‘Cheese Slice Rage’ finally legitimised in latest humorous Devondale TV spot via DDB Melbourne
![DEV0038T_C_30_300dpi[1].jpg](https://asset-cdn.campaignbrief.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/04103918/DEV0038TC30300dpi5B15D.jpg)
If you have ever tried to prise apart a congealed block of cheese slices, you will immediately sympathise with the mum in this latest TVC from DDB Melbourne.
Throw in the pressure of a children’s birthday party, plus a collection of over-manicured mothers, and you have the perfect conditions for what the campaign terms ‘Cheese Slice Rage’.
Says Laurette Hargreaves, Devondale senior brand manager: “There’s nothing worse than cheese slices that stick together and break apart when you’re rushing to make sandwiches. Our Easy Peel Cheese Slices have been designed to solve this problem.”
The spot, entitled ‘Cyclops’, was shot by Tim Bullock, and involves a stressed-out mum, a creepy one-eyed doll, and a child with a corrective eye-patch.
Says DDB Melbourne ECD Darren Spiller: “Getting angry at inanimate objects, like cheese, is a right-of-passage for parents. We liked the idea of legitimising this phenomenon by giving it a name. Then we just tried to execute it in the most excruciating way possible.”
‘Cyclops’ is the eighth spot from Devondale this year, and has seen the dairy co-op become one of Australia’s most high-profile FMCG brands.
Agency Credits
Executive Creative Director: Darren Spiller
Creative Director: Simon Bagnasco
Sr. Copywriter: Robbie Brammall
Sr. Art Director: Anthony Hatton
Sr. Agency Producer: Tuesday Picken
Executive Planning Director: Ian Forth
Managing Partner: Lisa D’Amico
Account Director: Katie Kouts
Account Manager: Kirsten Tidswell
Production Credits
Production Company: Prodigy Films
Director: Tim Bullock
Producer: Alice Grant
Executive Producer: Jonathan Samway
DOP: Germain McMicking
Editor: Adam Wills
Grade: Edel Rafferty, Method Studios
Online Edit: Chris Betteridge, Method Studios
Sound Design: Colin Simkins, Gusto Music
Media: Carat Melbourne
Client Credits
General Manager Marketing Innovation & Special Projects: Suzanne Douglas
Head of Retail Marketing: Pam Burnett
Marketing Manager: Kit Rahman
Senior Brand Manager: Laurette Hargreaves
23 Comments
5 minutes ago there was ‘soy milk after-taste’ and now ‘cheese slice rage’. Both non-existant problems contrived from the lazy marketing handbook. You ain’t fooling anyone.
robbie, ant, client, bullock, producers for likely getting a lot done for not a lot of cash.
very funny. creepy little cyclops. love it.
Humour is tough but really this should have been funnier. Just didn’t feel pushed enough for me.
This work is the freshest TV in Oz at the moment. Old CD guy get back to your bus route.
This is kinda like soy taste face mk. ii innit?
I mean, it’s a misinterpretation of a reaction caused by a competitor product.
It’s funny. But it’s the exact same idea.
Old CD guy is absolutely correct. If you had gone to him with a brief this empty I’m sure you would have left with it rolled up and firmly embedded somewhere painful.
Unless there are lots of people out there drinking soy milk that hate it (and that would have to be unlikely) and unless there are a few brands of cheese slices that stick together (I’m told most are interleaved and don’t stick) then these are pieces of creative confectionary without a decent strategy. Not the creative fault I suppose except for working on it. It is though an example of the sort of popular idea that like confectionary, is empty calories soon to dissolve. It doesn’t matter how well or how often you say the wrong thing, it will still be wrong.
I think consumers won’t particularly care if the problem doesn’t really exist, they’ll appreciate an ad that at least tries to be entertaining.
Not award-winning though, which is a shame, because this is one of the only brands in Aus actually doing classic ‘brand’ TVCs right now.
It’s a bit of a missed opportunity for me.
Anyone remember what Devondale were doing before DDB took over?
Animated cows. Talking animated cows.
Anyone remember what Devondale were doing before DDB took over?
Animated cows. Talking animated cows.
Absolutely agree with Buzz. It’s the same joke. It surprises me that the MK team bought that for a different product.
so what if it’s the same idea as soy aftertaste face.
it’s the same brand.
you could even argue this would be a better suite of commercials if they all came from the same space, rather than jump from glowing children to matching jumpers to hideous consequences.
look, this work might not be perfect but this is the first time I’ve ever even considered devondale as a brand. they were absolute wallpaper a few months ago, doing the same shit every dairy advertiser seems hellbent on doing.
After seeing an endless stream of Devondale commercials the last few months, can anyone tell me what the brand stands for?
This would probably okay if it was funny. It’s actually pretty shit.
Indulgent, irrelevant and lazy. Making an effort for the sake of it seems to be the order of the day here.
Average, dull, unfunny work. If this is the best Spiller can do at the helm, DDB are in a bad place.
Seriously?
That’s not a campaign thought, it’s an execution.
If every ad for Devondale was ‘use competitor product, react, have your reaction misunderstood by someone watching or listening, introduce product’, it wouldn’t be a campaign. It would be one execution executed over and over and over again. And it would be poop.
I think maybe you need to go back to ad school.
Hmmm, Spiller fired you because you weren’t good enough, let it go.
It’s simple problem / solution advertising, and it’s done pretty nicely. Hard butter, what a mess it makes was my favourite out of the three though.
Seems like agency’s getting their version and the client theirs – wasn’t there a weird jumper spot for the same product?
All you buggers slagging these ads……what have you ever done? These ads are funny. End of story. If you don’t think they are funny, what is your kind of funny?
They are refreshingly an idea in an ad that gets your attention.
Stop killing the buzz, and do a good ad yourselves.
These ads are funny, they are not supposed to be over the top hilarious. Its more of a subtle humour form, everyday stupid problems that many of us have faced like soy milk after taste, cheese slices etc. I know i definetely have had problems with hard butter.
They are using humor to reel people in, and it works. Ask the publics what they think instead of using ‘expertise’.
Well done again Spiller.
I am concerned about this advertisement as it highlights a child’s medical condition/disability. We know better in this day and age and adults are responsible not to model behaviours that children will mimic. This advertisement may encourage bullying behaviours. I did not find it at all funny.
I agree with concerned except that I’m more than concerned. I was that kid. Only worse, I was (and am) blind in one eye. What’s with all the laughing at someone’s disability lately? It’s not about being politically correct or not, it’s about being kind. Sometimes you need to consider what it is we’re meant to be laughing at. Luckily, I don’t buy cheese slices because I actually possess the ability to cut cheese with a knife, despite my disability. Sometimes, I even get it straight. 🙂
I loooove the cyclops ad! It’s great! People need to get a sense if humour!