Campaign Callback: what we can learn from Sheba's commitment to nostalgia and self-awareness

An advert from 2019 is doing the rounds again, and we can't deny the creative team at AMV BBDO certainly committed to the brief in this 90-second vintage music video, which features Vincent Le Chat, French crooner lyrics, and a kitsch set.

The ad for Sheba Food cat food remains timeless given that it's styled as a sort of lost European pop artefact, quite at odds with your classic pet food commercial. 

A faux-retro musical fantasia successfully turns cat food into a piece of cult cinema that stands up today.

The Perlorian Brothers at MJZ were called on for their reputation for deadpan commitment, treating the absurdity as serious. The ad features vintage 70s lenses and a record mastered at Abbey Road. All of which gives the campaign a lovingly created texture and detail.

A mockumentary about the making of the film adds to the self-awareness, letting the campaign become both the finished artefact and a behind-the-scenes story about ambition.

Miles Nathan, executive producer and founder of The Story Club, succinctly summed up the ad journey: “What do you do with a 20" cat food brief for SHEBA Food? Easy - you make a 90-second vintage music video starring Vincent Le Chat, complete with French crooner lyrics, a hypnotic melody, backing dancers, and a beautifully kitsch set built in Poland.

“You get amazing directors, The Perlorian Brothers at MJZ, who understand the tone and 100% 'commit to the bit'. You hire Yorgos Lanthimos's DoP and shoot on vintage 70s lenses. You print actual records that you get mastered at Abbey Road Studios. Then you self-shoot a mockumentary about it with the last £500 you have left.”

Hard to deny the formula, and happily it looks just as fresh today. 

Credits

Creative agency: AMV BBDO
Creatives: Clark Edwards and Andre Hull
Production company: MJZ
Sound and music: String and Tins
Post: Freefolk
Agency producer and mockumentary director: Miles at The Story Club.