The Embassy Goes All in for Mentos, Huge and a World of Freshness

Love is in the air, as is the great taste of Mentos Pure Fresh Gum in “Planet PureFresh,” an engaging new commercial from the visual effects, design and production studio The Embassy and the Atlanta office of the digital agency Huge. 

Running online in both the US and Canada (and already viewed almost 9 million times on YouTube), “Planet Pure Fresh” revolves around a teenage guy and girl, both enjoying Mentos Pure Fresh Sugarfree Fresh Mint Gum. The guy opens his Mentos bottle to reveal an all-CG animated environment inside, where a snow-capped mountain beside a lake is full of adorable Yetis. The characters groove to the spot's soundtrack (one even holds a Mentos bottle aloft while dabbing), before the action reverts to the live action teens, who bump into each other and smile. The voice-over sums it up: “Taste a world of freshness that brings people together!”

The Embassy handled both live action and post on this Mentos spot. 

The Embassy (http://theembassyvfx.com/), which works extensively in commercials and features, handled all aspects of the spot, from live action production and post to character design and CG animation. “TheYetis were created especially for this project,” notes Winston Helgason,President of The Embassy. “They’re fuelled by the intense freshness of Mentos and are in a constant state of play,” he explains. “And since we don’t have a lot of time for viewers to register their world, we relied on some of the recognised design cues of the ‘cute Yeti,’ such as blue faces, scruffy fur and adorable body proportions.”

David Casey, The Embassy’s Head of Production, points out that while the Yeti characters were rendered in 3D animation, “they have this fun, playful cel-shaded look, like iPhone or Facebook message stickers. So, while they’re helping tell the story, they’re also quirky, viral and shareable – like Mentos. And to make the spot even more memorable, we borrowed some techniques from traditional 2D cartoon animation when creating their movement. When you put this all together,we think it makes for a spot that really resonates with audiences.”

Sylvia Buxton, Marketing VP for Perfetti Van Melle, the company that makes Mentos Gum, says, “We were happy to partner with Huge and The Embassy to create this engaging new campaign for Mentos Pure Fresh Gum.  The key insight is that Mentos gum gives consumers with a little help to connect, and the creation of the imaginary Planet PureFresh world inside our iconic Mentos Gum bottle helps to bring our refreshing gum chewing experience to life in a quirky and memorable way.

“After all, even Yetis appreciate fresh connections,” Buxton continued, “And, who says no to Mentos Gum?”

The Embassy partnered with Vancouver’s Brüdder Productions on the live action portion of the project.

“PlanetPure Fresh” Credits:

Client: Mentos

Agency: Huge

Art Director: Robbie Cobb

Associate CreativeDirector: Martha Dixon

Executive Producer: Chris Detoy

Engagement Manager: AllisonChait

Production & VisualEffects: The Embassy

Executive Producer: WinstonHelgason

Head of CommercialProduction: David Casey

VFX Producer: DanielleKinsey

VFX Production Manager: Annie-ClaudeLapierre

CG Supervisor: MichaelBlackbourn

CTO: Ron Sariel

Asset Supervisor: PaulCopeland

CG Artists: Adam Harder, GueschemDegni, Karinga Wells, Kenneth Polonski, Yask Polke

Compositor: Lee Pierce

Concept Artist: Tyler Gibb

Head of IT: BradleyStanish

Editorial: Cycle Media

Editor: Rob Doucet

Color: Deluxe Vancouver

Colorist: ClaudioSepulveda

Production Services: Brüdder