Ancestry Advertising Campaigns

Toast has worked with Ancestry UK, the genealogy and DNA company across their above the line & through the line activity. Over the years, we have produced highly successful TV adverts, sponsorship idents, cinema adverts and documentaries. Our starting point throughout has been to arouse curiosity – in the case of their genealogy product, “where do I come from?” and in the case of the DNA testing, we needed to take away the fear and show the simplicity of the process and the world that the test can open up.

Ancestry TV Advert

Toast produced the brand new Ancestry TV advertising campaign. Despite very challenging timelines & budget constraints, the films were delivered from concept to screen in under 8 weeks. Add to this the offer of extending the brief to include a set of sponsorship idents for “Long Lost Family” with an even more challenging timeline.

Together, the shoots took us from North London to Norfolk at a range of exciting locations. Tight time constraints meant for long shooting days, however, all were delivered with the minimum of fuss and achieved the high production values for which Toast is known. Jason Fisher Jones directed and Tamara Barton Campbell produced.

Little Jack – Ancestry DNA

Toast was invited to pitch for the latest Ancestry DNA Explainer Video. The idea behind the campaign was to produce a range of direct and engaging animations that focus specifically on what a consumer gets when they purchase the Ancestry DNA kit.

Having used the product ourselves, we knew first hand that the process of using an Ancestry DNA kit couldn’t be simpler. This, combined with the fascinating potential to uncover where your ancestors came from, was to be at the heart of the campaign’s message.

This was an exciting opportunity for us to follow up on last year’s Ancestry DNA advert we produced, ‘Inspired Journey’. Whereas ‘Inspired Journey’ was a live-action shoot, the idea this time was to produce a range of animated TV adverts so the two could run in tandem.

Sue Moncur, Ancestry UK Country Manager says:
“I am delighted to have developed such a strong partner for the business so quickly and look forward to working with them again in the near future.”

If you’re looking for an advert, Toast can take you from script to screen. Do get in touch.

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Suffragette Cinema Ad

Wayfair Advert

Toast was asked to pitch on two new TV adverts for online retailer Wayfair. Having won the pitch Toast went on to produce the Wayfair Adverts “Your Home. Your Wayfair.” and “Finds to fit your life.” A Wayfair producer from Boston Wayfair HQ and the Creative team from Wayfair Europe based in Berlin oversaw both TV adverts.

The team at Toast was amazing at facilitating all our needs for a week long TV shoot with many deliverables. They were extremely pleasant to work with and solution oriented when we had last minute requests and changes come up.

The director, Will, was very collaborative, approachable and passionate about the work and one of the best directors I have ever worked with. We plan to work with them again and couldn’t recommend them more.

- Katelyn Kennedy, Head of Production at Wayfair

Wayfair Advert 2019

This latest Lorraine Kelly advert continues Wayfair’s relationship with their brand ambassador. The latest Wayfair adverts both feature Lorraine taking the viewer through a collection of furniture and decor that are all available on wayfair.co.uk Filming for both adverts took place over four days in two different locations in South London.

Stills and behind the scenes

The project not only included filming of two Wayfair TV adverts but also a stills photography shoot, video clips for social media and sponsorship bumpers for Modern Living & Tasteful living.

TV Adverts

Wayfair has used TV advertising to grow their sales throughout Europe in only a few years. If you’re looking to increase market share have a look at our Advertise on TV guide or give Toast a call. We can walk you through an entire TV advertising campaign and answer any questions you might have.

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Compeed Advert Re-versioning

Our client, HRA Pharma (now Perrigo) came to us with assets for 2 campaigns that had been centrally shot in Europe and wanted to have them cleared and re-versioned it for the UK market.

One of the greatest hurdles for this kind of project is getting an existing script and visuals through Clearcast in preparation for screening on terrestrial TV and now also on BVOD.

Re-versioning for UK regulations

Clients are always surprised by the stringency of the UK clearance process – Clearcast is by far the strictest market in terms of proving any claims and many a client has fallen by the wayside in believing that an ad that has been passed in say the US will be broadcastable in the UK.

Toast have a great track record in communicating with Clearcast and clearing “hard to pass” scripts – not always in their original form but working with both parties to agree on alternative wording that is acceptable to both client & Clearcast.

Add to this our in-house editing and graphics capability, and you can see that Toast can deliver great value for projects like this. If you want help with a project, use the button below to get in touch.

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Sign In App Advert

Sign In App is a global visitor management solution. Started in 2013 this ambitious new challenger brand is taking the world by storm. They came to Toast with a very single-minded brief: to build awareness of the Sign In App brand. Unlike a lot of new brands, Sign In app doesn’t need to get into a complicated explanation of what it does – its name says it all.

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This Sign In App advert needed to be all about winning hearts and minds and getting people to clock the name and find out more. With the TVC “Dance In”, we made sure that we grabbed the audiences’ attention with some pretty high energy action, all delivered in a heart-warming and memorable execution. Some death-defying moves, some nifty tricks and a great composed track, this ad has all the components to bring Sign In app into the market place with a splash.

All singing, all dancing, all Sign In.

In this fun concept, we see a variety of individuals entering different locations in their own unique style. We see people dance in, scoot in and even sing in as they go into their office, school and business – even when they sign in remotely!

Concept & direction for the Sign In App Advert by Will Clark Smith, produced by Aaron Aziz, editing by John Gradwell. Music by Chris Bemand at CueSongs. Casting by Eliza Burrows-McGill.

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Allplants TV Advert

Allplants asked Toast to produce an advert that shows off their stunning plant-powered dishes and their sustainable food delivery service. Will Clark-Smith devised the concept for the Allplants TV advert. Will also went on to choreograph the adverts flow and directed the shoot.

Allplants cooks up some delicious food advertising

The Allplants advert shows many of the beautiful dishes which they deliver to your home in sustainable packaging. Dishes available from Allplants include Rigatoni Carbonara, Smoky Soul Chilli, Bhaji Daal, Shepherd’s Pie and Teriyaki Udon. Allplants flash freezes the food to lock in the freshness and package up the meals in boxes of six.

Food Advertising

Advertising food photography is a highly specialised business; getting the food to look delicious is only half the battle. Filming extreme close-ups of steaming food calls for some special equipment, on this project we used a boroscope lens from a company called Optex Excellence. The long lens keeps the furiously expensive camera well away from the sizzling and spitting food.

Another issue to deal with was the need for action shots of cooking. We used a glass-fronted oven to allow filming as the food cooked. This technique provided some of the more stunning baking shots in the advert.

Food Styling

Getting the food styling right is key to the advert looking good, and the food looks tasty. A brilliant food stylist called Rob Morris made sure the dishes in the advert looked at their best. Having a professional food stylist on the shoot is a must; food has the incredible ability to look unappetising if not presented correctly.

No Food Advertising tricks

We’ve all heard the methods used when filming food for adverts; using mashed potato instead of ice cream and PVA glue instead of pizza cheese.

We used no food advertising tricks on the Allplants advert. Allplants pride themselves on wholesome and delicious food and wanted to show the real food on screen. The only shot that involved any food rigging was to split apart two pieces of dragon fruit as the camera moved between them.

“Toast was extremely easy to work with and guided us through the process at pace without breaking a sweat. We achieved the creative standards we were looking for, and they brought professionalism and experience to help us hit our goals.

Shooting food to the level of detail we did can be difficult, but Felicity and the team brought in experts, and we were able to maximise the usage of our final assets across our website, paid socials, OOH and TV activity.”

- Alex Petrides, Founder Allplants

Allplants

Allplants are one of the newest food brands on the market. They specialise in plant-powered food delivery directly to your door. Allplants was founded in 2017 by brothers Alex and Jonathan Petrides. A recent round of funding has seen Allplants raise £7.5 million in Series A funding.

Allplants will use this funding to grow their range of dishes. It also hopes to grow its user base by expanding its advertising coverage.

Working with Startups

Toast has an excellent track record of working with startup brands that have reached a certain user base but need to grow faster than the limited audience provided by social channels. TV advertising allows growing startups to gain a massive boost in customers.

One of our most popular food advertisement videos was for the startup Innocent Smoothies. At the time, they had gained some traction by selling in selected retailers but needed a push to get their brand more widely recognised. TV advertising gave Innocent the boost they needed.

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ellaOne Advert Re-versioning

HRA Pharma came to Toast to optimise a campaign for ellaOne, a groundbreaking, over-the-counter morning-after pill. The TV Advert & Youtube Video campaign had been live for 6 months. Whilst the TV was performing in terms of brand awareness, it was clear that social was not delivering in terms of messaging or branding.

HRA asked Toast to apply best social media practices to the assets, including amending edits, applying graphics and, where applicable, re-voicing.

All this to make this great campaign perform at its best on social – a key medium for the target market.

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Cancer Research Advert

Atomic London came to Toast to produce a direct response advert for Cancer Research UK.

The Cancer Research advert message is that simply using your signature to include a gift in your Will to Cancer Research UK could lead to life-saving research and pioneering breakthroughs.

The ad consists of a series of vignettes that depict the results for cancer patients of simply giving your signature. This idea of how powerful your signature can be is very much at the heart of the film, with model signatures tying each scene together. The advert combines beautifully filmed scenes with 3D animated healthcare elements built specifically to fit within each scene.

Cancer Research funds nurses, scientists and doctors. Their main aim is to help the world beat cancer sooner. Another part of Cancer Research UK’s role is to provide information about cancer. They also help the government to formulate policy ideas based on evidence-based research.

CRUK believe that early diagnosis must remain the focus on the national health service. They also work with the government and the health service to make sure that people with a cancer diagnosis or undergoing cancer treatment have access to the best treatments possible.

Shot by Matt McConaghy on the Alexa Amira, lit by Simon Hawken & posted by Toast & Hoxton Red Sox.

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Ancestry Advert

Little Jack

Toast was invited to pitch for the latest Ancestry DNA adverts. The idea behind the campaign was to produce a range of direct and engaging adverts that focus specifically on what a consumer gets when they purchase the Ancestry DNA kit.

Having used the product ourselves, we knew first-hand that the process of using an Ancestry DNA kit couldn’t be simpler. This, combined with the fascinating potential to uncover where your ancestors came from, was to be at the heart of the campaign’s message.

This was an exciting opportunity for us to follow on from last year’s Ancestry DNA advert we produced, ‘Inspired Journey’. Whereas ‘Inspired Journey’ was a live-action shoot, the idea this time was to produce a range of animated videos so the two could run in tandem.

Animation styles

It was very important to ensure the adverts struck a balance between the explanatory elements of doing the DNA test whilst retaining the charm and character of the Ancestry brand. With all this in mind and the talented animation director/designer Sarah Klan on board, we got to work on bringing the concept to life with 2D animation. First we developed a series of storyboards which showed what style of animation would be used in the final adverts.

The animation process

Once the style was decided upon we produced an animatic which is a kind of moving storyboard which blocks out the basic movement and actions that will make up the final advert. By using this technique it’s possible to get an idea of pacing and whether 30 seconds is enough time to convey all the messages needed in the advert.

Character animation

With the general flow of the advert decided it was now time to bring our character Little Jack to life. A series of short test animation clips were hand drawn and then compiled on computer to produce short moving sequences showing the basic movements our hero would perform. The process of putting together TV adverts takes a large amount of time. By building style frames and animation tests early in the workflow it meant everyone was clear how the animation would look once we entered that stage.

Live action vs Animation

The decision to produce a live action TV advert or go down the animated TV advert route often crops up early in the production process. Each route has its own benefits and restrictions, shooting a live action advert using actors comes with the added costs of actors usage fees. Sometimes the creative concept calls for a character to perform difficult moves or stunts which would be better suited to using an animated character.

We’re delighted that, as a result, Ancestry has seen phenomenal sales increase with DNA kits selling like hot cakes!

ADVERT VERSIONS FOR GRAZE

Graze came to Toast with the task of taking the existing Graze advert and reversioning it for TV in Ireland. The challenge was that it had to be ready from start to finish in just over a month. Graze wanted to update the branding throughout, such as: updating the logo, onscreen text, and adding a new offer code. The existing Graze TV advert also required an updated voice over, one who was of course Irish.

Graze – a better and more exciting way to snack! Graze create hundreds of delicious snacks which populate supermarket and shop shelves. Graze also offer a subscription service, whereby once you’ve subscribed, Graze taste experts carefully select ingredients and design a delicious box based on your favourite flavours. This convenient way of snacking is perfect if you are on the go and don’t want the guilty after-thought of junk food, or if you are curled up on the sofa watching your favourite film and want a healthier (yet still as tasty) alternative to popcorn.

Advert Versioning

The first step was to reshoot the Graze snack boxes with one of Toast’s talented stills photographer, Lloyd Sturdy. Reshooting stills of the snack boxes gave Graze the flexibility to advertise on TV with their huge range of snacks and combinations. After the shoot, Toast switched out the old boxes in the DRTV advert with these fresh new stills. Once Toast had replaced these boxes, they then swapped out the old Graze logo with the new one and updated the onscreen text.

Reversion Breakdown

To make the Graze snacks even more inviting and tempting, one of Toast’s colourists applied a grade. Grading transformed the Graze TV advert; it made the colours vibrant and created an energetic and fun feel.

Toast thoroughly enjoyed working with the Graze team, and even got to indulge in some tasty Graze snacks along the way!

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TV Advert for Abel & Cole

We were very excited to be approached by organic produce-delivery company Abel & Cole for their first-ever launch into TV advertising. Their aim was twofold: to showcase their fantastic range of products and to highlight their ethical and environmental values.

Organic food delivery

Abel & Cole have been delivering great-tasting, healthy organic food for 30 years. They specialise in sourcing seasonal food from farmers they trust throughout the UK. Abel & Cole delivers this amazing organic food directly to customers in reusable cardboard boxes cutting down on packaging waste.

First time TV advertisers

Toast has a great track record of introducing brands to TV advertising. We produced Innocent Smoothie’s first-ever TV advert. The Innocent advert caught the public’s imagination and their growth ever since has been amazing. We’re skilled at guiding clients through every step of the TV advertising process. Toast can handle the entire production from script to screen even organising the logistics of getting TV adverts cleared for broadcast and out to channels.

Social Media Toolkit

Toast produced two thirty-second commercials for YouTube and two ten-second cutdowns for television and online. Further to these, we edited a toolkit of social elements to be used on Instagram and other social media platforms.

Filming the Advert

The shoot for the advert was completed in two days. The first day began at the crack of dawn on a fishing boat in Porth Cawl in Wales. That evening we filmed the sunset over a Herefordshire farm. The weather, albeit cold, was mercifully dry and the shoot was great fun. Finally, we travelled to a house in Streatham to film the indoor sequences. Everyone involved was a pleasure to work with. We particularly admired the professionalism of Finley the Springer and Dante the cat.

Boost sales with an advert

If you’re a brand looking to boost sales or expand into new markets and you’d like to know about how to advertise on TV give Toast a call. We can walk you through the entire process and we’re always happy to answer any questions about TV advertising.

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