For years Scotiabank‘s “Coming Soon” spot for its Scene loyalty program closed with a popcorn bag exploding with kernels.
When it came time to refresh the ad this year, the brand decided to bring that imagery to life through animation. Crafted exclusively for Cineplex cinemas by Bensimon Byrne, the new two-part Scene ad imagines the kernels as a cast of characters inspired by tropes from blockbuster films, like its tough-talking army sergeant (“Colonel Kernel”).
Bensimon Byrne partner and executive creative director Joseph Bonnici said he wanted the spot to serve as a “mini movie” that fits in with the trailers it introduces. Each of the spots end with a cliffhanger, for example, mimicking the format of the Hollywood trailer.
The animation for the ads was done by the production company Against All Odds.
The first of the two spots, “The Mission,” started airing in theatres April 16 and will run for six weeks. That spot will be followed by, “Blast Off,” which will also run for six weeks before both ads go into rotation. In total, Scotiabank expects the ads to run for about two years.
Scotiabank’s senior vice-president of marketing, Canadian banking, Clinton Braganza, said he sees a strong potential to use the animated popcorn concept in future Scene creative.
“The storytelling of what’s going on with the popcorn, the theatre of the mind, suggests we could tell wonderful stories in the future,” Braganza said. “There’s a wonderful elasticity of this platform we think has a lot of fun territory.”
“It could become a very important part of our overall Scene storytelling,” he said.
