Brilliant branded content: Geoff the Film from Heinz Australia

Bravo to Heinz Australia, agency Y&R New Zealand, and studio Assembly Ltd. for this bit of genius.

If you haven’t seen Geoff the Film, take three minutes and watch it:

(if you’re like me, you’ll watch it a second time – it’s that good)

Firstly, this is a bold piece of filmmaking. Conventional wisdom is that a three minute running time is too long. The decision to tell the story with no dialogue and limited narration is risky, because it requires more attention from your audience. And taking a cinematic approach to a commercial is expensive.

Secondly, it’s executed brilliantly. The craftsmanship is superb, with lighting, music, character animation, editing, and production design simply spot-on. Omitting dialogue means that the character performances have to be evocative and nuanced, and the music cues have to be perfect, and the production teams deliver. It has all the technical quality of a film, of something a person would watch for sheer entertainment.

Finally, what an amazing approach to a rebrand! Heinz is a venerable brand, with generations of loyal consumers. It can be tricky for such an established product to make any changes at all without getting a lot of negative backlash. Most consumers won’t like the change and express suspicion that there has been a change in value along with the change in packaging.

But the storytelling construct of Geoff completely bypasses that kind of negative feedback by couching the rebrand in an emotionally compelling narrative. We like Geoff, we care about him, and, through the course of the spot, we learn:

• Geoff loves beans as much as we do
• Geoff has to solve specific practical problems for his situation
• Each new iteration of can is an innovation for the problems that Geoff has, moving him closer toward happiness

Geoff makes the case for the rebrand emotionally, and does it in a more compelling way than any talking head would do. It’s an absolutely perfect solution, because people’s attachment to the old branding is an emotional one as well: this isn’t about the product, it’s about the nostalgia. Heinz personifies these impulses and creates a new story with just as much emotional relevance. Incredibly clever.

In terms of investment, creating the three minute film and then an assortment of :15s really maximizes the media buy. The film is watchable and sharable and delightful; the :15s simply recall it to mind and re-state the targeted marketing message.

This film exudes the classic charm of an animated film, while simultaneously accomplishing a complex marketing maneuver. Its deceptively simple appeal makes it a brilliant piece of branded content.