Contributed by John Martin, Art Director.

Bulmers asked us to devise a social media campaign for 2010 to carry on from last year’s ‘Embrace the Pear’. We came up with the idea ‘Share the Love’ on Facebook.

We used video display ads featuring the Pear encouraging viewers to click on the BECOME A FAN button. From the Facebook page, viewers could enter competitions and find out about sampling events.

Currently, you can ‘Share the Love’with an application to send the Pear to give your friends’ profiles a hug. Coming soon, you’ll be able to upload your face and join the ‘World’s Juiciest Hug’.

But creating all this was not as straightforward as we might have thought. Luckily we had our friends at The Element to help us.

The first issue was to get a big enough studio, and the only one in town was the C stage in Ardmore. The next issue was the fact pears are green.  Most video ads  are shot against a green screen, so we in post production we can drop in a background and rub out all the green. So we had to use another colour! We opted for blue and repainted the whole of C Stage’s background.

On the day of the shoot, we set up lights and rigging. We used a video monitor to ensure the action would be within our ad formats. Bernard Rogan, our director, briefed the actors on their role in each scene then rehearsed their parts. Once everyone was happy, we started rolling the cameras.

We shot 8 different set ups and additional pick up shots during an exhausting 8hr day. By the end, even the Pear was ready for a pint of the refreshing green stuff.

Check out the work here. Or,  send the Pear to give your friends a hug!

John Martin - Senior Art Director

I started in advertising when there were things called paper and markers. Moved around town a bit, then changed religion and transposed myself from traditional to digital. Thinks a lot, moans a bit, drinks a little.