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JERRY BECK
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AMID AMIDI
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Paddington Bear Marmite ads
by jerry
September 17, 2008 6:00 pm


A new series of British TV spots, featuring Paddington Bear for Marmite, are quite refreshing. They mimic the cartoon series from the 70’s and are made the old fashioned way - animated by hand, using stop motion, 2D and cut-out animation techniques. Here’s a short making-of video:

(Thanks, Scott Harpel)

09/17/08  6:13pm
doug holverson says:

So are people gagging on your sandwiches good advertising?

09/17/08  6:22pm

Well they’ve done a sterling job of recreating the original cartoon.
Marvelous.
A shame Sir Michael is no longer around to narrate.

09/17/08  9:12pm

Tandem Studio. One of the best animation outfits in the U.K.

Unless I’m mistaken, this style of animation was taken to new levels by Daniel Greaves in the film FLATWORLD. That film is a work of genius in my opinion, and was made at Tandem. Its a terrific style, and its nice to know is still be done.

09/17/08  10:37pm

Nice stuff! Just wish they weren’t all whispering. Heh.

09/17/08  11:46pm
Dan says:

Nice!…There’s something about stop motion.

09/18/08  1:06am
Sam Filstrup says:

Very cool, I remember that bear I was growing up.

09/18/08  4:29am

Doug: Marmite has always been known as something you either love or hate, which they took in their stride and have been advertising it showing these two opposing sides ever since. It’s a type of sense of humour you never see in American advertising, they’re just not afraid to laugh at themselves.

There has been quite a few commercials like this on British television recently, taking old children’s shows and recreating them, using nostalgia as tool to sell products, and it works rather well when they recreate them exactly how they were originally made. I love that era of old UK animated shows that were made on a shoe string budget and used things you could find in your house. So many charming programs like Bagpuss, The Clangers, Button Moon, Willo the Wisp, Noggin the Nog, etc..

09/18/08  6:19am

I been tripping over those damn polystyrene sandwiches all year.
Good work boys.

09/18/08  6:39am

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the number of these ads made so far, round about 7, I think. Top notch recreating the original show’s look and charm, although a few Paddington fans protested of him choosing Marmite over his traditional favorite, Marmalade.

Then again, this shows how a lot of people aren’t all that fond of Marmite (myself included). Heck, there were even a series of adverts back in the 90’s showing people getting rid of their jars in many different ways!

09/18/08  7:57am

Silly bear…everyone knows Vegemite is vastly superior.

09/18/08  9:02am

Aw, really really good. Nice to have a throwback with such charm.

Cheers to the creators,

MAC

09/18/08  9:20am
Emil says:

Perhaps the same minor filmic fudge is present in the original spot the boys have faithfully recreated, but the cause of the accident doesn’t seem to clearly register (could be too many frames dropped in You Tube): the lady veering into the vehicle’s path due to the errant bird. The sound effect does nonetheless help to put it over.

09/18/08  3:48pm
matt says:

Truth in advertising - well I never!

I loved the “love it or hate it” thing - it strikes the perfect chord for this product, and the charm of that thematically goes hand in hand with Paddington.

Oh and I can’t stand the stuff. Vegemite all the way, baby!

The cause of the accident registered to me - maybe your youtube stream/computer/memory is dropping too many frames as you say Emil? Time for a restart?

09/19/08  10:19am

Marmite is awful stuff.
Vegemite on the other hand…

09/19/08  10:30am
jip says:

It’s always at the table when I lunch at a friends. But I never know what to do with it.
I thought I read it’s supposed to be used with peanut butter. But then I found out that’s not right.
Why isn’t Paddington educating us more about how to use this stuff properly?!

I like the commercial though. Very cute.

09/19/08  5:35pm
Crystal says:

I loved loved loved that old series! The style of it was so super cool! Nice job in recreating it!

09/19/08  11:39pm
matt says:

I guess this is sorta on-topic… The one thing (mainly American) people don’t seem to understand, is that you GO LIGHT! It’s NOT a heavy spread like jam or peanut butter or something. It’s strong stuff and you don’t need much. They’re yeast extracts! Vegemite is too salty to use too much, and Marmite too strangely sweet AND savoury at the same time.

Just a little public service announcement for all those who haven’t been brought up with these sort of things.

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