Castello has launched a new Australian campaign challenging the habit of eating on autopilot, using an animatronic cockatoo and a deliberately over-the-top meal-replacement stunt with food creator @DonutDaddy to Aussies to slow down and enjoy their food.
Australians are busy, that eating is increasingly becoming something squeezed between meetings, screens, and everything else competing for attention.
The new spot responds to a culture where Australians are among the world’s most stressed workers and time pressure is increasingly shaping how and where people eat. The sad desk lunch has become familiar, screens follow us to the table, and meals can easily turn into just another task to get through.
Created by Arla’s in-house agency, The Barn, the campaign brings the idea to life through a series of attention grabbers. At the heart of it is a new brand film directed by Beatrice Pégard-Ferry and produced by Holy Ravioli, following a woman eating on autopilot until a persistent cockatoo snaps her back into the moment.
In the spirit of being in the moment, the team chose to eschew CGI in favour of building a lifelike animatronic cockatoo operated on set by six puppeteers. The hands-on approach carried through the wider production, with analogue-inspired photography and behind-the-scenes content celebrating the makers, mechanics and imperfections involved in creating the work.
The same idea was pushed further on social with Australian food creator @DonutDaddy. In a stunt designed to take time optimization to its logical extreme, he appeared to give up eating altogether, replacing meals with a Castello-branded pouch of blended food so he could spend less time eating and more time being productive.
The campaign will run across film, social and outdoor.
