Zac Ella & Anthony Burrill Show Us the Way To The (Arms) Fair
Amnesty International commission some upbeat free advertising to highlight the little-know, annual London International Arms Fair.
Did you know that every year the DSEI (Defence and Security Equipment International) in the UK hosts a two day international arms fair, selling the latest in equipment for torture and war to numerous countries and individuals of questionable intentions and human rights records? Well you do now! The enormous arms fair, which was held this year at London's ExCel centre, is even surprisingly supported by the British government. This, despite the fact that some of its invitees are already on the UK's "countries of concern" list. Jolly good.
Amnesty International decided to raise awareness of this otherwise under-the-radar event by helpfully creating a little free advertising for the DSEI. They employed the skills of iconic illustrator Anthony Burrill to come up with the poster design, and Agile Films animator Zac Ella for the video. Combining a cheerily (and eerily) wholesome style with found-footage imagery of smiling 50s characters cradling money and machine-guns makes for quite the impact! In case you were in the area and at risk of missing it, they also employed smiling picket-holders to guide the way.
The spot caught our attention and tickled our fancy, so we decided to catch up with the guys themselves to learn more about the power of advertising, even for those who don't want it.
Can you tell us a bit about this campaign?
Anthony. The campaign is to draw public attention to an international arms fair being held in London.
Zac. The Arms Fair attracts thousands of Arms Dealers to London’s Excel centre every year, supported by the UK government, who try to keep it under the radar. This year, however, Amnesty International wanted to bring as much attention to it as possible by providing them with free fun advertising!
How did you get involved in it?
A. I was contacted by VCCP who are working with Amnesty on the campaign.
Z. The super creatives over at VCCP got in touch to see if I’d be interested in getting involved. I read the script and was all keen to help out the cause - and knowing my Hero Anthony Burrill had created the identity and overlook was the icing on the cake for me! Great team, great cause and brilliant approach/idea/creative.
It’s such a bizarre and semi-hidden topic that Amnesty are trying to highlight. What was your first impression when you heard about this project and were you already aware of the arms fair?
A. I wasn’t aware of the arms fair. It shocked me that such a shocking event was being held in London, with government approval and involvement.
Z. Well, I was amazed that it was happening at all! Took me a while to realise I wasn't getting my leg pulled.
Did the client already have a clear idea of what they wanted or were you given a lot of creative freedom to develop this how you liked?
A. The agency had a clear brief of what they wanted, something that initially looked inviting and up-beat, but was in reality quite shocking.
Z. The idea and script was clear with enough freedom to add some extra elements that I feared may go too far - but everyone loves a woman kissing a cluster bomb, right?
What was the style you guys were going for?
A. We used the visual language of out of town shopping centres as a starting point. Places like discount carpet warehouses, sports equipment sales, every day places we are used to seeing.
Z. Yeah, we aimed for a village fair/1980’s corporate illustration vibe and I think we executed (excuse the pun) quite well.
Did you two work together closely on this project?
Z. Oh yes, Anthony & I go way back - so it was great to collaborate with him again.
A. Yes, Zac and I worked on the animation; I gave him all the graphic elements from the posters and we had a chat about the look and feel. Zac then developed the animation and took it in his own direction. It was great to see the campaign develop.
Have you worked together before?
Z. Yes, we’ve dabbled on a couple of creative projects together, along with Paul Plowman and Malcolm Goldie (who created the bespoke soundtrack) - in fact, those guys gave me my first job after graduating!
A. Zac and I have known each other for a long time. We first met when he was a student and I came in to talk about my work. We are cut from the same cloth and have a very similar sense of humour.
The other images in this spot have a very ‘found footage’ feel to them, where did you get them all from or are they original?
Z. I used these old-school black and white manuals that were filled with these really outdated characters in power suits - it was just a case of updating them with an endearing passion for weapons… and giving them some limited puppetry animation. Hey, and let’s not forget the sultry additional V.O. from Agile Producer, Amber Millington.
The spot clearly took a lot of skill to make while looking intentionally low-fi. How do you go about making it look both low budget and reassuringly deliberate at the same time?
Z. We really wanted to give it a ‘local’ feel so based the look on simply designed posters that wouldn’t be out of place on a community notice board. We wanted an uplifting graphic look to really offset the seriousness of the issue at hand.
It’s such an unsettlingly upbeat spot considering the topic! How do you think people will react to the campaign?
Z. Hopefully it will really grab their attention and they’ll be alarmed and appalled that an arms ‘fair’ is taking place in their back garden.
A. Yes, hopefully they'll have the same reaction that I had when I heard about the arms fair, how can this be going on right under our noses?
Where will we be able to see it – on our TVs?
Z. You should have seen the posters on the Metro, which I believe went down very well, and the animation will live on the happy realms of the internet :)
We loved the idea of making a mock campaign for the arms fair! Do you think they’ll be thanking you guys for doing all their promo for them? ;-)
Z. Absolutely! Let’s hope they come back for more!
A. I don’t think so.
How does this campaign compare to previous work you’ve done?
A. My main aim is to communicate ideas, whether that’s a personal message or a campaign highlighting a cause. I’ve previously worked on projects dealing with gun crime in America and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. I think it’s an obligation as a visual communicator to use the medium to do something positive and add to the conversation.
Finally, what’s up next for you?
Z. ZOMBIES.
A I’m currently working on a new commission for National Poetry day in October.
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