Advertisers are always looking for an edge and a new approach to dealing with a familiar product. That was certainly the case with the brand new Pepsi spot, Uncle Teddy, directed by veteran – and long term QuietMan collaborator - Joe Pytka, for agency TBWA\Chiat\Day, with effects overseen and created by QuietMan’s CD/Lead Flame Artist Johnnie Semerad.

The Pepsi spot cleverly – and cheekily – features polar bears, long associated with campaigns for rival Coca-Cola, in a playful parody of their spots. “There was a real push to emphasize the spoof from a creative perspective -- we actually had guys dressed up in polar bear suits,” notes Semerad. “And the joke was that the brown bears were actually polar bears with tans, so as he takes his sunglasses off you see that he has these raccoon-like circles around his eyes.”

The Pepsi riff on the old Coca-Cola marketing mascots is a gentle poke at Coke’s campaign while at the same time making it clear that Pepsi is happy to go head-to-head with Coca-Cola when it comes down to competition and market share.

The big challenge for QuietMan was creating the entire Arctic world, says Semerad, who’s worked with Pytka on hundreds of commercials. “We couldn’t do a total rip-off of those old Coke spots, so we had to create the whole thing from scratch and create our own unique world,” reports Semerad. “We had to do everything from making the bears able to talk to building up their environment, putting the bears on the ice, putting the boat in the water, creating all the ice and water and so on. And then the schedule was pretty tight, so it really helped that by now, we’re all such a well-oiled machine.”

The green screen footage was shot by Pytka at a studio in L.A. The team then returned to New York where they worked on it for a couple of weeks. QuietMan’s team of CGI artists dealt with all the lip-syncing. Semerad then returned to LA to finish up work on the spot. “For a job like this you all want to be sitting in the same room together, with the director and agency, and while the bulk of the work was done at QuietMan’s offices in New York, all the finishing touches were done in LA at a sister office,” he says. “So the CG guys would send stuff out to me in LA while I was there, and we finished the job that way.”

For Semerad, the job was more of an aesthetic challenge than a technical one. “The main focus was getting the right look for the bears and their world, and how they interacted with one another,” he explains. “And when we’re all in the room together doing the final touches, it’s kind of like driving across country with five people giving you directions. Everyone has their input, and we’ve all been doing this together for so long now that it really flows smoothly. We all know each other’s personalities so well that once you all get in the room, everyone just concentrates on the work at hand.”

Summing up, Semerad notes that the team achieved all their objectives with the spot. “It turned out great, the client’s happy, and we all had fun doing it.”

Credits:

Client: Pepsi
Spot Title: Uncle Teddy
Air Date: June 27

Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Schwartz
Group Creative Director: Brett Craig
Creative Director: Xanthe Hohalek
Art Director: John Baker
Copywriter: Chris Jones
Senior Producer: Mila Davis
Assistant Producer: Stephanie Dziczek

Production Co: Pytka
Director: Joe Pytka
EP: Tara Fitzpatrick
Editorial Co: Nomad Editorial
Editor: John Murray
EP: Susye Melega
Producer: Nicole Steele

VFX Co: QuietMan
VFX Artist: Johnnie Semerad
EP/Partner: Carey Gattyan