Stockholm agency Cole, Russell & Pryce has had a tumultuous first year, producing controversial spots that went head-to-head with the beauty industry and with Sweden's energy oligarchy.
| by: | Mar 1, 2002 |
Copywriters Ole Sjoden and Hokken Angler, art director Mich Born (all formerly of Lowe Brindfors) and account manager Johannes Berg (formerly of TBWA Stockholm) launched the cryptically named Cole, Russell & Pryce in February 2001, and went straight to work on controversial spots for a Swedish animal rights group and Telge Energy.
"For Animal Rights, we ripped off those L'Oreal commercials. We had a model going into this trendy pink-walled office space, talking about how many animals were being used in cosmetic tests. And we used the L'Oreal slogan, 'Because I'm Worth It,'" says Sjoden.
Due to a Swedish law that prevents non-profit organizations from being sued, the cosmetics giant was unable to shoot down the spot. Perhaps more controversial was the Telge Energy spot, "Telge And The Power Giants." The Swedish energy monopoly was de-regulated two years ago, but rather than lowering prices through free market competition, three powerful energy companies emerged and prices actually increased.
The spot sets up Telge as the David combating the energy Goliaths, portrayed as twisted trolls. Telge is portrayed as a Robin Hood figure who tries to prevent a band of warty ogres from devouring the townsfolk.
"It ends without a happy ending, allowing consumers to decide if Telge should succeed in its quest," notes Sjoden.
Alex Brügge of Stockholm's Forsberg & Co. directed the live-action elements, while the animation portions of the spot were created by Stockholm animation, design and motion graphics company StyleWar (see "There's a stylewar going on...", Boards, March 2002).
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