LIPSTICK

TitleLIPSTICK
BrandAMAZON
Product / ServiceAMAZON
CategoryA01. Direction
EntrantPLAZA FILMS Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Idea Creation TBWA\SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Production PLAZA FILMS Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Paul Middleditch Plaza Films Director
Peter Masterton Plaza Films Executive Producer
Misha McDonald TBWA Sydney Creative Director
Andy Dilallo TBWA Sydney Chief Creative Officer
Tanya Vragalis TBWA Sydney Head of Account Management
Chloe Saintilan TBWA Sydney Creative
Andrew Torrisi TBWA Sydney Creative
Annabel Jewers TBWA Sydney Agency Producer
Daniel Ardilley Director of Photography
Simon Morris Amazon Global ECD
Arno Lenoir Amazon Director, Marketing
Manish Singh Amazon Senior Marketing Manager
Manish Singh Amazon Senior Marketing Manager

Brief Explanation

We open on a frazzled mum at rush-hour, waiting for a tram. Checking something on her phone, she’s digging in her purse. She pulls out a red crayon, turns it effortlessly and starts applying the crayon onto her mouth. A perplexed look in her eyes, she takes the crayon away from her lips and her eyes dart across to the right, the wheels turning in her mind. The search bar pops on, and the word ‘Lipstick’ types out with the same cadence of the woman’s thoughts. Cut to a creche, where we follow a thick red line on the floor, all the way to a beaming boy, who has happily covered himself in red lipstick. He moves to smear lipstick on the day care worker. We cut to her gentle, unsure smile as the search bar appears, typing “Face Wipes” -- mirroring her thought “get this off my face”.

Execution

This campaign was created with a focus on speaking in a language that Australians understand. The search bar plays an enormous role as it was both a story point and a punch line, the way each word is typed -- rapidly or with hesitation, erratically or with focused precision -- matches the emotion of the person thinking the thought. Performances are subtle and largely internal. Because the search box tells us their thoughts, we require only the tiniest look or expression to convey emotion and bring home the humour, one reaction speaks a thousand words. Notably, when it comes to the wardrobe, props and locations, our Australian audience are going to be able to see themselves. And in terms of camera we used a mix of observational long lenses, with minimal or motivated movement, speaking to the poetry of real life, simply observed.