Times Are Changing

Unox keeps up with the times in this animated commercial for its growing range of vegetarian options.

This was Unox’s first animated commercial, and it struck a new style and tone that touched hearts across the lowlands. In Kantar’s post-test, the film rated 97% on enjoyment, 98% on branding, and 99% on relevance, differentiation and persuasion. Within one year, the vegetarian range grew over 400%, making Unox the fastest grower in the category.

We embraced a CG feature animation style to tell a sweet story of how meat-free days can work even in a third-generation family of butchers. It all begins when a nature-loving butcher’s daughter sees a cow nuzzle its calf in the same way her doting dad does to her. So together with her trusted sidekick Pip the dog, she devises a clever plan to secretly switch out her family’s stamppot sausage that evening. When her butcher dad spots this, he humours her by giving it a go. The result? Pleasant surprise. This was about telling a rich story with the product at the heart and not just the end shot, so we obsessively crafted each scene with a high level of detail to both the scenery and the nuanced performance. With this, just a few looks between father and daughter could define the climax of the film.

Stamppot is an age-old family favourite in the Netherlands, and you can’t make stamppot without a classic Unox smoked sausage. But times are changing. The brief was to retain Unox’s trustworthy, traditional brand identity while promoting its growing range of vegetarian options to the Dutch public. We had to make this a story about trying something new, not about missing out.

Jury Feedback

CRAFT – ANIMATION & MOTION / SILVER

Flawless in execution - it's work like this that makes us aware that Dutch animation skills are way up there. This work is animation at it's finest. Combining an array of techniques, crazy skill levels, bucket loads of talent and the ability to tell a very complex story in a minimal amount of time. By using amazing character design and animation in combination with a cinematic soundtrack, we get sucked into this story straight away. We immediately identify with all the characters and specially their emotions. The secondary animation and attention to detail was not missed by the jury. The use of practical backgrounds and CG characters is seamless and sets the bar as high as it can go. This film shows us a future proof way of creating amazing ads in crazy times.

CRAFT – VISUAL EFFECTS / NOMINATION

Great emotional storytelling made possible by great VFX skills - bringing together all these different types of animation and us not noticing is no small feat. The VFX skillset on this project is nothing short of amazing. From animating the characters to lighting and texturing the scenes. From the hair simulations to the composition. No mistakes were made. Making this a flawless exercise.