Gasket

Google Content Network

Dan — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:41:03 +0000

02/03/10 - Gasket Studios was approached last fall by the creative team at AKQA/NY to collaborate on the exciting, character-driven launch campaign for the Google Content Network. Aimed at online advertisers, the campaign unveils and explains the unique advantages of Google Content Network, which allows users to reach more of their target audience, in more places, more often.




Featuring a playful and charming set of characters created by Gasket Studios, the project’s biggest challenge was to capture the attitude and voice of Google. The comprehensive information about the Content Network needed to be communicated in a brand-specific way, known as ‘Googley.’ This gave Gasket a guideline for the characters who needed to be fun, but also smart and accessible. For Gasket, the project also included a very aggressive timeline, just two short months. Provided with AKQA’s rough storyboards and character ideas, Gasket hit the ground running, creating a whole cast of characters as well as new storyboards for the entire 5-spot campaign. The Gasket team had the advantage of previous collaborations with the AKQA organization, so working with the AKQA/NY offices made the creative process smooth and successful. Both Google and AKQA/NY pushed the creative to a very high level, which made this project extremely exciting for the Gasket artists.

SuperValu Holiday Campaign 2009

Dan — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 23:51:00 +0000

In the Fall of 2009, agencies Shiny Happy Place and FAME, and client SuperValu teamed up with Gasket to create a unique set of commercials that would air during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The goal was to create a warm, family-friendly visual environment with movement that would enliven the new SuperValu 'List for Less' logo.

After creative collaboration, we interpreted the design of the original 2D logo into a 3D snow-globe. The snow-globe created a dynamic and interesting visual element that engaged the viewer throughout. Gasket created nearly a hundred versions between both holidays, 11 different SuperValu brands and the Hispanic Market versions we did with agency Acento in Los Angeles.




Here's a side-by-side of the two logo variations to show the transformation from the flat print logo to the dimensional and dynamic 3D snow-globe.




These are the boards we from agency Shiny Happy Place. The look was fairly flat at this stage and we all thought that we could push the dimensionality a bit further.

Best Buy Holiday Gift Cards

Dan — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:34:50 +0000

Gasket and Best Buy came together this holiday season to remind Best Buy customers that for those friends and family members who're just too hard to shop for, Best Buy has you covered with their assortment of holiday-themed gift cards.

In a vibrant animation utilizing the varied Best Buy gift card designs, Gasket created a world of color and movement, flowing from card to card, that captured the spirit of the Holidays.




These are stills from the final piece compiled into storyboards to convey the movement through color and space, in a still format.

Happy Holidays from Gasket Studios!!

Dan — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:23:15 +0000

Here's a little Animated Holiday card from us to you. Whatever you celebrate this time of year, it's always more fun with a few Marshmallowphants running around.

Just click the link on the right to watch our video Christmas Card.

Have a good one everybody, we'll see you on the other side of the holidays.

This is the card that we're sending around in case you didn't get to see it. Don't we all look jubilant?

Supervalu

Dan — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:11:13 +0000

Retail brand agency FAME and supermarket powerhouse SuperValu frequently team up with Gasket Studios to create colorful, memorable commercials and graphic that feature great products at even better prices.




In the SuperValu 4:15 campaign, Gasket created the end tag animation with products and pricing that would be included in multiple spots for broadcast.




For the Spring Savings campaign, Gasket and FAME wanted to make a simple and colorful spot for the a host of offers at SuperValu stores.




Similar to the Spring Savings ad, the Summer Savings campaign created simplicity without losing the dynamism of previous campaigns. Utilizing imagery with overtones of Independence Day, we tried to invoke the patriotic spirit in our supermarket customers, eager for that 4th of July BBQ experience.

Gasket and FAME designed an energetic end tag animation for a new SuperValu promotion, taking a cue from the resession.




These perks are really going to make you look forward to the next time you have to fill up your tank. This end tag was created during the gas crisis.

Sufix “Bass Maze”

Dan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:21:54 +0000

10/12/09 – The Sufix fishing line weaves a story that rivals all tall fish tales. The bright yellow line is the hero of our story, surviving weeds, trees, old wrecks and a giant gator. But the big one can’t escape his ultimate fate. And like all good stories, our hero Sufix line leaves us with a fairy tale catch.

Gasket Studios and advertising agency Pocket Hercules partnered to create this striking, dramatic and graphic commercial to showcase Sufix, "the worlds most hardcore fishing line." Client Rapala, who owns the Sufix brand, wanted the spot to be true to Florida-style bass fishing, known for tough conditions and record catches. The action of the fisherman, line, fish, reel drag and turnaround were very important and needed to capture the spirit and drama of a real bass fight, while making the Sufix line (and ultimately the fisherman using it) the winner.

The spot is scheduled to air in the American southeast beginning January 1st, 2010, and internationally after that.

Creative director Greg Shultz was inspired by the hand drawn images from Charles Darwin’s exploration of the Galapagos Islands. Those images and others like it, capture a raw, primal moment in natural history, and tell the story of new discovery. In keeping with that spirit, the Sufix design captures the stark, instinctual flight of a fish through the underwater depths, taking the viewer along for the journey.

BrahmstedWhiteNoise was charged with creating a voice for fishing line being abused underwater. It presented a never before encountered challenge; how to make that Sufix line sound like it’s being believably strained to its limits? Inspiration came from BWN sound designer Carl White’s 8 year old son during dinner. After hearing his dad’s challenge, he said "I know!" He then dragged his fork across his dinner plate, making the familiar and very unpleasant screechy scrape of metal across ceramic. Carl heard that and said "Leo, that’s brilliant! Thanks!" The rest came together in a snap.

Early boards stressing strong perspective and camera work for the animation to come.

This style board shows the overall look, feel and design we wanted for the spot.

Images evoking prehistoric history and the underwater world guided us in our designs.

The texture and color of the fish and elements was very important, particularly since we were working in a monochrome environment. The surfaces had to pop, presenting a real tactile experience.

Jack Supple, creative director at Pocket Hercules, became our ‘model’ fisherman, showing us all the moves and proper attire. Note the Lakemaid Beer cap — a key fishing accessory.

Our initial fisherman was on the stout side, but the Rapala client wanted to make our character a little younger and more athletic. And considering the size of the bass, he needed all the muscle he could get!

Viola. We have a young, trim athletic fisherman with a huge catch.

Best Buy/Insignia

Dan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:21:41 +0000

10/12/09 – Best Buy needed a high octane in-store brand spot to promote Insignia’s new Advanced Series TVs. Gasket Studios and Best Buy created a visual metaphor using Best Buy Racing’s Nascar #19 and Insiginia Advanced Series TVs. Performance, great components and smart teamwork were the name of the game.

Gasket created a high tech, high gloss, virtual Nascar world to tell the story of Insignia’s affordable, well-designed television technology. Using real race footage as reference, as well as modeling the actual #19 in its Insignia paint, Gasket created a fast moving, graphically animated spot that exists in the context of a high energy Nascar race; driving on the track, pit stops, pit team work and ultimately the checkered flag.

Insignia is a Best Buy Exclusive brand. The Insignia line features a wide range of consumer electronics including televisions, DVD players, home theater solutions, audio products and more.

Driver intensity. Win!

This is the style frame we developed for Best Buy to show our approach. We felt the night time, black and white background would really pop the #19 Best Buy car in Insignia brand green.

Using the actual #19 car as a base, we faithfully reproduced it in 3D. Ultimately we removed many of the sponsor logos in favor of making the key TV component logos pop.

The driver and crew were important to the spot as part of the "team work" metaphor. But I’m not sure Elliot Sadler really posed for this driver character…

Best Buy CMO Barry Judge “The Future is Digital”

Dan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:21:26 +0000

10/12/09 – Gasket Studios and Yellow Tag, the internal marketing production arm of Best Buy, developed this presentation to play at the 26th Annual Conference For Catalog and Multichannel Merchants. CMO Barry Judge tells the story of how past and future advertising has changed, and how Best Buy’s marketing capability must talk with and listen to its customers.

The challenge for the Yellow Tag and Gasket collaboration was two fold: The first was to create a visual language that merged the concepts of “people,” “digital,” and “conversation” in a way that was relatable and iconic, but not techie and corporate. The second challenge was an aggressive timeline. Gasket only had 2 days to concept and design and 3 days to animate and deliver the project. Normally, a project of this scope would take weeks, not days.

The end result was an energetic, candid and inspiring marketing presentation. After the presentation was shown at the ACCMM conference, Judge posted the spot on YouTube and his blog where the piece received over 10,000 views in the first month alone. The spot clearly resonated beyond it’s initial audience.

Imagery from the presentation.

Linear style frame showing the overal design and concept for the spot.

Old Best Buy television ad that valued name recognition and audacity over all else.

Marshmallowphant

Tammy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:00:52 +0000

06/15/09 - Focusing on brand connections, Gasket Studios launches Marshmallowphant. Imagine a character made of half marshmallow, half elephant. Now embrace in the kid in you, the one who wanted to know if chocolate milk came from chocolate cows or if the moon was really made of cheese. Swirl in some pure imagination and most of all fun, and you have the character of Marshmallowphant!

A combination of the sublime and the whimsical, Marshmallowphant is a character, a story and an interactive experience that allows users to create their own custom Marshmallowphant. At the website, marshmallowphant.com, users can download a design template, create their own version of the character, give it special ingredients and name it. Gasket then takes the design and makes a custom Marshmallowphant, and animates it. When the Marshmallowphant movie is ready, it is posted in the Recipe Box gallery for all to see, hopefully generating even more ideas for new users.

Created by Gasket Studios, Creative Director Greg Shultz explains: “Marshmallowphant is about possibilities, the “what ifs” and “oooh, then it coulds” that are the steps of any creation. That is the premise behind Marshmallowphant; a chance to get back to the heart of the joy in creating. We also wanted to forge a direct connection with people where they could explore the creative process through the character of Marshmallowphant.”

Ken Brahmsted of BWN created the original scores for the movies and website. "I was asked to write a jingle for the ‘product.’ I studied a few kids’ commercials from Japan to get an idea of what might work and came up with the "fun, fun, fun" motif which became the theme for the website. With the main "Factory" movie for Marshmallowphant, I pursued my own whimsy and flexed my animated musical muscles, cranking up the orchestra and getting large with the theme music. The picture was so big and detailed it seemed only right to treat the track the same way."

Home page of the Marshmallowphant website. There are lots of hidden rollovers and clickable fun. Also in Japanese!

Series of page designs for the website.

Series of custom Marshmallowphants from the gallery: Kevin Spacey, Teksag, Eggers & Franzi.

Original cast of Marshmallowphant characters from the MMP Teaser movie.

Concept designs for Marshmallowphant packaging. Stay tuned for candy and toys!

Delivery? Full of love and so yummy!

Yearbook Yourself 2008

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:45:09 +0000

UPDATE!! 08/18/09 – Yearbook Yourself wins the Viral Campaign Peoples Choice Awards at this years 13th Annual Webby Awards! Congratulations client Taubman and agency Colle McVoy. Glad we could be a part of it!

Want to go back in time to see what you’d look like in the 1950, 60s, 70s, 80s? The back-to-school website YearbookYourself.com was developed for Taubman shopping centers with agency Colle McVoy. Gasket Studios partnered to create the animated yearbook that launches the site. Aimed at teens, the highly successful site exceeded two million visits just one month after its launch, and over twelve million to date.

YearbookYourself.com allows you to upload a photo and see yourself with classic hairdos and vintage outfits through the decades. Once you have your photo montage of your past lives, you can save the pictures, share them with friends and post them to social networking sites. Or just torment your co-workers.

Meet the Gasket crew courtesy of Yearbookyourself.com