So you may have been watching the tube (the telly one) lately and come across two tongues with geezer accents and a hoity-toity eyeball with stalk legs. Well if you did, chances are you were watching Coke Zero’s new campaign. In a nutshell it’s about two tongues who think they are drinking Coke but in reality are drinking Coke Zero, they just can’t tell the difference because they have no eyeballs. Just taste buds. And their taste buds tell them they’re drinking regular Coke… and I think you get the picture.
So to enhance the lives of these pink slimy dudes we’ve created some online adventures where they’re on the hunt for that bottle of Coke (really Coke Zero, but you knew that). Trust Your Buds
It’s been an amazing job with some truly inspirational effort poured into it, so instead of me rabbiting on about it as I have already… we now get part of the team who worked on it to give us a little background into it. So introducing Alister McCann (Copywriter) and Fabian Hupfauf (Art Director) to take us on a little journey.
Open on a street scene in Balmain café.
Two ruggedly handsome gentlemen sit opposite each other. Both stare blankly at the Coke Zero brief that lays limp and lifeless between them. Al, the copywriter, was premiering his new t-shirt. Disappointment etched across his face as Fabs the art director had not bothered to mention it or, worse, hadn’t even noticed. Idly they stirred the milky froth of their decaf macadamia, half soy half regular milk lattes.
Al: What if we do a game starring two slimy tongues, with weird little rhino feet, on a relentless mission to snatch a bottle of Coke from the other side of the kitchen?
Fabs: Sorry what? The waitress just bent over to pick up something. (Grown-ups note: Al & Fab spend so much time trying to think like young males 18-25 that parts of their brains are permanently 18-25.)
Al: I said, ahh forget it.
Fabs: Wait, I’ve got it! Let’s do a game starring two slimy tongues, with weird little rhino feet, on a relentless mission to snatch a bottle of Coke from the other side of the kitchen. But here is the kicker – the tongues don’t know it’s Coke Zero. They’re totally blind so they think it’s real Coke. And they need this eyeball dude to help them reach the Coke, I mean Coke Zero.
Al: My frontal lobe just melted.
Inspiration goosed Fabs’ brain into a creative flurry, while Al made a beeline for the little boys’ room.
Fabs began sketching out the images that would make up the three levels of the game, while Al scribbled his thoughts on two and a half scrolls of bog roll. When they reconvened both had completely different ideas on how the game should play out. Compromises were made over a slight variation of scissors, paper, rock involving a rusty bike chain, a can of Rexona and a lighter.
Cut to four months in the future. Al and Fabian in a dingy café in Ultimo
Al: Wow, Trust your Buds goes live today, I hope the kiddies like it.
Fabs: I’m already working on the sequel. It turns out that the tongues are actually from a post apocalyptic future and they were sent back to warn us about an army of sexy killer robots that are going to enslave mankind.
Al: I’m sorry what? The waitress just bent over to pick up something.
Err… thanks guys.
So, to help with the boys’ in-depth analysis of the work I thought I’d show some of their initial scamps and then a couple of screens of the final product after our digital alchemists have worked their magic. Speaking of which, big ups to the blood, sweat and tears Aiden and (he’ll hate this) Jennings put into this project. There was a cast of thousands working on this project but these two practically passed kidney stones of love on this puppy. Anyway go play, go play.
Trust Your Buds
