Coca-Cola surprises cinema-goers in a clever stunt created by Saatchi & Saatchi, Denmark

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Slurp Stunt 1.jpgEver been to the cinema and quietly frowned upon fellow members of the audience who munch loudly on popcorn, or noisily slurp their drinks? Well Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark have come up with a unique alternative to the annual ads created by Coca-Cola reminding the audience to be quiet during movie screenings, which made some surprised Cinephiles in Copenhagen the unexpected Stars of a bespoke film.

In Denmark a Public Service Announcement discouraging people from spoiling film screenings for others by making noise, is traditionally aired just before a movie starts, and Coca-Cola has a long history of making these ads. This year the idea behind the announcement titled ‘The Coca-Cola Slurp’ was: Please keep quiet during the movie. It’s not the same with you in it.

In an unexpected stunt at a cinema in Copenhagen, movie lovers were amazed to see themselves on the big screen, popping up behind the actors, noisily slurping their Coca-Cola and spoiling the drama in a specially made short film played to the audience before the premiere of Anchor Man 2.

The creative team created the stunt by making their own Hollywood genre film, and capturing the unsuspecting audience on a green screen, with hidden cameras. As they arrived at the cinema and settled into their seats, a retouch artist then quickly edited them into a bespoke film that was shown on the big screen to rapturous applause.

Says Aussie expat Jason Mendes, executive creative director: “After Regner & Jesper wrote the cinema ads, it suddenly dawned on us that the creative platform naturally lent itself to do a stunt like this. We have seen real people in advertising before, but not – to our knowledge – so quickly after they have been filmed, and combined with previously shot footage in this way. It required a hell of a lot of prep to get it right on the night.”

When asked what the biggest challenge was putting it together, Mendes says: “There were many. Preparation was vital. The first thing we had to do was determine if it was actually possible to do within the time frame.  In collaboration with Nordic Films, we identified early on in the process that we should aim to carry out our stunt at a film premier, as a premier would give us a much longer time frame than just a normal cinema night.  So Anchor Man 2 was chosen on 28th of Jan 2014.  We then had to test it. We first cut out all the images ready drop people in quickly … and we rehearsed quite a few times “real time” to decipher if we could do this, and how many people we could get into the film, within the time frame. Every time we rehearsed it we did it quicker and quicker so we had it down to a fine art. Once it was established that it was possible, we then prepped everything for the day.

“Now usually with something like this there is the “live” element to contend with. No matter how much prep you do, you never really know what’s going to happen. Surprisingly, everything ran remarkably smooth – like clockwork.”

Two special Hollywood genre movie clips were directed by Christian Eaglecastles out of M2 Films, to show cinema-goers as alternative public service announcements: ‘Gangster’ and ‘Stableboy’. In ‘Gangster’ we see an actor, who represents a member of the audience, transported into a scene where a cop is being buried alive as she casually munches on her popcorn; and ‘Stableboy’ invites us into a Regency boudoir where a Lady Chatterley character is undressed by her Stableboy, and again, a guy who represents a member of the cinema audience, suddenly appears into the heart of the scene, as a result of noisily sipping his Coca-Cola.

Says Charlotte van Burleigh, market operations director for Denmark: “Coca-Cola has a historic affiliation with the Danish cinemas and it is fair to say that we have always played an integrated part of the movie experience, which includes our sponsored service announcements. It is not an easy job to make quietness exciting, but the creative glue underpinning this year’s executions is extremely powerful.”

Agency: Saatchi Copenhagen

ECD:  Jason Mendes

Creatives: Regner Lotz & Jesper Isholm.

Producer: Nanna Rosenstock

Account Manager: Maria Dinesen

Production Company: M2 Films

Director: Christian Eaglecastles

Producer: Casper Rasmussen

Editor: Toke Lotz & Simon Borch

Retoucher: Filip Stanfeld

Music: Tobias Kropp & Toke lotz