If I have been an avocado, how would I transfer? Or a strawberry? A spring onion, perhaps? These are questions most of us seldom ponder, however they have been entrance of thoughts for illustrator and animator Emily Redfearn as she labored alongside Droga5 London to carry Lidl’s charming new marketing campaign to life, no small feat for one of many Britain’s largest supermarkets. Lidl Foodies is a mission that has put groceries in movement, encouraging youngsters to eat healthily and displaying them the right way to develop their very own fruit and veg.
All of it started with a pitch to create a set of straightforward but impactful fruit- and veg-based characters for teenagers. Emily mocked up the imagery together with some straplines, which opened the door to an intensive animation mission.
Collaborating carefully with Lidl through the marketing campaign company, Droga5 , and her expertise company, [Roar}(https://www.roarartists.com), Emily then developed the characters further and applied the Lidl colour palette. It happens to be full of primary colours, which are ideal for children. All the while, she kept in mind that the strawberry, lemon, pepper, avocado, spring onion and tomato would come to life in short animations.
“We wanted to make sure they all had their own vibe,” says Emily. “It was important that we played off the natural shape of the characters. The avocado is very clunky and heavy, so we knew the action would need to reflect that, whereas the strawberry felt very springy and bouncy – both in taste and look – which we reflected in the bouncy movements we gave it.”
Whenever she needed inspiration for the project, Emily could step out into her garden, where she already grows lots of veggies – including ones in the animations. Using her hands-on experience, she was able to storyboard the instructional content, which some of the art directors tested on their own children.
Propagating strawberries is actually trickier to explain than you might think, as Sheffield-based Emily explains: “We debated how literally to take some of the instructions. For example, normally, you shave a piece off a strawberry in order to plant the seeds, as they are so small. In practice, it almost looked gory to have the strawberry peel off its own skin! So, we creatively solved a lot of problems like this by simplifying it down to just a single seed being plucked.”
WIP: Line work and frames from the storyboard.
Initially titled Lidl Growers, Emily developed an impactful logotype for the marketing campaign. Whereas her logotype could not have been deployed, she nonetheless had enjoyable creating it, and there could but be scope for her to broaden the Lidl Foodies world.
“The quantity of labor concerned within the mission was a problem,” says Emily. “There have been many shifting elements taking place directly, with the animations and emblem all being developed. It was a dream mission in that method – everybody concerned, from Lidl to Droga5 London to my very own brokers Skye Kelly-Barrett and Sally Paley, have been all so on the ball that it made the workload run so easily.”
We will not wait to see extra from the Lidl Foodies marketing campaign. Completely satisfied rising!
