People Complete Ridiculous Tasks for Candy in This Mesmerising Danish Campaign
Director, Peter Harton, who is represented by Great Guns (exclusively in the UK, US, Asia, India, and ME), unveils a series of quirky commercials for Danish confectionery company, Carletti. Created by agency, Envision, and produced by TorpBerthelsen, the four 30-second adverts show people inventing bizarre excuses to reward themselves with Carletti candy.
Each of the four films begin with a group of people gazing longingly at a mysterious wooden box. In ‘Dry Artistic Swimming’, they drop to the floor in synchronised movements before finally forming a hexagon with their bodies. In ‘Big Toe’, a man confidently kicks off his shoe to reveal impressive toe movements, which are met with approval from his companions. One film features a woman slowly dancing her hand towards a mousetrap as the others dance anxiously behind her in a mesmerising combination of casualness and nail-biting tension.
In each scenario, after the group complete a peculiar activity, the wooden box opens and reveals Carletti products – accompanied by the voiceover, ‘There’s always an occasion to enjoy a Carletti candy. If there isn’t, invent one.’
Peter Harton delved into his signature quirky and dark comedic style with this latest campaign. Says Peter: “The brief from the agency was very loose so I had a lot of creative freedom. I really enjoyed getting involved, very early, in the process. The insight was that people reward themselves with sweets for all sorts of reasons – for example, when they hurt themselves, are active, or do something cool. With this in mind, the characters’ excuses had to be simple but a bit ridiculous. The strongest visual reference was Carletti’s distinctive packaging, so I worked with my production designer and stylist, Jane Marhall Whittaker, to develop the aesthetic references.”
On creating the funky, pastel-coloured world for the campaign, Peter comments: “The product is ridiculous and the scenarios are ridiculous, so I felt that it needed some contrast – otherwise it would become too much. Rather than just shooting on location with the available light, documentary style, I wanted to make it beautiful. I really like Jens Maasbøl’s cinematography on this. One of my inspirations was the work of my friend, the photographer Casper Sejersen. I wanted to create something that was simple and easy to decode, but still had you wondering what the hell just happened, so I took it away from reality and tried to make something special. I like it when you question the whole premise: are they friends? Is it a club? Is it a religion?”
Commenting on the distinctive music, Peter says: “Music was definitely important as it helped dictate the mood and direction of the films. My composer, Asger Baden, came on board early and put his spin on it. I wanted a piece that was hard to pinpoint time-wise – it needed some retro elements as Carletti candy is a Danish classic, but also something to show its contemporary relevance.”
