Food Fantasies Come Alive: Postmates Energizes the Campaign Trail
Indulge in a captivating food journey with This Is Your Brain on Food by Mother in LA Unleashing the power of illustrations and emotions, this innovative campaign visually portrays the irresistible allure of BBQ, boba tea, and more Prepare to be enticed and enchanted!
Campaign Trail is a platform where we analyze innovative marketing campaigns. You can find previous articles in the archives.
While delivery platforms are expanding into various industries such as groceries, retail, alcohol, and flowers, and becoming more involved in advertising, including major national campaigns and Super Bowl ads, Postmates has taken a different approach. Their recent campaign focuses on the core element of their business: food.
Postmates aimed to narrow down its target audience to younger, art-leaning, culture-leaning individuals in order to focus on delivering buzzworthy local food. Biz Anderson, strategist for Mother in Los Angeles, the brand's creative agency, emphasized the emotional impact and indescribable feelings that food evokes, rather than the platform's convenience or variety of offerings.
"Just one bite and you'll feel a rush of dopamine surging through you. But upon closer examination, you'll discover that every type of food elicits a different response," explained Hayley Hinkley, the creative art director at Mother in LA. "Our prime objective was to authentically capture the distinctive sensations of each food in a truly visceral manner."
The outcome, titled "This Is Your Brain on Food," is undeniably impactful. Through a series of 15-second advertisements, the viewers are taken on a captivating journey into the minds of individuals, where a specific food is revealed alongside an animated representation of the mental experience it evokes. The visuals range from the cheerful pastels of boba tea to the precise geometry of sushi, the comforting familiarity of soup dumplings, and the playful primary colors of donuts, among others. To execute the project, Mother collaborated with Nexus Design Studio, the motion design division of Nexus Studios, enlisting nine talented artists to bring these animated visual effects to life.
"We believed that utilizing various animation styles would immensely contribute to our goal... as each food elicits unique emotions and sensations. Opting for a single, uniform animation style wouldn't have served us well; instead, we aimed to craft and capture these captivating worlds using a diverse array of styles," Hinkley explained.
Mother in LA conducted taste tests on selected foods and developed mood boards to capture a wide range of sensory experiences, including visual textures, colors, and sounds. Collaborating with Peter Raeburn and Soundtree Music, the agency created custom soundtracks that incorporated various instruments, melodies, and tempos to differentiate each experience. The mood boards played a crucial role in building distinct worlds and providing detailed instructions to the artists, who were able to infuse their own creativity and personal touch into each spot.
“This Is Your Brain on Boba Tea” mural by Jen Stark
Courtesy of Postmates
A notable highlight is the Nashville hot chicken, which takes the intense spiciness of the dish and depicts it as a claymation race reminiscent of "Mad Max: Fury Road." This concept draws inspiration not only from the heat and spice of the chicken but also from the fast-paced and urgent manner in which it is consumed.
"We internally referred to it as 'white hot euphoria,' aiming to capture both the pain and pleasure associated with it. We believed that claymation would be a fascinating approach, particularly because when you indulge in this hot chicken sandwich, you can almost feel your face melting," Hinkley elaborated.
The release of "This Is Your Brain on Food" took place in September on various social media platforms such as Instagram, X, and TikTok. Content creators @domenicaaq and @itsbridgettebitch collaborated on this project, while a unique filter was used on Snapchat. In addition to the online presence, traditional out-of-home advertising was implemented in Los Angeles and Austin, Texas. Notable artists Akiko Stehrenberger and Jen Stark contributed murals to the campaign.
"Our aim was not only to bring our own interpretation of the relationship between food and emotions to life, but also to gather diverse viewpoints," Hinkley stated. "Each individual brought their own perspective on how food impacts them, which contributed to the magic of this project."
