Z Animation's Bojangles' Campaign adds playful edge to fast-food restaurant

Online, February 18, 2010 (Newswire.com) - NEWS

Z Animation
www.zanimation.com
(323)982-0500

Press Contact:
Peter Barg, (323)982-0500

Z Animation's Bojangles' Campaign adds playful edge to fast-food restaurant

It is an uncommon yet welcome experience to see a fast food spot that: 1) doesn't feature any live action people in it, and 2) shows the actual food interacting with each other. In Z Animation's (www.zanimation.tv) ad campaign for Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits, we see just that. In two 30-second spots and two :15 second spots, L.A.-based Animation Director Adam Byrd creates a simple world in which we would expect to see humans doing human things, but instead we are witnessing the food of Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits performing these acts themselves.

Already with storyboards ready to go, the agency chose Adam Byrd, an interesting director who has done a lot of photo-cut-out animation in the past. The Bojangles' products were shot on a Lazy Susan through 360 degrees, then Byrd used a mix of Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects to bring the spots to life. Byrd took the stills for the spots himself and masterfully created short yet effective stories using nothing but simplistic backgrounds and images of food from Bojangles'.

In one spot, named "Spin," we see a collection of different sandwiches circled around a Bojangles' beverage cup in what looks to be a living room with the television showing the Bojangles' logo, and a speaker playing music. The sandwiches start playing "Spin the Bottle" with the cup, and two sausage biscuit sandwiches are chosen and they approach the television and "kiss." The spot works very well in advertising Bojangles' "2 Sausage Biscuits for $1.79" deal, and the narrator states, "getting together for the first time" as the two sandwiches "kiss" really drives home the special that this restaurant is wanting to inform the public about.

The second spot, titled "See-Saw," depicts a playground, and we see a glass of iced tea on the swing, and a chicken biscuit sandwich on the low end of a seesaw, with a small sack of French fries on the upper end. The sack of fries keeps jumping up and down on the seesaw to hopefully elevate the end with the sandwich on the other end. Quickly though the glass of iced tea leaps from the swing and lands next to the sack of fries on the seesaw, sending the chicken biscuit sandwich up into the air. The sandwich lands on the ground next to the sack of fries and the iced tea as a blimp flies overhead with a banner revealing the special the spot is advertising for. Both of the spots are simple and to the point, but also have a fun, stylized world that could only be depicted with animation.

"I like 'See-Saw' a lot," says Byrd. "I think the story and pacing work well and I believe the sound design really makes it. The agency and client were very happy overall and apparently it increased sales and had a positive customer response. In the world of advertising I believe this is of primary importance at the end of the day. They've been hinting at coming back, which would be great."

WATCH "Bojangles' -- 'See-saw'": http://zanimation.tv/recent.cfm?RecentWorkID=30
WATCH "Bojangles' -- 'Spin'": http://zanimation.tv/recent.cfm?RecentWorkID=31

Agency and Post-production Information:
E Mower and Associates in Charlotte, NC
Laurie Wolf - Producer

Z Animation is an independent commercial animation design and production company whose goal is to be a valuable creative toolbox for agency art directors, writers and producers. Founded by former Agency Executive Producer Peter Barg, Z Animation's directors include Caroline Attia, Odd Todd, John Vondracek, Paul Fierlinger, and 20 more with a full range of techniques including 3D, Flash, Cel, rotoscope, papercut out, and motion graphics.

Z Animation is represented nationally by:
Mark Mirsky, 212 753 1312; East Coast
Dan O'Brien, 312 828-0990; Midwest
Doug Stephen, 773 610 6881; Midwest
Gilles de Bohnfilhs, 818 788 3309; West Coast

###