Revenge Of The Counting Sheep
June 12, 2012 by Screenmag
The veteran counting sheep return in this spot for Serta from Doner with Aardman Animation and STORY.
Mattress Heist marks the return of the animated Counting Sheep (created by the U.K.’s Aardman Animation), which first appeared in the company’s ads more than a decade ago. In this case, the furry animals break into a factory showroom in a middle-of-the-night caper to “see what Serta’s been up to.” Rifling through company files and computers, they learn that Serta’s Perfect Sleeper is “the only official mattress of the National Sleep Foundation” and has been shown to cure common sleep problems. In hopes of retaining their jobs as sleep inducers to insomniacs, the sheep make off with a mattress on their backs.
The spot was filmed at Serta’s headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The production crew shot both the interior and exterior of the Serta facility, as well as a number of practical props, including file cabinets, computers and the “hero” queen-size mattress. The animation and finishing was completed by Aardman in Bristol, England.
Credits:
Title: Mattress Heist
Client: Serta: Andrew Gross, SVP Marketing; Kelly Ellis, Director Integrated Marketing; Matt Whitmer; Manager Creative Services; Steve Klancnik, Rod Jenkins, Leo Kapetanovic and Rich Parker, Research & Development.
Agency: Doner, Southfield, Mich. Ken Spera, SVP, Creative Director; Mike Brooks, Creative Director; Alexander Page, Producer; Wendy DeWindt; VP Brand Leader; Melissa Zelinski, Brand Leader Production.
Production: Aardman Animation, Bristol, England. Peter Peake, Director; Jason Fletcher Bartholomew; Senior Producer; Martin Blunden, Technical Director; Maggie O'Connor, Production Coordinator.
STORY. Mark Androw, Executive Producer; Rick Rosemeyer, Producer; Mary Langenfeld, Head of Production.