Alumni Showcase: Ben & Jerry's cute TV spots

This is the first post in a new section entitled "Alumni Showcase." Hopefully, this section can inspire the current students to continue to think "outside of the box" and to the power of big ideas. Ernie Schenck thinks you should think "inside the box" however. TX Creative alum names are in bold.



See the other three spots here.

Agency/Location:
Amalgamated/New York
Executive CDs:
Jason Gaboriau, Doug Cameron
Creative Directors:
Kent McCall, Kent Stephens
Art Director:
Shaun Bruce
Copywriters:
Rebecca Renner, David Roth

Read rest of the credits here at Adweek's best spots of October.

How did y'all come up with the ad? Why the animation?

David Roth (CW) said:

"By the time Shaun and I got there, the frame for the spots was already
in place – ten seconds of "theater" and then a flavor to pay off the
action. It was very much the Texas Creative formula of leaving the
circle open a tiny bit. In fifteen seconds, only one thing can happen,
so we listed countless scenarios. Seeing that we were interns and got
the assignment our second week, we got as lucky as you can get.

The idea to do claymation came from our strategist Doug Cameron. Ben
& Jerry's prides itself on homemade folksiness, and Doug pushed for
spots that embodied those qualities. The most inspiring source
material was a paper maché cast of Ben and Jerry sent by a Vermont
grandma to their Burlington office. The folks from their marketing
department showed it to us, and it had an endearing, carefully-crafted
yet naïve feel to it. So we went for imagery generated by grandmas,
not computers."