Cooking Up a Multicultural Christmas Dinner in Kroger’s Heartwarming Holiday Animation
This year’s holiday campaign from American supermarket and retailer Kroger celebrates the magic of traditions and highlights the importance of family and togetherness through a multicultural culinary tale.
Created by adam&eveDDB the animated spot was co-directed by Michael Thurmeier, known for his animation and directing work on the ‘Ice Age’ film series, and Hornet’s director, Yves Geleyn. The directing duo previously collaborated on last year’s Kroger Christmas spot 'Today’s Holiday Moments are Tomorrow’s Memories’ and teamed up again this year to re-capture that heartwarming, festive feeling.
To discuss how this new campaign builds on the success of last year’s, and the process of animating an appetising international array of dishes, LBB’s Ben Conway spoke with Jason Ashlock, ECD at adam&eveDDB New York, and Hornet director Yves Geleyn.
LBB> When did you start working on this project? What were the initial themes and ideas you were excited to explore?
Jason> The holiday season for Kroger and adam&eveDDB New York starts in February. Our brief this year was all about ‘bringing new traditions to the table’. One of our core insights was that folks these days are overwhelmed by having to prepare meals that live up to preconceived traditions. Making grandma’s recipe exactly the way she used to, for example. It’s a lot of pressure. One of the stories that inspired us was about a family who decided to forgo the customary turkey and trimmings and do simple turkey tacos instead. We started with the thought that traditions are meant to evolve and that they are never one-size-fits-all.
Yves> Hornet works with Kroger year-round on its broadcast campaigns, but development and script writing for the holiday special kicks off in June. The production itself was about three months long. My co-director, Michael Thurmeier, and I were involved with DDB early on and collaborated together with them on the scripts. We wrote between 15 and 20 different versions of the script over the summer, and ultimately we all fell in love with the student exchange idea. We have been working with the same creatives for a couple years now, so there is a nice creative ping-pong and trust between us. We all want to tell a great story.
LBB> When it comes to holiday advertising, are there any big pitfalls or clichés you try to avoid? Equally, what opportunities do these festive campaigns provide creatives?
Jason> As creative people, we get really excited when a brief allows us to tell a beautiful story. But, we don't want to devalue the opportunity by cheapening it with the forced sentimentality of a holiday song re-recorded to feel sombre. Adding some snow falling outside a window does not make a holiday story. We put feelings first, and that starts with story. We make a conscious effort to avoid the clichés and focus on what we want to convey and how we want people to feel.
[Above: BTS images from Hornet's animation process]
LBB> How did you want to follow up or evolve from last year’s successful Kroger holidays spot?
Jason> Last year's campaign focused on the ability of food to take you to different places and evoke memories. This year's campaign is all about how food can create a sense of belonging and expose you to new cuisines, cultures and traditions. While the campaigns are different, they stem from fundamental truths about the power of food.
Yves> Michael and I saw the opportunity this year to make something slightly different from last year. Last year we went for a more realistic version of the Krojis, and the story was a bit more emotional. But this year we wanted to stay closer to the original Kroji character designs that were created by Hornet director César Pelizer, but also push the lighting and textures to bring it into a slightly more stop-motion miniature-inspired world, in an homage to the Holidays specials from Rankin/Bass.
After working together last year, Michael Thurmeier, our art director Mike Knapp, and I are all really comfortable with each other’s sensibilities and strengths. You know you can count on everyone's guidance, and we were excited to be picking it back up.
LBB> How do the multicultural elements of the campaign work well with Kroger’s existing messaging?
Jason> The idea was a perfect fit for Kroger because of its wide assortment of flavours and products. It truly delivers on bringing different traditions to the table. Whether it’s pozole or soba, Kroger is ‘Fresh for Everyone’. The idea itself was inspired by Kroger’s diverse customers and workforce, as well as the international diversity we have at adam&eveDDB NY. Many of us have been exchange students. We know how hard it is to be away from loved ones and how food can ease that homesick feeling.
LBB> How was the process of designing all the characters? There are a lot of different nationalities, ages and ethnicities all represented!
Yves> Since the final script included students from all around the world, we tried to create designs that resonated with the different countries by researching student uniforms, haircuts, fashion, etc. The goal was to stay as true as possible and not get too stereotypical.
As the characters age throughout the spot, we had to come up with a way to age them while maintaining a recognisable face when they came back at the end. To achieve this, the kids grew taller and their wardrobes reflected those of young adults, but they all retained their face shapes and any distinctive hair or clothing. We developed backstories for each character to help define their older look - for example, the Danish student is a basketball player, and she comes back wearing a university jacket so you understand that she is now playing for her university team.
The couple's outfits remained pretty consistent, but we made some fabrics softer and fuzzier and softened the colour palette. To age the couple’s faces, it was a challenge to find the right wrinkle look and depth on a Kroji face.
[Above: Hornet's character models]
LBB> The food is obviously a big part of these Kroger campaigns - what are the challenges and opportunities presented by designing and animating food?
Yves> In our ongoing campaign with Kroger, we are always working together with Kroger and DDB to make the food realistic and appealing while stylistically belonging to the Kroji world.
The idea here was to have each student share their favourite food from their home countries, so we picked a traditional recipe for each student and developed it to fit with our look. We created a very appetising graphic version of all the dishes and ingredients. The trick was balancing simplicity in a world that was still rich and tactile too. We spent a while trying to nail it down and make it perfect. The stew was the hardest one to get right!
LBB> What was the hardest challenge you faced on this film, and how did you overcome it?
Yves> We created something different from last year and from the ongoing Kroger commercials, so we had to adapt all our rigs, our textures, our lighting. Everything was quite different but that was the fun part for us: always evolving!
I think the hardest part was to make so many different characters at different times of their lives and make sure you as a viewer were able to follow the story and recognise them over time. In commercials, we only have a couple seconds to do it, so it has to be very clear. Art director Mike Knapp paid special attention to the subtle, but important styling details throughout.
Jason> Finding unique food-related truths is often the most challenging part of the process. We spend as much time searching for that singular truth as we do crafting the stories.
LBB> What was the most fulfilling part of this project for you?
Yves> Bringing our team from last year back together was my favourite part. I had the pleasure to co-direct this one Michael Thurmeier again, and we had our art director Mike Knapp and half our team from last year. Michael and Mike’s legendary experience in feature films always adds a special cinematic magic to these campaigns. There is always a great chemistry in the team and everyone is leaning on each other to problem solve and push the project forward.
Jason> Seeing people’s reaction is always the best part. That’s especially true with animation. From scripts to storyboards, animatics rendering and lighting, it’s a long process. After six months of agonising over every frame, when you finally reveal the finished piece and somebody sheds a single tear, that’s what makes it worth it.
