Travel-Friendly Promotional Barrels

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Client: Bundaberg

Agency: oOh! Media

Brief: Create realistic replicas of Bundaberg’s iconic barrels for a national promotional campaign

Big Kahuna created 7 lightweight, transportable barrels to go on the road with Bundaberg

The barrel is the iconic symbol of Bundaberg Brewed Drinks. So much so, they built their famous tourist centre in the shape of a traditional barrel in 2005.

So, naturally, when Bundaberg took their promotional campaign on the road last year, they wanted to take their distinctive barrels with them. But faced with lugging bulky, wooden kegs all over Australia and New Zealand, Bundaberg knew the real thing would be far too cumbersome so oOh Media! came to BKI for a functional alternative on Bundaberg’s behalf.

BKI rudimentary CAD drawing of Bundaberg barrrel design

The Bundaberg promotional barrels needed to be lightweight, transportable and as realistic as possible. First, Big Kahuna designed the barrel into three sections, nested within one of the parts for very compact transportation. Then to tick the ‘realistic’ and ‘lightweight’ boxes, BKI chose to reproduce the barrels in fibreglass from fibreglass moulds. The result was seven Bundaberg-branded barrels for oOh Media! that traveled around a healthy chunk of Australia and across ‘The Ditch’ equipping Bundaberg with high-fidelity, experiential marketing hardware that powerfully reinforces the brand.

Photo courtesy of oOh! Media and Bundaberg

Big Kahuna’s Jewel in the Sky

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Client: The Touched By Olivia Foundation

Brief: Create a one-of-a-kind sculpture for TBO’s world-famous playground Livvi’s Place

The Jewel in the Sky sculpture BKI designed and built for the Livvi’s Place in Five Dock’s Timbrell Park, NSW
BKI rudimentary CAD drawing

Children’s Charity The Touched By Olivia (TBO) Foundation is the force behind Livvi’s Place – the internationally-heralded, all-ability playground popping up in parks all over the country. With help from leading playground experts, disability specialists, architects and early childhood academics, Livvi’s Place was uniquely designed so that all children, regardless of their ability, can play side-by-side.

The TBO Foundation approached BKI during the construction of the first Livvi’s Place in Five Dock’s Timbrell Park, NSW. The brief was to create a one-of-a-kind sculpture to sit at the entry of the playground. Inspired by the extraordinary play space and the foundation’s butterfly logo, BKI created the Jewel in the Sky sculpture.

From many angles the sculpture appears disjointed and abstract, but when you come to one focal point in front of the five-planar assembly it transforms – the seemingly irrelevant pieces suddenly come together to form a beautiful butterfly that is flying amongst the green hills above a river bridged by a yellow brick road with colourful, dangling fruits cast from tinted, transparent resin.

Only revealing its form from a certain angle, the Jewel in the Sky appears to be a jumbled mess until you stand in front of it ready to enter the plaground

Big or small the sculpture greets everyone who enters with a cheery burst of vibrant colour from its perch atop the entry gate of this magnificent playground.

This September, Livvi’s Place in Timbrell Park was named the best play space in the country by Parks and Leisure Australia. The original playground has just celebrated its first birthday last November and there are 29 more Livvi’s Places planned for parks around the country.

The original sculpture has been so well received that Big Kahuna has just sent off a second Jewel in the Sky for a Livvi’s Place located at Victoria Park in Dubbo, NSW. These projects were great opportunities to showcase Big Kahuna’s more artistic side and we can’t wait to do more!

Pictures of the Jewel in the Sky at Five Dock and Dubbo…

From CGI to 3D Puppet: Bankwest Sees the Light

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[youtube=http://youtu.be/LTpKaVbjVEU]

Creating the Happy Banking Sun

Client: Bankwest

Agency: Hostville

Production Company: Plaza Films

Brief: Create a 3D, animatronic puppet referencing the well-known ‘Sun’ character from Bankwest’s Happy Banking campaign

Big Kahuna Imagineering continues to work hard on the Bankwest ads with almost too-hot-to-handle agency Hostville and production company Plaza Films. In Bankwest’s post-GFC splurge on TVCs with fellow puppeteer and witty director Paul Middleditch, BKI was called upon to create a three-dimensional puppet referencing the well-known ‘Sun’ character for the continuing Happy Banking Campaign.

What lies beneath...

Previously computer animated, Big Kahuna wanted to give the ‘Sun’ puppet features that would allow it to interact with actors face-to-face. So, we designed and built custom mechanisms that make the mouth move asymmetrically, sunbeams wiggle and eyebrows arch independently or together. It’s all of these expressive nuances that brought a level of realism to the set offering greater viewer affinity for the character.

And while we’re on the Bankwest subject, here’s a look at all of the Happy Banking characters that BKI has been involved in puppeteering.

Big Kahuna custom built the original ‘Goldfish’ and ‘Grass Head’ puppets. As to ‘Flower’, ‘Dog’ and ‘Teddy’; we disassembled the original model of each and inserted the required animatronics such that they could act and be animated live on set. We then went behind the scenes on the set of the Bankwest commercials to manipulate and sync the characters’ movements with the live audio playback.

Some of Bankwest’s Happy Banking characters

615 POS Units for HP

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Client: Hewlett-Packard

Agency: Convert

Brief: 615 point of sale units to showcase HP’s latest breakthrough in technology, HP ePrint

Just a few of the 615 POS units we custom designed & built for HP
BKI sketches for HP ePrint POS units

One of Big Kahuna’s newest relationships in the brand identity realm is our collaboration with specialist retail-advertising agency, Convert. Late last year, the Big Kahuna team was keeping busy designing and building 615 point of sale displays for the world’s largest IT company, Hewlett-Packard.

Launching the latest development in the web-print revolution, Hewlett-Packard has developed a range of printers they’re calling HP ePrint that allows users to print from anywhere, anytime with any Internet-connected device. No cables, drivers or close proximity required.

To champion this fantastic breakthrough in technology, Convert asked BKI to custom-design and build the interactive display cabinets for its client, HP. The concept evolved through a number of phases as we sought the best balance of style, function and cost, but the final product is a stunning success. Engaging and eye-catching, keep a look out in your local HP retailers for our chic POS units because all 615 of them are popping up throughout Australia and New Zealand!

Big Kahuna’s final product for HP