work

Mention Gerard Roofs to anyone, and anybody born prior to 1986 will find themselves rolling out the all to familiar baritone jingle, accompanied with visions of  John Rowles staring skyward singing to the roof, in pseudo 70`s Elvis style. I wouldn't go calling it a 'great' ad, but it has however remained deeply embedded in our Kiwi minds for over 20 years now.

Such is the task when competing with a memorable classic.

This set of 6 ads set out to remove themselves somewhat from the original. Being used as the intro and outro to the One Weather Update, they needed to be fresh and stand apart from anything else. Although the Brief changed in the early development stages, the flavour stayed the same. Promoting a light weight roof, Elwyn wanted to show it through a child's eyes. They needed to be light and fun, but also a little warped. Artistic style reference came along the lines of  the dutch artist Dick Bruna's series of early children's books, 'Miffy'. Following his minimal use of line and colour, I designed the characters by breaking them down to their simplest shapes, and keeping detail to a minimum. Backgrounds were to be the same, with the roof being the focus of all 6 ads. All of these elements, matched together with some creative free reign, and a catchy jingle from Andrew at Digicake, made for a vibrant, fun, and refreshing set of ads.

director: mike howie
client: gerard roofing
agency: procreation