Mars Temptations Made a Halloween Horror Movie—for Cats
It took more than 100 people to create the four-minute film by adam&eveDDB, which features every cat's worst nightmare
Pet food brand Mars Temptations and agency adam&eveDDB have released a four-minute animated Halloween horror movie for cats, which was made using 400 handcrafted miniature set props and CGI cats.
The film, titled “Scaredy Cat,” follows a lone cat in a spooky house that follows a ball of string as it moves throughout the building past falling ornaments, a creepy rocking chair and a TV that turns on to play a terrifying clip of an old woman.
Despite the scary surroundings, the cat seems unperturbed and follows the string into the kitchen—upon which the poor feline is faced with its worst nightmare: a cucumber. Looking out of the window, the cat realizes the house is on a cucumber farm and leaps into the air with abject terror.
The Halloween spot nods to series of viral videos of cats being scared of everyday items, especially, for some reason, cucumbers.
While the ad is very much targeted at humans (who hold the purse strings, after all) the Temptations brand worked with the Waltham Petcare Science Institute to enhance the movie with specific sound frequencies that will capture cats’ attention, giving the short motion picture feline appeal.
The spot, which has been released to support the launch of the brand’s new Temptations Creepy Catnip flavor treats, was created by Zombie Studio and took 14 weeks and more than 100 people to make. It was shot on a miniature set, which was comprised of 400 handcrafted miniature props, some of which were sculpted by hand while others were made with 3D printers and then hand painted.
The ad has been launched online, supported with blockbuster movie posters, trailers, sneak peaks and influencer reviews.
Credits:
Client: Mars Petcare
VP Marketing: Craig Neely
Marketing Director: Benjamin Crowder
Senior Brand Manager: Colten Kidwell
Senior Associate Brand Manager: Jim Niemann
Associate Brand Manager: Meryl Fishman
Agency: adam&eveDDB
Chief Creative Officer: Rick Brim
Creative Director: Colin Booth, Ben Stilitz, Andre Sallowicz, Simon Vicars
Creative Team: Lily Scarlett Hurst, William Blackburn
Group Managing Director: Fiona McArthur
Managing Partner: Charlotte Cook
Business Director: Loella Collier
Account Director: Sarah Cornish
Account Manager: Clive Olamiju
Account Executives: Alizee Lawson, Hugo Evans
Head of Strategy: Milla McPhee
Junior Planner: Jack Spicer
Head of Production: Ben Sharpe
Integrated Producer: Stephen Mead
Production Company: Zombie/Blinkink
Director: Paulo Garcia
Co-Director: Luiza Queiroz
Executive Producer: Natalia Gouvêa, Bart Yates
Production Director: Marcio Lovato, Gareth Owen
Creative Director: Daniel Salles
Production Design and Art Director: Joseph Specker Nys
Photograph Director: Lucas Barreto
Animation Director: Patrick Botton
CG/VFX Supervisors: Isaac Buzzola, Rafael Segnini
Color Grading: Psyctho n’ Look/Marcinho.abc
Music composer: Chris White
Producer: Sean Craigie-Atherton
Music Production Company: SIREN
Sound Studio: Factory
Sound Designer: Jon Clarke
Audio Producer: Deborah Whitfield
Black Madre Studio
Head of Art: Andre Maciel
Executive Producer: Tina Castro, Tayna Boaventura
Coordination Production: Leticia Alves
Illustrators : Andre Maciel, Icaro Yuji, Leonardo Soares, Priwi, Roberto Souza
Media Strategy Director: Daniel Jablon
Media Supervisor: Elizabeth Abbatiello
Associate Media Director: Matthew DeZarlo
