Southeast Asian eCommerce platform Lazada rolled out a new campaign through – running from February through to April – to boost awareness and drive entries for the company’s own ‘LAZADA RUN’ inaugural mass participation event which spans six countries across the region.
The branded run itself – which includes 21km, 10km, 5km courses and a ‘kids dash – starts in Vietnam on 23 April, before moving on to Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines and Malaysia before culminating in Singapore on 23 July.
The campaign was created by design, animation and VFX house Heckler Singapore who worked to a brief which tasked them to ‘bring the host countries to life’ and ‘reflect the key elements and vibrancy of each nation where the run is being held’.
Filmed only in Singapore and helmed by Heckler Creative Director Cody Amos and Animation Director Fred Venet, the hero film criss-crosses the region showcasing its cultural landmarks: from Vietnam’s iconic rice terrace fields, to Thailand’s floating markets and playful elephants, as well as the Sinulog dancers of The Philippines, Indonesia’s Balinese dancers and Komodo dragons, Malayisa’s Petronas Towers and the Merlion, as well as Marina Bay Sands and the dancing otters of Singapore.
The brand’s mascot, Lazzie, stars in a mixed media commercial which encourages participants to keep on running through a blend of animated illustration and live action footage. The graphics range from simple animated after effects, through 3D tracking and traditional, hand-drawn, frame-by-frame cell animation, plus characters and comic-book style flourishes to convey sound and speed.
The spearhead ‘First Time With LAZADA RUN’ spot and supporting social content, launched on 20 February and sought to promote the partnership and drive early bird running event entries through the Lazada app by positioning it as ‘the biggest running event in ASEAN’.
Runners are urged to register for an Early Bird Card by 1 March to secure a set of special event privileges and lots of souvenirs and to learn more about the event online at www.lazada.co.th
“This film was really fun to make on lots of levels,” explained Director Amos. “The base concept of a guy going for a run, but his run being transformed by a whole animated world that springs up around him, is super playful and lighthearted and fun. We shot on location with a Segway and Ronin setup, so that we could keep the camera moving nice and fast (since it’s a running film after all) but also smooth (to help with integrating the animation). While shooting we needed to imagine the animation and make sure there was plenty of room in the frame for Fred’s magic. We also tried to get some nice interaction in there. Our hero high fives an animated mascot of the brand, as he ducks under some 2D water from an elephant, that sort of thing is really fun.”
“I also enjoyed the opening shot where we transition from our main character waking up in bed, to him suddenly standing outside stretching,” continued Amos. “It’s a simple trick where we pull the bed away and move a bunch of light blockers around. But it was really fun, and hopefully adds a little more playfulness into an already playful film.”
The campaign was created for client Lazada by a team at production and post production house Heckler Singapore where the team included Directors Cody Amos and Fred Venet, Executive Producer Charu Menon, DOP Chuck Tham, Live Action Producer Lizzy Homersham, Wardrobe & Art Managers Jillian Tan and Lizzy Homersham, Editor Matt Osborne, Colour Ben Conkey, Animation Producer Natia Sopromadze, Designer Ovcharka, Animators Krishna Kothari and Pari Tawale, FX Animator Eloise Langcap, AE Animator and Compositer Frederick Venet and I/O Micheal Taye, with audio post handled by FUSE.
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