How Bullfrog Made a Bedtime Musical
A bed is a powerful place.
It is the house of power naps, food comas, restless nights, and broken hearts.
The excitement for the days to come and the dread of a Sunday evening turning into Monday morning are stored between the sheets.
Dreams are captured by pillowcases, nightmares are banished under the mattress. Limbs that can no longer stand and eyes that shut on their own find solace in each other amongst the blankets.
Ecosa understands the power that a bed holds in our everyday lives. Encouraging all to ‘live well slept’ and partnering with creative agency Bullfrog, their newest campaign explores all the joys of sleeping on a bed that's not too soft, not too hard, but just right for you.
Elle Bullen, executive creative director and Mark Taylor, executive producer give LBB’s Casey Martin a deep dive into combining old Hollywood soundstage and musical theatre techniques to create a spot that is entertaining and joyful.
LBB> Ecosa's brand is all about promoting better sleep. How did you ensure that the ad effectively conveyed the brand's mission and values to the audience?
Elle> Sleep is something most of us could use a whole lot more of, but the sleepy, restful version of it the category favours is getting ironically tired. To make sure Ecosa’s mission resonated, we focused on the real benefit of better sleep - waking up after it feeling incredible. Live well slept is a taste of the energy and positivity a seriously good snooze on repeat makes possible.
LBB> Can you share some insights into the creative process behind the spot? What inspired the concept and messaging?
Elle> Our process saw us explore the many positive implications of living well slept, from increased patience to more energy throughout the day. But things started getting interesting when we took those to an exaggerated space of extreme resilience and positivity. Music, song and an uber-well rested dream world then felt like a natural next step.
LBB> The ad features stunning visuals. Could you explain how the team achieved the desired mood and aesthetics for the brand?
Mark> When starting to develop this concept, we realised that shooting everything on location was going to be a challenging (and expensive) task. With this constraint in mind, we decided to lean into the theatre medium and set the film completely on a sound stage. Using references like Lars Von Trier’s ‘Dogville’ and Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’, we collaborated with our Director, Aleysa Young, Production Designer, Yvette Turnbull and Costume Designer, Sophie Hayward to create a vibrant world that understood and embraced the rules of theatre.
LBB> There is a wonderful use of practical effects within this spot, talk us through the process of seamlessly incorporating these into the spot while also showcasing Ecosa products throughout.
Mark> One thing that people love about musical theatre is the magic that can exist from the simple act of actors moving set pieces around a stage to create new worlds. We wanted to capture that feeling in this commercial. And again, project constraints bred some magical moments. Ecosa wanted to showcase the mattress without any linen on it but we also still wanted to demonstrate the cosiness of snuggling up in some Ecosa bedding. This led us to two magical moments, one where the dancers strip the bed at the beginning of the film and the other, where our hero walks up a stairway of mattresses and lays down as the dancers enter and dress the bed around her. We were also very lucky to shoot at Dreamscreen, where we were able to place colourful gradient backgrounds onto the giant LED screens surrounding the action.
LBB> The music and lyrics are just brilliant, what did you learn from working on a musical spot? What were the challenges and the highlights?
Mark> The music and lyrics are the brainchild of Hamish MacGregor and music theatre composer, Connor Morel. If you’re going to write a musical theatre song, why not employ someone who completely understand the artform? Away from adland, I do a bit of work in theatre, so it was exciting to bring a lot of my friends from that world into a brand-new setting. In particular, our choreographers Ben Scarmozzino and Freya List and our stacked ensemble of dancers.
Elle> This was a very different beast to a 30 second dialogue script, and it’s safe to say we’ve all developed a profound appreciation for the level of coordination that goes in to choreographing movement, scenes and lyrics into a cohesive and entertaining piece. Seeing it all come together was a highlight. Trying to find something that rhymes with Ecosa was absolutely a challenge.
LBB> Bonus Question! What do you do in order to get a good night's sleep?
Mark> I convince my wife not to wake me up when I fall asleep on the couch, 7 minutes into starting a new series with her. This has only worked successfully a couple of times but boy when it has, I’ve had the best night’s sleep. And yes, you better believe it’s on an Ecosa mattress (after I’ve crawled from the couch to the bedroom).
