The Chicago Tribune’s ambitious integrated branding campaign introduces a winsome cast of rounded iconic characters, designed by award-winning animator J. J. Sedelmaier Productions of White Plains, N.Y.
DDB, which won the $4 million account last May from Marc USA, kicked off the exciting departure from previous Tribune advertising with a 90 and 60, followed by an on-going series of 30s for broadcast and the Web.
Said Sedelmaier, “This little monochromatic, round- headed universal character design has a classic feel and looks like something that could have been designed in the 1920s. But it’s totally contemporary in its appearance, its behavior and its environment.”
ACD/AD Dick Tracy, who teamed with ACD/ copywriter Geoffrey McCartney, said their challenge was to bring to life to a wide demographic audience an easily-identifiable icon that is similar to those seen worldwide on public signage.
The characters are utilized in countless different situations that used a problem/solution selling model.
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| Award-winning animator J.J. Sedelmaier, a Chicago native |
Choosing Sedelmaier was the result of the agency’s need for the work to be hip enough to command the attention of younger consumers, Tracy noted.
Tracy said Sedelmaier has a “wonderfully twisted mind, given his work on shows like ?Saturday Night Live,’ He had the right mindset to talk to this generation.”
Sedelmaier saw the Tribune design “as kind of a cross between ‘Felix the Cat’ and the classic silent film roles played by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton,” he said. “In terms of personality, it’s quick and clever, while always projecting a sense of humor.”
“But by far the most fun about this project was the opportunity to tell a story with no dialog,” he added.
The Sedelmaier team added to the iconic dimensions by enlarging heads to give it child-like warmth, adding a nose to the rounded profile indicating when the character shifts its attention and depth between the head and the shoulders to give the character the opportunity to be more expressive with its body language.
Said Tracy, “We wanted our figure to be generic enough so that a wide range of people could identify with it, but still have enough personality that everyone liked it,” he said.
The Tribune project, noted Sedelmaier, “really transformed our studio from an animation house to a full-fledged design shop.”
Agency credits: DDB CDs Adam Glickman and Craig Feigen, and executive producer Becky Ruff. For J. J. Sedelmaier Productions, J.J. Sedelmaier, head designer/director; Dan Madia, was head animator/ production manager; Andrea Gonzalez, designer.
J. J. Sedelmaier is represented for commercials by Liz Laine Reps in the Midwest and West Coast. See www.jjsedelmaier.com.
