Heinz’s latest campaign ‘Good then. Great now’ by TBWA\Sydney was inspired by the history of soup - which has been around for some 20,000 years.
Heinz and TBWA\Sydney utilised ‘soup art’ to remind people that the reasons people reached for soup were the same then, as they are now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q_5ikb7rAI
The campaign illustratively highlights that ever since humans invented soup, it’s been depicted in art.
From ancient Sumerian stone tablets to Pablo Picasso’s ‘La Soupe’ in 1902, there is evidence of soup fuelling humankind’s progress throughout history.
TBWA\Sydney creative duo, Rodrigo Soares and Damian Asling, said when researching the history of soup for the campaign, they realised it had a prominent place in history.
“The art showed us it was important. And not just important in one culture and in one time period, but across eras and across continents,” said Soares (pictured below) and Asling.
“Through desktop research we found evidence of soup being depicted in art throughout history from Mesopotamian stone relief etchings (635BC) to Picasso’s La Soup (1902).
“We also engaged curators from The University of Sydney to make sure the scenes we were showing were culturally accurate – while the ingredients in Heinz soups shown are different, the art styles and eating occasions (down to the bowls) are correct.”
The creative duo and the team at TBWA\Sydney wanted to celebrate soup’s role in history, acknowledging that while tastes have changed, the reasons for reaching for a bowl of soup have not.
“It’s comforting, easy to prepare, comes in all sorts of flavours and is totally delicious. It still very much has a place on our table today – it was good then, but thanks to Heinz it’s great now,” they said.
The commercial depicts computer-generated, ‘talking’ stone art figures that look authentic in appearance.
Soares and Asling said the idea of ‘Good then. Great now’ hinged on them creating work that looked as close as possible to real art.
“As it turns out it's very tricky to re-create something that looks like a real Red Figure Kaylix or a Dutch Master’s work,” said Soares and Asling.
The pair said they had a great team of clients, production partners and collaborators to help them overcome these roadblocks in the process.
“When it came to recreating fine art, the very talented team at BUCK animation and Illustrator Gerard Taylor at Chulo came to the party to bring all the different art styles to life as authentically as possible,” they said.
It takes a bold client to make work that looks very different from the category, says the creative duo.
“Our partners at Kraft-Heinz pushed the project to be better at every turn and backed the idea right from the start which helped us to bring to life a world of art, history and Heinz Soup.”
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