Gil the Crab Returns for New Wild Brain Honda Element Campaign
Tuesday October 10, 2006
Wild Brain’s multi-award-winning director Gordon Clark led a team of studio animators in the creation of the eight new comediccommercials for the Honda Element campaign, “Element and Friends,” conceivedby ACD/art director Chuck Blackwell andcopywriter Adam Lowrey at RPA. Each spotfeatures the Honda Element in a comedic conversation with a new “friend,” including agoat, hamster, lobster, mole, penguin, pigeon, rat and turtle.
Returning due to popular demand, however, is the extremely popular character Gil theCrab — first seen in spots airing in fall 2005. The crab again wants nothing more thanto “pinch” his irresistible friend the Honda Element.
The vignettes take place in a variety of environments, ranging from city streets to thebeach. To create the eight new spots, the team from Wild Brain animated andcomposited in After Effects using both stock and specifically shot photos.
Said Clark, “This campaign was an exercise in dry, minimalist comedy and comicpauses. We had to abandon our usual animation instincts on these spots to maintain alook that intentionally wasn’t too slick or polished. Instead, we were always striving topush the spontaneous and accidental feel of the spots.”
Description of spots:
- “Goat” – The Honda Element and a goat discuss the rectangular nature of their design.
- “Hamster” – A hamster on an exercise wheel and the Honda Element complementeach other’s wheels.
- “Lobster” – When a lobster befriends the Honda Element, Gil the Crab appears on thescene, ready to pinch.
- “Mole” – A cool-talking mole and the Honda Element hang out.
- “Penguin” – A French penguin and the Honda Element converse as differences insyntax provide humor.
- “Pigeon” – The Honda Element beat-boxes as a pigeon friend gets down to the beat.
- “Rat” – Honda Element’s new friend rat admires the Element’s dropped design andgets complimented on his new gold chain.
- “Turtle” – A speed-talking turtle and the Honda Element share a moment.
Founded in 1994, San Francisco-based Wild Brain Inc. (www.wildbrain.com) is anaward-winning animation studio that develops and produces unique and compelling content across the media spectrum. Powered by its distinctive pool of talentedanimators and directors and renowned for blending traditional animation methods withstate-of-the-art computer graphics, the studio and its artists have consistently wontop industry awards.
In film, Wild Brain has garnered numerous awards including an Annie for its computergraphics short film, HUBERT’S BRAIN, and currently has a number of film projects indevelopment. In television, the studio has produced an exceptional slate of originalanimated work, including the top-rated and critically acclaimed series HIGGLYTOWNHEROES, airing daily on Disney Channel. One of the nation’s foremost producers ofanimated commercials, Wild Brain has won Clios, Addys, the BDA Awards and Anniesfor their commercial spots — reinvigorating classic brands and developing cutting-edge spots for such leading companies as The Coca-Cola Company, Honda, Kraft andNike. Wild Brain additionally creates and distributes collectible merchandise through itssubsidiary Kidrobot, a premiere retailer of limited-edition art toys and apparel, with storeslocated in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.