Mentos x Kiss FM

The Brief

Bauer Media came to us with a new brief - Their brand KISS Fresh had partnered up with Mentos and wanted to create a short five part series of videos to celebrate emerging new music talent in the UK.

As part of their ‘Yes to Fresh’ campaign with a 2.5M investment, they had the idea of Corner Shop Drop (CSD), where 5 x up and coming artists would perform in 5 x different cornershops in the UK. This social-first campaign would be shared on KISS and Mentos’s channels and work alongside their larger campaign which included competition and social engagement. They wanted all 5 to be shot between May - August and to go live on the radio and socials by the following week. The overall feel needed to sit within the Mentos brand but also appeal to the KISS Fresh audience who are urban, edgy and fresh.

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The Approach

We reached out to our pool of diverse and talented directors to see who would fit the bill, the one who stood out was Paul Akinrinlola - British-Nigerian born and raised in East London. 

He has carved a lane of his own, creating films with an appreciation for detail in the branded content and music world for brands like Levis, Universal Music and Toyota.  So when we cooked up the approach with him, it was evident that had the vision and creative direction we were all looking for.

The corner shop setting already gave us a fresh grass-roots vibe to the series - but we wanted to elevate this into something bold and ownable to Mentos / Kiss Fresh with light pops of brand colour, brave camera moves and intriguing lens choices. But it was hugely important that we crafted our world and visual devices in a way that felt authentic to the artist and tone of their music.

_{"This campaign was a sugar-hit of music video magic, which was an absolute joy to produce. The challenge was to ensure each film had its own distinct ‘flavour’ which was tailored to the artist and track, so establishing a unique element within each film with the Director and Talent was key to bringing this all together.
We obsessed over every detail — from the perfect Mentos cameo, to one-of-a-kind props from our art department team, to wardrobe, lighting and in-camera effects. With five films to make in a short space of time, keeping the energy (and the vibes) high was a must for client and crew but we totally delivered". - Jasmine Shalkoie, Senior Producer}

A huge part of production was to subtly dress each corner shop in Perfetti van Melle (Mentos parent company) products which included Chupa Chups, Fruitella, Smints etc. Depending on the size of the corner shop this process took around 3hrs to set up with 3 people from Art Department to transform the space into a mentos space, and then back again.

So it was a balancing act of brand integration / artist personalities / music tone / appetite for adventure… all measured out with precision to grab the attention of Gen Z eyes, ears and thumbs. All the fun!

The Result

All films were released on Instagram and YouTube by Kiss Fresh and Mentos as well as the artists own social channels, they made a whopping 4 million impressions and 3.5 million views on Kiss Fresh’s Instagram page alone.

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