Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Fans of movies and retro culture probably still remember Barbarella, a psychedelic SF with Jane Fonda from the end of the sixties, which had a pretty lukewarm reception from the audience in the beginning. Barbarella built its iconic status somewhat later, and today it’s one of the iconographic symbols of the pop-culture and comic culture of the sixties.
Invoking retro values or quoting films in advertising is nothing new, but it can be quite challenging because such campaigns can either be accepted, or fully misunderstood by consumers and the public, which would mean rejection and expulsion to the Hades of the advertising world, where, to the dismay of their creators, even the best ideas often end up.
Fortunately, for both the creators and clients, this was not the case with Grebonaut, a new series of TV spots and the campaign for instant lottery tickets, made for the Croatian Lottery by the creative team of the Zagreb agency Kofein, and director Vanja Vascarac. At the end of 2015, Croatian Lottery successively introduced three new lottery tickets to its offer: Lova do Krova, Christmas Lottery Ticket and Extra Extra Lova, and through 2016 it will continue and introduce an additional four. The overall campaign has launched its Grebonaut into orbit, a rather clumsy but charming astronaut, who, even in space, tries to do what characterizes every instant lottery: impulsive playing and having fun. According to the Croatian Lottery, each of these lottery tickets is the best-seller within its price range and the achieved results have exceeded the planned projections.
And while Grebonaut conceptually invokes Barbarella, or 2001: A Space Odyssey, the realization is quite modern and rather unusual for our environment. The spaceship is a CGI environment, but the biggest challenge was for the actor himself, who had to achieve an optimal impression of weightlessness in a bulky space suit. The shooting was slow because the impracticality of the suit and the cables on which the actor moved required new solutions to be found, with countless takes and repetitions that were physically very exhausting.
However, the most important thing was to find the right cast, an actor who has an all-American retro look, who looks like a 50’s Hollywood star and who is physically fit for the demanding shooting, as well as motivated and with a talent for comedy. Thus, the role of Grebonaut went to a young actor from Bjelovar, Igor Pečenjev, for whom an additional challenge was the fact that all 7 Grebonaut videos were recorded all at once.
“While developing the concept, we decided to go with a retro-comic approach, with movie references, because that’s the way the audience thinks today, but we didn’t want either a realistic look or a complete parody. That’s how the comic-book-like, slightly retro look was made,” director Vanja Vascarac said.
Playing instant lottery is usually the result of impulsive and random acts characterized by a sudden desire for gain, and optimism. Scratch-and-win lottery tickets offer the possibility of instantly winning astronomical amounts (relative to investment), but to win you need to scratch.
“So we came up with the idea of a lone astronaut in deep space, who misses excitement, optimism and fun. In a state of weightlessness, that’s not a simple thing to get, but our hero is driven by a genuine positive outlook and a desire to win no matter what the obstacles. We wanted to restore the optimism and the urge to discover new things that characterized the glory days of the space race, a time when astronauts were role models and icons of popular culture. Therefore, from the very beginning, and not just because of time and financial constraints, we decided on a retro look and the poetics of exploitation films. We are pleased because the reactions are extremely positive. Consumers have recognized our fun and game, and all of Grebonaut’s imperfections along with his optimism, and the desire to play that lurks in each of us,” said Morana Mikulandra, creative director, Kofein.
Here you can watch the making of the video for this campaign:
https://vimeo.com/154707994