Dr Mumbo

The Mysterious Case of Arnott’s Wifi Teddybear

Dr Mumbo loves a mystery.

And there’s little more mysterious then the Mysterious Case of The Twisted Fave.

In the last few days, Dr Mumbo’s attention has been drawn to a mysterious YouTube channel, branded as Arnott’s Biscuits.

arnotts-youtube

Mysterious because until Dr Mumbo signed up, it had no subscribers.

And mysterious because it only has one video on it.

And that video is pretty darned mysterious too.

It features the story of a little girl straight from central casting who can’t sleep because her guilty mum is always away from home for work.

arnotts-guilty-mum

The guilty mum turns her back on Evie and heads for Hong Kong

So, naturally, like any parent would, the guilty mum calls in biscuit maker Arnott’s to perform surgery on little Evie’s teddy bear.

arnotts-twisted-watch

In what the guilty mum describes as a “surprise” for Evie, the teddy bear is unstitched and has a mysterious “device” implanted which glows in the dark, apparently whenever her mum chooses to tap her smart watch.

arnotts-glowing-bear

Which would, Dr Mumbo thinks, have been a terrifying experience for a little girl to wake up to.

Although perhaps not as terrifying as waking up to discover she has a film crew in the room with her.

Meanwhile, this amazing technology doesn’t stop here. Apparently the guilty mum’s smart watch is monitoring her heart beat, which the bear is now synched to.

Luckily, like most middle class five-year-olds, little Evie has the latest iPhone.

Curiously, it seems to be a magic iPhone though. On close inspection, the battery life appears twice – almost as if the heart beat monitor has been crudely added into the image in post production.

arnotts-twisted-faves-battery-life

In another mysterious technological leap, Evie’s hug triggers an alert in a special app on guilty mum’s smart phone.

arnotts-hug-alert“Magic,” as Arnott’s puts it.

Quite what this has to do with the launch of a new biscuit range is a little beyond Dr Mumbo’s understanding. But luckily, the video explains…

“To keep Mum and Evie connected…”

arnotts-connected

“… we twisted purple bear by fitting him with a device”

arnotts-twisted-bear

“Twisted”. Gerrit? Twisted, like Arnott’s new range of “Twisted Faves” biscuits.

It’s bang on strategy after all. And to think that Dr Mumbo had suspected it started off life as a creative idea looking for a strategy, or a brand. Shame on Dr Mumbo.

And he’s sure that it’s absolutely not another example of an awards-chasing prototype which never actually comes to mass production.

Funnily enough, Mumbrella wrote about that issue of prototypes on December 6 in an article expressing some discomfort at the prevalence of brands using elaborate technological solutions to “solve” real life problems.

The Little Evie video was posted to YouTube on December 8. But given that at the time Dr Mumbo writes this, it has only had 24 views in the subsequent six weeks, it’s almost as if a decision was taken not to publicise it.

Things became even more mysterious when Dr Mumbo’s colleague called Arnott’s to find out more about the project.

“I know why you’re calling,” the PR told Dr Mumbo’s colleague, adding that she thought it was to do with an article Mumbrella had written at about the same time the video launched. A formal statement followed:

“The platform, ‘Arnott’s Present Another Twisted Fave’, developed in collaboration with TKT Sydney, is focused on putting a twist on an old favourite. The campaign was designed to celebrate the arrival of the latest ‘Twisted Faves’ biscuit range, hitting shelves in time for Christmas 2016. Initially created to commemorate the company’s 150th Anniversary, the Twisted Faves range takes Arnott’s most-loved family biscuits and puts a new twist on them for a modern generation of fans.   

“The popular concept, which has already seen the reinvention of the Monte Carlo with a Salted Caramel filling and a Jaffa Delta Cream with an orangey twist, has helped to inspire the new creative campaign. The campaign will see a number of video content pieces rolled out across social channels and online platforms, with an emphasis on facilitating genuine family connections through a series of unexpected twists.

“To start the campaign, Arnott’s put a twist on one very special teddy bear, which was engineered to enable a busy working mother to feel closer to her daughter when away from home. The teddy bears are hoped to be released to form a second campaign later in 2017.”

Dr Mumbo notes that TKT shares an address with Arnott’s creative agency, Clemenger BBDO Sydney.

Given the very high production values, Dr Mumbo is sure that the team behind the video must be devastated to have only received 24 views for it.

Dr Mumbo hopes that as some sort of minor consolation, it wins a lot of awards.

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.