Squeezing the last drops of Yoplait's Go-Gurt out of its tube is serious business.
That's the takeaway from two new ads for the General Mills brand from longtime agency Saatchi & Saatchi. As in the past, kids play leading roles. But rather than hijinx, persuasion and brute force come into play, plus a dash of drama.
A blacksmith—or rather the Greek god of blacksmiths—is the hero in "Hephaestus," a wordless exchange between a girl and the hammer-swinging craftsman.
In "Real Estate," a well-dressed boy tries to persuade a Go-Gurt tube to give up its contents in exchange for much better digs.
Unlike "Hephaestus," however, the ad ends without a resolution. Who said you can't find drama in ads directed at kids? The campaign's tagline, of course, is "Go-Gurt. Whatever it takes to get it all."
The absurdist scenarios stem from the product itself, according to Jay Benjamin, chief creative officer at Saatchi in New York.
"It's kind of an absurd product to begin with—in a great way," Benjamin said. "It's yogurt in a tube that you slurp out of a tube. So, it's about starting there and thinking about kids. And kids also have this propensity for the absurd."
Overall, brand consultant Katherine Wintsch found the new approach to be different for the category and in sync with the minds of kids.
"They, in a good way, have strayed from the norm, first, into humor, which is smart, and then second, into more problem-solution and not just nutrition and protein, the standard fare," said Wintsch, founder of The Mom Complex in Richmond, Va.
"I could see young kids—similar to the age of the children in the ads—liking it, relating to it," Wintsch said. "Kids of that age have strong opinions about products, and they can tell Mom to stop buying it. It felt to me that it was targeting kids and their challenges, and I think that's smart."
CREDITS
Client: General Mills
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Jay Benjamin
Executive Creative Director: Peter Moore Smith
Creative Director: Iain Nevill
Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Adam Kline
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Justin Roth
VP, Account Director: Caitlin Reynolds
Assistant Account Executive: Whitman Shaw
Director of Content Production: John Doris
Producer: Radu Olievschi
Music Producer: Eric Korte
Director of Business Affairs: Marta Stajek
Business Affairs Manager: Christina Mattson
Production Company: Buscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles
Director: Matt Dilmore
Managing Director: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Colleen O'Donnell
Line Producer: Carr Donald
DP: Darko Suvak
Production Designer: Joaquin Grey
Editing: Rock Paper Scissors, New York
Editor: Carlos Arias
Assistant: Jon Dean
Producer: Lisa Barnable
Executive Producer: Eve Kornblum
Color Correction: Lenny Mastrandrea
Finishing: Rock Paper Scissors, New York
Flame Artist: Edward Reina
Producer: Jen Milano
Music: Emoto Music, Santa Monica, Calif.
Composers: Paul Bessenbacher, Alex Kovacs, Lauren Hillman
Producer: Paul Schultz