a lot of fun, and I’m grateful for the ongoing collaboration with my team. Turtles, baths and bubbles? What more can you ask for.”
The Producers worked with local animation company, Cadre Pictures, on Penguin, the campaign’s second film.
“Collaboration was at the heart of this project,” commented executive producer, Aborah Buick. “The incredible team at Cadre saved the day when our real penguin, Terry, underwent his (badly timed) catastrophic moult and sadly couldn’t perform his starring role. Luckily, Terry’s CGI understudy, Robo Terry, swung into action.
“I’m not going to lie, we had a lot of fun making these ads.”
“When choosing an energy company, a bit of external validation never goes astray,” added Dan Forrestal, creative lead at Momentum. “And when that validation comes from a wild animal getting all up in your business, then the choice is obvious, especially when it makes a difference to the planet. I’m not just saying that because a crab is holding me at knifepoint.”
View more of The Producers work here.
Credits:
Momentum Energy
Head of Marketing & Communications: Claire Mcclelland
Creative Lead: Dan Forrestal
Marketing Specialist: Meg Goodfellow
Marketing Coordinator: Marcus Uzunovski
Graphic Designer: Alice Kenny
Copywriter: Sacha Stevens
The Producers
Director: Jesse James Mcelroy
Executive Producers: Tanya Spencer & Aborah Buick
Creature
The Creature Workshop
Post Production
Offline: Arc Edit
Editor: James Ashbolt
Producer: Jess Ryan
Colour: Elvis Colour
Colourist: Greg ‘Elvis’ Constantaras
Visual Effects; Cadre Pictures
Sound: Rumble Studios
