Premiered 2018 · Fruit of the Loom #Animation#SocialSeries
Three animated short films born from real notes teachers sent home — because parents can't be prepared for everything their kids bring back, but they can be prepared with back-to-school packs.
Why
Same back-to-school brief, same Facebook audience: keep Fruit of the Loom top of mind with parents. This time the truth was the notes kids bring home from their teachers — because you really can't be prepared for those.
What we made
We found real teachers' notes that parents had posted online, contacted the parents, and gave each note its origin story — three animated short films about how, exactly, that note came to be. Every one ends the same way: parents can't be prepared for everything, but they can be prepared with back-to-school packs.
The Making Of Notes
A personal note: this was made with a true animation studio — Tulips & Chimneys in South Africa — before AI. We chose the characters, worlds, colors, and scenes from their sketches; you can see the range in the process gallery. I love animation, and learning how character development really works, watching it come together in progress, made this one of my favorite projects to build.
Press
Nacho Hero
The note from home: kid got a nacho in the eye. The film above tells the why — he spends the day using nachos for good, knocking away the peas a bully flicks at a girl, saving a classmate from a bee, stopping a doodler mid-presentation — until one finally lands in his own eye. Kids always have the wildest stories about why things happened.
Best Friends
The note: "Maya may have a worm in her pocket. Thought you should know." The film: a little girl and her worm best friend — finishing her homework, straightening her bow, doing everything together. Of course she's in the pocket.
Strawberry Fields
The note: "Nikki's friend accidentally ate her lip balm." The film: a girl shows her strawberry chapstick to the class, one whiff carries a boy into a strawberry land of smells — and the amazing strawberry he bites turns out to be the chapstick.
The Process
Characters, worlds, colors, and scenes — the strawberry land, the classroom, the many Nacho Heroes and worm girls we got to choose from.
Credits
- Creative Director
- KT Thayer
- Senior Creatives
- Alexis Jabbour & Bert Marissen
- Integrated Video Production
- Alina Moeller
- Production & Animation Studio
- Tulips & Chimneys