A Claymation Father-Son Duo Share Their Taste For Dessert In Mona Campaign

This week sees the unveiling of ‘Mona: Sjors and Jacques’, the first episode in a new TV and digital campaign from dessert brand Mona. The animated 30-second film will feature two headline ‘claymation’ style characters and represents a new direction for the leading FMCG brand.

Advertising agency Selmore and creative production outfit The Ambassadors were tasked with bringing the Mona product range and brand values to life in a fun and surprising way, and sparking excitement among a family audience. 

The TVC part of the campaign, which launches in the Netherlands this week, features original animated characters Sjors and Jacques. A wide range of different creative techniques, such as an intricate CG lighting and rendering setup, manipulation in proportions of props and the set and recreating real life lens effects, were employed in order to create a 3D, stop motion style effect. The ambition for these characters is that audiences follow their story throughout the year, via a series of films, themed around different seasonal events and the different types of Mona pudding, such as this month’s “Feest Pudding”.

This campaign represents one of the first TV commercials that The Ambassadors has produced in entirety. The Amsterdam-based company was responsible for every stage of the creative process from initial character treatments to design, animation, sound and edit.

Vincent Lammers, Design and Animation Director, The Ambassadors, commented: “This ambitious project was only made possible thanks to two integral elements. Firstly, we were brought on board right at the start and each part of the production process was created within the walls of The Ambassadors. This meant that we could keep a very tight grip on how all the strands, such as sound, animation and edit, worked together and blended to form the final result. 

“Secondly, we have had a brilliant relationship with Mona and Selmore throughout the process and the mutual trust between brand, agency and production company has allowed us to create something we are extremely proud of. And was a lot of fun to make.”

Poppe van Pelt, Creative Partner, Selmore, commented: “These days it’s rare to see a brand investing in a fresh, original, animated character-led TV campaign. We are hugely delighted that Mona has taken this brave step and feel that the results really speak for themselves. Our ambition for Sjors and Jacques is that they become household names as they take adults and children alike on their adventures throughout the year.”

A Making-Of video can be seen below

Credits

Agency: Selmore

Creative: Diederick Hillenius, Poppe van Pelt, Karin Heinen, Shanta Schreuder

RTV producer: Hanneke Kampschreur

Account management: Anja Froeling, Nicole Florencio

Strategy: Gijs de Bruijn

Client management: Margreet Waterweg, Thomas Gribnau, Carola Boer

Production: The Ambassadors Design & Animation

Director: Vincent Lammers 

Producer: Daphne Litjens

Design team: Vincent Lammers, Nick Groeneveld, Manuel Ferrari, Ruud Troostheide

Layout and storyboard: Vincent Lammers, Nick Groeneveld, Manuel Ferrari

Character animation: Nick Groeneveld, Patrick Chin

Additional animation: Vincent Lammers, Stephanie Swart

CG supervisor: William Jeffers Mark van Berkel, Ritchy Wattimena, Jeroen Cloosterman, William Torres, Nick Groeneveld

Compositing: Stephen Pepper, Ton Habraken

Edit: Oscar Marmelstein

Sound design and music: The Ambassadors Sound Team