Bar Flies, Dancing Bikies, Pickle Puppetry – Casting Picklebet’s Unhinged Debut Was Like ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Finale

In its first major brand platform, next-gen betting brand Picklebet partnered with newly-launched indie Kerfuffle and The Sweetshop to bring an “unhinged” vision to life, supported by an original score by Partiboi69.

The spot, featuring an elaborate dance number, prosthetic pickle puppetry, and fireballs, all against the backdrop of a dingy pub, commands attention in a crowded market.

While replete with heightened moments, the spot leans into the more realistic elements of a pub or RSL. The Sweetshop director Jesse James McElroy said this was always the creative idea.

“It was in the brief,” Jesse told LBB, “but we took it much further with the treatment. The bar informed the choreography, the look, the tone, everything… it was not an afterthought for me.”

Originally, Jesse pitched the spot as a complete set build -- a 360-degree bar pumped full of character. As the job evolved, production needed to pivot to a location.

“Normally that’s where compromise sneaks in,” Jesse explained, “but this time I swear we stumbled on a unicorn. The perfect bar out west -- a proper gem of a location, the perfect carpet, bar top, the right smell [which] sadly we couldn’t put on screen.

“It was almost exactly what I’d pictured in my head, which never happens.”

A huge part of the treatment, Jesse said, were the characters.

“I wanted real, warts-and-all bar flies who felt authentic, but also those heightened archetypes you only find in a dirty bar: the aggressive bikies, the loud Kezzas birthday crew, the unfriendly bartenders, the bloke who takes your seat when you go to the bathroom…

“The casting was a great experience… It honestly felt more like a ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ grand final than a casting session.”

While dance skills were put to the test, actors still needed to bring bar-fly characters to life. Prosthetics and body-suits became a big part of pre-production.

“The whole point was to get that funny clash between really strange, intricate dancing and people who on the surface looked like they couldn’t dance to save themselves.”

The spot, Jesse said, is really “a music video” with choreography naturally ebbing and flowing with the beat composed by Partiboi69.

“From the start, the creatives and I knew what style we wanted, so the first thing we did in pre was hunt for that golden goose song that could deliver the unexpected energy. We searched far and wide and found some really great artists and tracks, but then we came across Partiboi69. His music had the exact sensibility we needed, and the demo he delivered hit way harder than anything else. It instantly gave the whole film that extra shot of pickle energy.”

Unusually for a TVC, Jesse opted against storyboarding the shoot, instead filming the rehearsals, which were cut together so the agency could see the choreography.

“I shot the whole film with the cast on location using my phone and mapped out every single shot, every dance move, every camera move,” Jesse explained, adding that a number of ideas “never made the cut."

“By the time we got to set, we basically already had a version of the finished film… we just needed to reshoot it with a nicer camera, nicer lighting, [and] nicer wardrobe.

“Of course, we still had to add the pickle puppetry, fireballs, doors exploding and indoor water sprinklers… so it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park."

Picklebet co-founder, Damon Oudejans, added, “Picklebet is here to entertain, to shake things up, and to bring a new kind of energy to betting culture.

“We didn’t want a brand campaign that blended in -- we wanted one that kicked the door in. Something loud, a little unhinged, and unmistakably us.”