Director:
Matt Aselton
Production Company:
Arts & Sciences
Agency:
Venables Bell & Partners
"When it's on your mind, it's on eBay," conveys the ease of shopping on eBay and debuted this Fall with TV spots, an App, an extensive Print and OOH campaign that continues to roll out through the holidays and an upcoming experiential experience.
The eBay campaign marks an evolution of The Mill's traditional VFX work with Venables Bell that has included Audi's "Release the Hounds", a popular Super Bowl spot this year out of The Mill, and Barclays "Fake," a recent Clio-winning effort out of The Mill. "The trust we built up with Venables Bell gave us a great opportunity to pitch the design and print work for eBay against some very established players," says Stephen Venning, Executive Producer of The Mill's Design and Creative Direction division. "In truth, winning these aspects of the project made us very mindful we had to deliver our best work to repay their faith in us!"
The agency asked The Mill to collaborate for content across several platforms, including the extensive Print and OOH images now appearing on billboards, bus shelters and building walls all across California. The print was photographed by The Mill's Andrew Proctor and Robert Sethi, with live-action elements shot by Tom O'Neill. "Perhaps the highlight of our involvement in the eBay campaign was realizing the CGI billboard requirements," Venning offers. "With deadlines being tight we ran The Mill round-the-clock, having a team in L.A. shooting the print and doing the CGI, a NY EP on the print and live-action production, and an expert team in London led by The Mill's Print specialist Ross Urien leading all the retouching and compositing. The fantastic results drew on The Mill's creative synergy across the group 24/7."
The Mill also designed and produced the popular TV campaign's end-frame mnemonics. The mnemonics-contemporary carousel graphic stings that rotate different products to ultimately reveal the eBay logo-perfectly punctuate spots such as 'Mom Jeans' Featured in a well-received comedic campaign directed by Matt Aselton, 'Mom Jeans' depicts a daughter narrowly escaping her mother's offer to borrow a pair of baggy high-waisted "Mom" jeans, by using her tablet to make a quick purchase of skinny jeans on eBay.
Venning explains, "There is a practical advantage when one shop works on all aspects of the campaign because we can repurpose thematic assets and make sure the campaign is truly integrated through design and thought process. It sounds obvious, but having the ability to help the agency connect those creative elements may have been missed with varied suppliers and ultimately allowed eBay, Venables Bell and The Mill the chance to make a more memorable and successful integrated campaign.
"We're proud to say that eBay was our biggest VFX Print campaign to date and it really has opened up our eyes to the creative potential of Print, whether static or digital. We're excited about our blossoming Design capabilities and undertaking more opportunities to create title and end graphics for integrated campaigns very soon!" Venning says.
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Producer: Emily Moore
Creative Directors: Lee Einhorn, Tyler Hampton
Executive Creative Directors: Paul Venables, Will McGinness
Art Directors: Greg Wyatt, Will Geddes, Lee Einhorn
Copywriters: Brad Phifer, Tyler Hampton, Mary Hernandez (School Play only)
Director of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Production Company: Arts & Sciences
Director: Matt Aselton
Executive Producer: Marc Marrie
Producer: Eric Sedorovitz
Director of Photography: Toby Irwin
Managing Director: Mal Ward
Editing Company: Arcade
Editor: Geoff Hounsell
Edit Assist: Will Hasell
VFX & Design: The Mill
Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
VFX Producer: Arielle Davis
2D Lead Artist: Narbeh Mardirossian
3D Lead Artist: Nick Lines
2D Artists: Daniel Lang, Greg Park
Production Coordinator: Kiana Bicoy
End Mnemonics:
Exec. Producer: Stephen Venning
Producer: Angelo Mazzamuto
Lead Designer: Tom O’Neill
Designers: Greg Park, Justin Sucara
CG Artist: Robert Kim