The two chimps conducting Smarties i.q. experiments may be puzzling some folks as to how their engagingly lifelike antics were achieved. It was, as suspected, stop-motion animation, but according to MacLaren McCann producer Franca Piacente, a very unique version thereof. The company out of Hamburg, Germany, that did the spot dishes up a stop-motion combo involving animatronics and claymation.

Claymation was the original choice of the creative team – cd Rick Davis, copywriter David Innis and ad Lara Palmer – for the spot wherein one primate in a playroom makes copies of images with Smarties, while another fidgets and ultimately scoffs the product.

They looked at a whack o’ reels from Acme Filmworks, an l.a.-based animation rep house, and in the mix were some that strayed beyond claymation, one of which belonged to Lauenstein and Lauenstein. The brothers, Cristoph and Wolfgang, had done Balance, a short that won an Oscar, and about half a dozen spots including a Coke ad featuring ants made out of nuts and bolts. The chimerical style and the fact that ‘they knew exactly what we wanted,’ won them the assignment, says Piacente.

Working long-distance made for some strange deliveries at MacLaren. A parcel arrived containing a claymation monkey from one of the (unsuccessful) competing bidders. Fortunately it was love at first sight when e-mail from Germany delivered photos of chimp heads, made out of fur – fake, Piacente hastens to add – with claymation faces and animatronic armatures that operated the mouths.

A very detailed frame-by-frame storyboard was the next step, followed by a trip to Germany to finalize the apes and the miniature playroom set, and to see the first (tedious) day of shooting that followed. The spot was in process from mid-November to Christmas, and from January to February, when there was another trip for the final edit and conform. Tapes – but no more body parts – arrived in Toronto in between.

Piacente says that cost-wise, with our dollar value being relatively decent in Germany, the budget was reasonable.

The eminently kid-hummable sound is by Einstein Bros.

While to kids it seems like there are several spots on air, proving that adding depth does pay, the ‘How Smart Are You?’ campaign consists of one tv ad, but the concept will be stretching out with a print and pop element.