Imagineering Our Clients’ Imaginations — A Peek into the Big Kahuna Imagineering Workshop

video-model-making

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSB_acKqmpI]

www.bki.com.au – Big Kahuna Imagineering makes cool shi… stuff. Models, Scale Replicas, Custom Builds, Props, Special Effects, TVCs, Character Suits, Creatures, Animatronics, Puppets, Experiential Marketing Tools… you imagine it, Big Kahuna imagineers it. Here’s a quick look at a few past projects that have come to fruition in our Sydney workshop and gone on to marketing stardom.
A few you may recognise like the Sensodyne Chill Test and Bankwest “Happy Banking” Characters but some you may have to stretch your memory to recall others like the pirate ships featured in a Mirinda TVC, interactive Toyota display and man-sized robot suit for Korean music video “Egg”.
Enjoy!

Taking Care of Garnier

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Client: Garnier (L’Oreal)

Agency:  oOh!media

Brief: Centrepiece of Garnier Shopping Centre Activation

The fish seem happy with the purity of the product...

For Garnier’s recent promotional spend, oOh!media asked Big Kahuna to create four jumbo-sized Garnier shampoo bottles to serve as the centerpiece of the beauty brand’s shopping centre activation currently winding its way through Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Working with Melbourne-based aquarium manufacturer Aquatic Creations, Big Kahuna convinced oOh!media that, whilst cheaper, vac-forming the bottles would present an inferior product not worthy of the client’s delicately-powerful product.

To vac-form the bottles would have created a seamy, bubble-magnetic, hollow bottle  requiring a coat of translucent spray paint, whereas moulding the bottles allowed us to achieve a much smoother, more realistic end result. Although this method of pouring resin for such a large object is fraught with danger due to extremely high exotherms and distortion risks, Big Kahuna devised and tested a unique formulation of premium, water-clear polyurethane resin specifically for this application.

And when we say “devised and tested”, we did exactly that. Our initial expectation that the very mould-friendly, lozenge-shaped object would be relatively easy to de-mould from a fibreglass hard mould turned out to not be the best course of action. This method would have been fine if the temperature of the high volume of resin curing hadn’t exceeded the fibreglass’ heat deflection causing the two to fuse in parts. For a one-off mould, we could have simply sanded out any imperfections but with four, perfect reproductions required, we reverted to the safety of platinum-cured silicone.

Researching techniques on-the-fly is a mainstay of Big Kahuna’s high-demand, time-critical supply ability. First-class technician Steve Reid again led the Big Kahuna team to a very successful result as Will had promised.

Bringing the whole activation together, the bottles were mounted into a custom-built fish tank by Aquatic Creations for a spectacular effect.

So, what did the client think of the job? 

“The bottles are fantastic. They exceed our expectations and we couldn’t be happier with the finish. Thanks for your hard work and professionalism. Your attention to detail is evident in the final product.”

—  Hannah Murphy, Campaign Manager oOh!media, Melbourne

More pictures…

Quick Sprint

In our Memory Lane Marathon, here’s a quick sprint…

RIPE FOR THE NICKING

If we’ve created something that is so cool some Joe off the street wants it bad enough to risk potential gaol time, we know we’ve done our job.

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Optus “We Hear You” Campaign

Fake microphones & character accoutrements stolen

BKI custom built the character for the Optus “We Hear You” campaign

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NRL Star Willie Mason’s Leg Mould

Big Kahuna Imagineering created a casting of Mason’s leg as well as imprints of his hands that fans at the 2008 NRL Fan Day could use to see how their own anatomy measures up against this rugby superstar. The NRL loved our work so much that they let some eager fan run home with it.

Read more about moulding Mason’s leg here…

Willie Mason in the BKI workshop getting a mould of his leg done
Finished mould of Willie Mason’s leg for the 2008 NRL Fan Day
Moulds of Willie Mason’s leg and hands for the 2008 NRL Fan Day

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ksubi’s “Sign of the Times” Sculpture

Big Kahuna created this 8-foot tall hand sculpture complete with severed fingers and gushing blood for premium jean label ksubi a few years ago. A replica of the fountain BKI created was installed at the label’s flagship store in Melbourne but somehow some cheeky thief broke in and stole the large sculpture in the middle of the night. Not an easy task!

Find out more…

A replica of the ksubi’s “Sign of the Times” sculpture Big Kahuna created was stolen in 2007

Other Big Kahuna Projects…