A few days ago, I sent an email to Ken Lidster, the animator for the Applejacks Commercials. I am a huge fan of him. My questions were:
1. Did you come up with the "Applejacks Adventures" campaign? If so, how did you get the ideas for the characters?
2. Will the "Applejacks Adventures" campaign continue? There hasn't been any new commercials for a few years.
3. Which commercial did you enjoy making the most? Mine is either "Late for work" or "Dream"
4. Why did the Bad Apple become friendly with CinnaMon later in the series?
His reply was:
Hi -----
Thanks for the email, I don't get them very often.
I suppose the general public rarely ever think that there is anyone behind the commercials they see everyday.
In answer to your questions: no I did not think up the original characters. It works like this; a company wants to sell their product (Kelloggs). They hire an ad agency to formulate and execute an advertising strategy. The Agency comes up with the idea and looks for a production company (in this case an animation company) to then make the commercial.
The Agency had the idea for Apple and Cinnimon and approached several companies trying to find someone that best reflected their vision. In this case it happened to be me.
I worked with the agency creatives to design the new cereal duo and then of course the world that they lived in. We came up with the mixed drawn and puppet look that was so enjoyably cartoony.
Kelloggs has been pulling back on the amount it spends on tv advertising. It started with the economic slowdown. Since then they only seem to make a spot for AJ every two years.
I'm not sure which was my favorite to work on. As for the finished product "Dream" stands up really well.
It's interesting that you noticed the change that Apple went through. No one ever notices. Originally the idea was that the two were always trying to get to the bowl first. To create a bit of fun or tension having the characters contrasting each other was to be the plan. Cinnamon the layed back Rastafarian always wins over the greedy kniveing Apple.
Just after we started the campaign a group of people started to protest against companies that they felt were at fault for making the children of America fat. They targeted Kelloggs and specifically AJ's because they were telling the general public that: "Apples were bad. As was portrayed in their ads".
It was decided to change his personality to appease these people.
Thanks again for the email. It's always fun to get a question now and then.
Ken
1. Did you come up with the "Applejacks Adventures" campaign? If so, how did you get the ideas for the characters?
2. Will the "Applejacks Adventures" campaign continue? There hasn't been any new commercials for a few years.
3. Which commercial did you enjoy making the most? Mine is either "Late for work" or "Dream"
4. Why did the Bad Apple become friendly with CinnaMon later in the series?
His reply was:
Hi -----
Thanks for the email, I don't get them very often.
I suppose the general public rarely ever think that there is anyone behind the commercials they see everyday.
In answer to your questions: no I did not think up the original characters. It works like this; a company wants to sell their product (Kelloggs). They hire an ad agency to formulate and execute an advertising strategy. The Agency comes up with the idea and looks for a production company (in this case an animation company) to then make the commercial.
The Agency had the idea for Apple and Cinnimon and approached several companies trying to find someone that best reflected their vision. In this case it happened to be me.
I worked with the agency creatives to design the new cereal duo and then of course the world that they lived in. We came up with the mixed drawn and puppet look that was so enjoyably cartoony.
Kelloggs has been pulling back on the amount it spends on tv advertising. It started with the economic slowdown. Since then they only seem to make a spot for AJ every two years.
I'm not sure which was my favorite to work on. As for the finished product "Dream" stands up really well.
It's interesting that you noticed the change that Apple went through. No one ever notices. Originally the idea was that the two were always trying to get to the bowl first. To create a bit of fun or tension having the characters contrasting each other was to be the plan. Cinnamon the layed back Rastafarian always wins over the greedy kniveing Apple.
Just after we started the campaign a group of people started to protest against companies that they felt were at fault for making the children of America fat. They targeted Kelloggs and specifically AJ's because they were telling the general public that: "Apples were bad. As was portrayed in their ads".
It was decided to change his personality to appease these people.
Thanks again for the email. It's always fun to get a question now and then.
Ken
