For the first time, Burt’s Bees is promoting its seven mainstay, “classic” products as a group. These “classics” include Beeswax Lip Balm, Coconut Foot Cream, Shea Butter Hand Repair Cream, Hand Salve, Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream and Res-Q Ointment. To promote their classic lineup, Burt’s Bees is reinterpreting a few classics in a new format. Burt’s Bees and agency Baldwin& are using 6-second stop motion animated Vines interpreting seven classics of literature: Little Women, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Gulliver’s Travels, Metamorphosis, Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter, and Julius Caesar.
The humorous Vines highlight the time-tested nature of Burt’s Bees products, suggesting they will last as long as the classic literature they pay homage to. Of course, Burt’s Bees products are actually featured in the Vines, such as the lip balm in “Little Women” who declare “We really are quite little. And each of us women.” These classic vines are staged by Vine animator Jethro Ames of San Francisco, using in-camera stop-motion shooting for each Vine. The process takes about four hours to complete, with no post-production possible.
The first two “Classic Vines” to roll out are Little Women (featured above) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (featured after the jump).” In a small, prequel campaign that marries the new and the classic in a different way, founder Burt Shavitz will post about his backwoods Maine life on Instagram. This “Classic Burts” campaign contrasts a classic, traditional lifestyle with the hustle and bustle of modern social media, such as a photo of Burt splitting logs with the caption “Innovative home heating system.” This campaign from Baldwin& is refreshingly non self-serious and makes sense for a company whose selling point is that they make a no-frills, quality product out of classic materials. We’re guessing it didn’t exactly break the bank either.