Will Alexander: Heckler, the Growlometer and collaboration – launching the Kia Cerato GT
CB Exclusive – By Will Alexander, co-founder and executive producer, Heckler.
Industry lunches can often end in unexpected ways and be the catalyst for some weird and wonderful opportunities. So, it was at a typically eventful lunch at a well-known Japanese restaurant in Sydney’s Surry Hills last November, that Heckler’s ‘mean’ phase began.
During end of year catch up with colleagues and mates Steve Jackson, ECD at Innocean and Simon Lister, co-founder and CD at Nylon, the conversation turned to a new campaign Steve and his team were developing to launch Kia’s new Cerato GT model at the Australian Open.
The automotive category is massively competitive and standing out from the crowd, particularly when it’s also happening to launch during the two busiest tennis weeks on the Australian calendar, was always going to be a challenge.
Steve’s creative solution was a departure for traditional new car launches. His plan was to film the TV spot entirely in black and white, but the key insight was that for a relatively small vehicle, the Cerato GT had big engine and a distinctive ‘mean’ sounding exhaust note that drivers noticed when they pressed start. The ‘Get Mean’ campaign was born.
For Heckler, this was the first time we had been tasked with overseeing the development of a fully integrated campaign by an agency. It was a big responsibility. While we have some of the best in the business when it comes to design and visual effects we needed to work collaboratively with a number of external partners if the creative concept was to be brought to life with full effect. The search was on, and there wasn’t much time to do it.
As the sound of the Cerato GT starting up was central to the campaign, the first step was to get it recorded. Simon and Nylon are the best in the business when it comes to all things audio and as he was at lunch when the grand plan was being unveiled, that was the first place to start.
Central to the visual treatment of ‘Get Mean’ was getting interesting looking people to make growling noises to mimic the sounds of the Cerato GT. Internationally renowned director and photographer Simon Harsent from The Pool Collective is an avid football fanatic behind GBH, an exhibition of the UK’s leading hooligans. I hope he doesn’t mind me saying, but he fitted our brief completely!
The growl of the Cerato GT was also key to an interactive online game that would form the basis of an experiential activation in Melbourne’s Federation Square. Visitors were encouraged to growl into a microphone with a picture being taken when they were at their peak vocal meanness, which then in turn was displayed on a giant screen. The ‘Growlometer’, as we dubbed it, needed creative coding specialists, which is where Code on Canvas came in. The team created this really fun voice activated game that added some additional theatre for the launch and also allowed thousands of AO to virtually test drive the Cerato GT in addition to capturing their details.
Aside from our team which created the first computer generated car asset for Kia, our new executive creative director Luca Ionescu, a globally renowned designer of bespoke typography created the ‘Get Mean’ brand identity which really captures the essence of what we wanted to achieve. And we all know the old saying that a great idea, poorly executed, is a bad idea. Thankfully, senior VXF producer, Amy Jarman with her laser like precision, delivered the mother of all asset matrix’s across multiple platforms and brought the brand to life in what has become an outstanding engagement opportunity for Kia at the AO.
What started with lunch ended up with us working alongside a bunch of super talented people. It required Steve and Innocean to put a lot of faith in us to deliver this truly integrated campaign, spanning TV, digital, OOH, experiential and press. But the result, which saw many people working through the Christmas period, is outstanding and a testament to how working with people outside of your own business can really deliver. May 2019 bring more collaborative lunches!
For a full list of credits, click here.
3 Comments
Unoriginal. The idea has been done.
In-house agencies are the plankton of advertising. Take someone else’s idea (actually multiple people ‘s idea) then make it much worse than has ever been done before. At least they made it different.
Buy lunch – get job.
Easy.