With the ‘Tribe/Beach’ 7Up campaign, bbdo, Toronto, created a pair of straightforward, and some would say, humorous stories translated very watchably onto the screen by some a-team talent in Canada.

That simple plan got the campaign recognized thrice at the New York Festivals, with a Gold award for best humorous campaign, a Silver in the soft drink category and a Silver for best original music. The effort was also recently lauded at the Advertising and Design Club of Canada’s annual fete with a Gold for tv campaign and ‘Tribe’ and ‘Beach’ winning gold and silver, respectively, for :60s tv single.

The campaign was created out of bbdo by the creative team of writer Zak Mroueh and art director Scott Dube, and was directed and lensed by Keith Rose, working out of Velocity Afrika and Radke Films in Toronto.

On set in South Africa, Rose employed a light touch with both local celebrities and complete unknowns to bring the campaign’s characters to life. Back in Canada, the production was left in the capable hands of Flashcut’s Mick Griffin for editing, Spin Productions for effects, d.a.v.e. for finishing – with colorist Bill Ferwerda enhancing the rich tones used in the spots – and Great Big Music for an award-winning sound effort (See ‘7Up: Great big winner’, opposite).

At the outset, the plan was to create a campaign with legs, says Mroueh. ‘We wanted some longevity, something that could continue for years to come and evolve.’

The campaign had a good long stew in the agency pot, with much time and research spent and alternative concepts devoted to the effort before the ultimate scripts were put down.

‘We wanted a strong strategic message that would be fun to watch over and over again,’ says Mroueh.

The resulting two spots tell simple, humorous stories, the resolutions of which are provided by a refreshing bottle of 7Up. In one case it’s a stylized account of the classic 98-pound weakling meeting up with his beefy nemesis at the beach; in the other it’s a tribal regent dissatisfied with an array of comely bridal prospects until he finds the woman with the proper bubbly dowry.

In addition to the humor behind the boards, the repeat viewing factor is provided by bulletproof production details – whiz-bang casting, strong color palettes, editing and seamless effects.

The spots were shot in Johannesburg and Capetown by Rose, a South African who marked his first Canadian assignment with the project. Rose says the creatives provided a strong focus for the campaign and collaborated with the director on the strong visual feel of both spots.

‘The spots are quite different,’ says Rose. ‘Although it’s a campaign we wanted to make each spot look good for what it was. The `Tribe’ ad looks quite realistic, the other is way over the top. But they both really hold together as a campaign; they both really work.’

Rose says the color schemes were also different. ‘For `Tribe’ we needed rich saturated colors, but still maintaining a hot kind of feel. For `Beach,’ because it’s such an old story, we went for a retro look.’

Talent also came from a wide variety of sources. The hapless protagonist in ‘Beach’ is a well-known South African tv actor. The meathead, as one might hope, was just a walking archetype found at a nearby gym. The tribal leader came from a less likely background – a newly arrived refugee from Mozambique who didn’t speak any of the South African languages and had never been in front of a camera before. ‘He just looked great,’ says Rose.

Mroueh says the intention was to push the limits somewhat to get the brand out there and acknowledges the polarizing effect of the spots on viewers, but says the campaign represented a full-out successful execution of a creative concept.

‘We had an idea in our heads and that’s the way it worked out; we had the right director, the right talent, everything,’ says Mroueh. ‘It’s one of those times when everything fell into place.’