Shoplifters Steals The Spotlight

Earlier this week, we posted the Shoplifters spot from adam&eveDDB which caught the public's attention and stole the limelight - mainly because the featured footage is... real.

Combining humour and animation, the spot conforms to the storytelling style now familiar with Harvey Nichols' ads. Booth and Stilitz shed some light on the process behind the spot.

What was the inspiration for the ad?

The Rewards App offers shoppers all sorts of wonderful freebies. It occurred to us that up until now, the only way to get your hands on freebies from Harvey Nichols was by shoplifting. We decided to compare the pitfalls of shoplifting with the ease of using the new app.

What was the most challenging part when creating the spot?

Distilling hours of footage into an entertaining, short story.

And the most rewarding?

Seeing all the characters come to life once the edit had been agreed.

Why were the Layzell Brothers chosen as directors for the ad?

We loved the Layzell Brother’s humour and character designs. They seemed like the perfect people to bring our characters to life in a fun way.

Why did you decide to use real CCTV footage in the spot and had you considered other possibilities, such as creating a reconstruction?

As soon as we realized Harvey Nichols had good footage and were happy for us to use it, we didn’t consider any other approach. Using real footage just makes the film so much more authentic, compelling and fresh as a story.

How did you decide which CCTV footage to use – were the chosen segments the clearest or most entertaining?

Generally we tried to pick the most entertaining and dramatic moments. We all had our favourite bits. Some funny. Some shocking. Some heartbreaking. They gradually got whittled down and then we had to think about how everything would fit into the story as clearly as possible.

Most of our favourite moments made it into the final film. We also had to consider things like avoiding brand names in the store or featuring members of the public outside the store - to minimise post production work.

The facial animations for the shoplifters are very humorous because they fit the bodies so well. What was the process behind creating the animations for the shoplifters?

The Layzell Brothers started by creating designs that were clean, colourful and had an individual character that would suit the actions of each shoplifter.

They would then track the footage and animate a head response according to the positioning and actionshot.

In terms of expressions, they referenced the footage as a starting point, but then added and exaggerated things to bump up the humour, as well as make the emotion more obvious to read during the fast-paced narrative.

adam&eveDDB has worked on several campaigns for Harvey Nichols – many of which are equally as funny as Shoplifters. How do you differentiate the style between Harvey Nichols with the more emotionally-charged campaigns of John Lewis?

John Lewis ads are aimed at the entire nation. They tend to be emotional, heart string pullers that will appeal to all.

Harvey Nichols ads, by contrast, are aimed at a slightly younger, more fashion-conscious consumer. They tend to be razor-edged, provocative and witty.