Just-in-time Holiday Cheer from Saatchi & Saatchi LA

Shravan Hegde is an Associate Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi in Los Angeles, California  

Just in time for a holiday season we're sure to remember for its challenges, Advertising Awards judge Shraven Hegde reminisces on a blockbuster of a holiday campaign sure to bring back some smiles. On a scale of 'the more the merrier', and reading like a CD's letter to Santa, it's the kind of campaign creatives dream of: the story of an established brand with beloved animated characters and money for creativity on a large scale, which goes on to win big at Cannes, The One Show, and others.

Cricket Wireless is a brand not well-known in Canada, so for a few minutes forget the problematic upcoming holidays, and sit back and enjoy the show. 

Story notes by Shravan himself:

"We modelled the campaign for Cricket Wireless after a Hollywood release. We debuted 'Four for the Holidays' in true Hollywood fashion. To bring this idea to life, we premiered a live stream ‘Press Junket’ bringing to real life our animated characters."

We created an emotionally compelling film that championed our fans’ love for Cricket’s beloved characters. To do this, we intrinsically wove the offers and promotions (4 for $100 and 4 free phones) into Cricket’s first short-feature film, 'Four for the Holidays', a story of four best friends whose holiday travels pushed them thousands of miles away in locations across the U.S., Mexico and Canada. At the end of the film, the four reunite and discover that, in a season of sharing, the best holiday plans are the ones that bring us together.

We debuted in true Hollywood fashion. We premiered a live stream ‘Press Junket’ bringing to real life our animated characters. Utilizing innovative live-rendering technology, Cricket characters, Dusty and Rose, were transformed on-screen to embody fully expressive 3D Cricket characters, answering questions from host Mario Lopez, one of Hollywood’s most popular entertainment reporters, as well as customers in real time. This social live-stream event garnered over 11 million impressions and over 5.5 million views across different online channels.

The campaign also leveraged everything from celebrity cameos to movie-poster billboards 'promoting' the film to social teasers – all aimed at reminding consumers that the best holiday plans are the ones that keep us together. We saw snippets of the campaign on television as well as on social media including brand ambassadors and influencers."

Take a watch:

Why does Shravan think it was such a success?

• It broke through the holiday clutter by bringing the brands beloved animated characters to life in a live-action setting.
• The Press Junket’s experiential piece used an innovative and original technology that gave people a chance to talk to animated characters in real-time for the first time ever, setting a new standard in branding and animated movie promotion.

Part of a larger brand campaign which helped Cricket Wireless reach more than 10 million subscribers in January – an increase of more than 5 million subscribers in the five years since joining the AT&T family, it became one of the most successful social initiatives in the brand’s history, garnering over 10M impressions, over 5M views and 5M engagement.

Thanks Shravan, for reminding us all to continue to dream big and look forward to the possibilities of the year ahead. And, If you celebrate, have a very share-y Christmas, all!

More on Shravan Hegde:

shravanhegde.com

Shravan is currently focused on helping create a global marketing campaign for Toyota's Global Olympics & Paralympics sponsorship. He is an award-winning multidisciplinary Global Associate Creative Director with an art direction background, specializing in new and emerging digital platforms and experiential marketing, making him a unique innovator and creator. His achievements have been awarded at shows like Cannes Lions, Art Directors Club, One Show, Webbys, London International Awards and ADDYs, to name a few, for such globally-recognized brands like Chevrolet, Doritos, and Häagen-Dazs. Shravan was also selected as one of San Francisco’s top ‘‘32 under 32’’, and he was a judge at Portfolio Night in San Francisco.