Buenos Aires animation studio Le Cube, prodco Final Frontier, and agency R/GA Shanghai reteam (after this Nike project) on a rampaging brand film for China’s Boxing Cat Brewery starring Louis, a pugilistic super-hero of suds.

R/GA Shanghai ECD Terence Leong: “We were in love with Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and we originally wanted Louie to be a charismatic and suave stop-motion puppet with a persona like Muhammad Ali. But we couldn’t find the right voice for his trash talk. Then Shing played the Spiderman theme song, and boom! Everything clicked – he’s a superhero who fights boring beers.”

Le Cube director Ralph Karam: ”

“In developing Louie’s design, adapting him from the initial 3D plan into a 2D aesthetic, we decided to use a halftone effect to create a retro comic book feel.

“It was a fine line to have him embody all the wit, coolness, and self-assured confidence of Muhammad Ali, and retain the essential humor, but without creating any sense of menace that could too easily have come across.”

“First Blood” rolled out across China last week, appearing on Boxing Cat’s official WeChat, and in live superhero-themed launch parties in Shanghai and Beijing.

 

Client: AB InBev

Agency: R/GA Shanghai
Executive Creative Director: Terence Leong
Creative Director: Shing Sian Chew
Associate Art Director: Rich Harris
Copywriter: Fang Cao
Designer: Jeremy Wang
Content Producer: Ivy Low
Producer: Ann Yao

Production: Final Frontier
Executive producer: Chris Colman, Gustavo Karam, Julieta Zajaczkowski

Animation: Le Cube
Director: Ralph Karam
Executive producer: Juan Manuel Freire, Fernanda Soma

Music/sound: Kersound Studios
Composer: Akira Terao
Singer: Yang Kai
Music Supervisor: Greg Yu