Dreams’ Latest Spot Is “Charming, Unique, and Unforgettable”

Last week, the UK’s most-loved bed retailer Dreams launched the new brand platform and campaign ‘Finding You a Bed That Loves You Back’, created by its lead strategic creative agency Drummond Central. The heart of the campaign is a spot featuring singing mattresses, soundtracked by the iconic anthem ‘Somebody to Love’  by Queen.

“After our winning pitch to Dreams last year, we couldn’t wait to see our cushioned characters come to life. Our concept is rooted in Dreams’ mission to find you the perfect bed; one that not only you will love, but one that will love you back. We wanted to position our relationship with our beds as a two-way thing, which got us thinking, ‘Imagine if beds could talk? What would they say?... What would they sing?’ It was a fantastic process from start to finish, collaborating with our top-notch production partners”, said Kev Hughes, creative director at Drummond Central.

“We built the entire Dreams world from the ground up – literally. Virtual production, singing beds, and a store where mattresses have real personality. Drummond Central was a wonderful collaborator throughout, and the result is something charming, unique, and unforgettable. Can’t wait for people to see it,” said Sye Allen, the spot’s director.

Created with the help of virtual production (VP) and the team at Quite Brilliant, with animation and motion design by Mighty Giant and music production from GAS™ Music, the spot brought to life – quite literally – a number of Dreams’ mattresses that reassure viewers that their perfect bed is waiting for them. Moreover, opting to create the spot with VP also had a positive environmental outcome. The shoot produced a 56.7% tCO2e reduction versus set build production, as verified by AdGreen.

LBB spoke to Alex Wrightson, production director, GATE+ (previously Re:production, Dreams’ historical production partner, which is now part of GATE+), to learn more about the craft and sustainability behind the spot’s making.

LBB> What kind of brief did Drummond Central come to you with?

Alex> As an integral and historical production partner of Dreams, and a long-time collaborator with Drummond Central due to our north-eastern roots, when we discovered they'd won the creative agency pitch, we were delighted. We were able to start working with the client and agency teams quickly and began collaborating with specialists to bring the agency’s vision to life. Balancing the CGI element of the singing mattresses between childish and scary, we found this a very creatively challenging process and went through several rounds of pitching ourselves.

LBB> What were your initial thoughts when you saw the brief?

Alex> There was huge positivity about the concept from the outset, it’s what really won Drummond Central the pitch, in our opinion! Sometimes you just see an idea and see how it will work across all media communications and this felt like a winner from the start. As the chosen production partner we were just really excited to get going on bringing the idea to life.

LBB> The spot was done largely in virtual production (VP). Where did this idea come from and why was it the best strategy for this particular spot?

Alex> All of the store scenes were VP and the bedroom for the end scene was a set build. The idea developed in early discussions with the client and, as ever, a list of pros and cons was drawn up between VP and set build. A huge factor was obviously the environmental benefits of shooting VP but there were other big advantages. We could really push the aesthetics in the design of the store for example, it gave the client ultimate flexibility and it allowed them to see how the virtual set would look well in advance of the shoot. It also allowed our director and DOP to really push the lighting setups to maximise those beauty shots of the products and bed characters to give them the ultimate stage setting. Further, we were able to create the dimensions within that which suited our scenes rather than the other way round if we’d shot in a real store while allowing the flexibility to place branding wherever we wanted, which was obviously a huge plus for the client.

LBB> As well as VP, what other tech did you use for the spot?

Alex> Every shot was captured using a Techno Dolly. That gave us ultimate control over each shot which would make life easier for the CGI team at Mighty Giant when dropping in our mattress characters.

LBB> Talk us through the shoot, production, and craft that made the energy and personality exuded through the spot possible.

Alex> The hard work came upfront in selecting the right people for each department. We landed on two superb partnerships which really have been integral to getting this production through at such a high standard. The first was Quite Brilliant, whose team helped develop the virtual environments – they worked so hard with us, the agency, and the client, to get everything working and looking as good as it could while providing invaluable experience in the VP space so we could push the idea as far as possible. The CGI element was obviously hugely important and the team at Mighty Giant blew us away with the test they produced when pitching against some very stiff competition and have also proven to be a superb partner with their level of talent, expertise, and experience.

The incredible energy of the production came from the top in the form of Drummond Central’s Creative Director, Kev Hughes and our Director Sye Allen. But that drive for excellence in the craft continued down into some of the best heads of department in the business. Chloë Brady, our art director, and Miguel Cármenes (DOP) were fantastic throughout; and then the energy on set of our first AD Dan Precious all helped create a really unique environment that allowed all of the other super talented cast and crew to work to the highest levels that hopefully translates to screen through our very loveable singing bed characters!

LBB> The sustainability credentials on this spot are impressive. How important is sustainability to the GATE+ overall?

Alex> We are active members of the industry standard organisation AdGreen whose main goal is to motivate the industry to reduce the negative environmental impacts of production and enable the community to measure and understand waste and carbon emissions.

LBB> How did this production, from a green angle, compare to a traditional one?

Alex> We’ve had some data back on the environmental impact of the production. As AdGreen members we have access to a ‘Carbon Calculator’ tool which allows us to work out the carbon footprint of motion, stills and audio projects to assess and mitigate the environmental impact of our production activities. We used this calculator to create a direct comparison of our virtual production versus if we had gone down the set build production route. I must say, the results, verified by AdGreen, are outstanding. The key tCO2e % saving:

VP Shoot : using 4.38 tCO2e
Set Build shoot : using 9.97 tCO2e
56.7% tCO2e reduction using virtual production versus set build production

LBB> What was your favourite part of working on this?

Alex> Well, we’ve talked all about the image production so far but haven’t mentioned the jewel in the crown yet, which for me personally has to be the music. ‘Somebody to Love’ by Queen is such an iconic track and the lyrics are so perfect in gelling the whole concept together that that has to be the most enjoyable part for me. Oh, and seeing our mattress character’s face for the first time, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to fall in love with him!