Toolset: Adobe Creative Suite, Autodesk Maya for animation and The Foundry's Nuke compositing software for finishing
Client: Baskin-Robbins
Advertising Agency: 22squared
Chief Creative Director: John Stapleton
SVP Director of Broadcast: Connie Newberry
Creative Director, Writer: Curt Mueller
Senior Broadcast Producer: Kelly Kissell
Associate Creative Director: Isvel Rodriguez
Production Company: Nathan Love
Director: Nathan Love
Creative Director: Joe Burrascano
Executive Producer: Mike Harry
Producer: Derrick Huang
Art Director: Anca Risca
Character Designer: Sigmund Lamberto
Additional Designs: Bradford Johansen, Sylvia Apostol
Project Lead: Frank Naranjo
Animation Lead: Ryan Moran
Animators: Kyle Mohr, David Han, Doug Litos, Tony Travieso
Lighting, Rendering, and FX Lead: Mats Andersson
Compositing Lead: Herculano Fernandes
Texturing: Anca Risca, Mary Ibosh
Texture, Lighting, Composite Artist: Jon Lee
Fur TD: Andy Guttormsson, David Avetisov
Cloth TD: Carlos Sandoval
Rendering TD: Arsen Arzumanyan
Pipeline Lead: Stephen Mackenzie
Pipeline TD: Mikael Spade
Character Modeling: Mary Ibosh
Additional Modeling: Youngmin Kim
Sound Design: Andrew Skinner
Music Composer: Andrew Skinner
World-class animation studio Nathan Love (www.NathanLove.com) is very proud to detail its collaboration with advertising agency 22squared to create a series of animated broadcast spots for Baskin-Robbins' nationwide summer advertising campaign. In early June, the campaign kicked off by introducing its first whimsical animated character, Humphrey Hound, in a spot promoting Baskin-Robbins' Baseball Nut ice cream as the June Flavor of the Month. In late June, viewers met an energetic Turtle who rocked out in a :15 spot showcasing a mini-helmet sales promotion around professional baseball. This week, Polly Porcupine debuts in a :15 spot announcing America's Birthday Cake ice cream as Baskin-Robbins' July Flavor of the Month.
Nathan Love's crew designed and directed the entire campaign in SD and 1080 HD. Their main artistic tools include Adobe Creative Suite, Autodesk Maya for animation and The Foundry's Nuke compositing software for finishing. For each featured character, the studio's art department focused on creating unique looks and personalities, while its animators have brought each creature to life, with a soul.
"We created our studio out of our true passions for character animation," said Joe Burrascano, owner and creative director, Nathan Love. "While we’ve grown and expanded our experience and capabilities into a variety of 3D, 2D, web and live-action projects, pure 3D character animation is always close to our hearts. These spots really gave our animators and artists an opportunity to focus on bringing characters to life with a lot of nuances."
With strategic direction from 22squared, Nathan Love designed the spots to emphasize how the shy and reserved animated characters are brought out of their shells by the iconic Baskin-Robbins Pink Spoon. This approach stresses the brand's primary mission to provide a full range of quality ice cream and cake products in a fun and inviting environment.
"With every facet of this campaign, we focused on what the Baskin-Robbins brand represents: flavors and fun," added John Stapleton, 22squared's chief creative director. "With animation from Nathan Love, we were able to translate these concepts into a campaign that resonates with an audience as diverse as the Baskin-Robbins flavor catalog."
Throughout the campaign, Nathan Love employed the genius of Drew Skinner for sound design and music. Among his artistic touches, the Polly Porcupine spot features a custom remix of the classic song "Stars and Stripes Forever," along with sounds of popping balloons resembling fireworks, to deepen the patriotic, celebratory theme.
"Pixar has always been a huge inspiration to everyone at Nathan Love, and we worked hard to bring that level of quality to Baskin-Robbins' summer ad campaign," concluded Michael Harry, Nathan Love's executive producer. "We can't wait to bring their next animated character to life!"