Animation Nation: History & Talent Define Argentina Ad Campaigns

Argentine animators were the driving force behind the brilliant Mama Lucchetti campaign.

The best and brightest in the world of animation converged on Buenos Aires last month for the International Animation Festival, Expotoons.

And while animation teams from Germany, France and the U.K. took home first prize in three of the Festival’s main categories, a talented Argentine team took home the gold in the Best T.V. Commercial category for the “Master of the Sopas” ad in the Mama Lucchetti campaign.

A celebration of hard-working, time-starved Argentine mothers, Lucchetti advertisements feature beautiful, bizarre-looking animated characters and the Muppet’s famous Manha-Manha song. The Madre agency and Pepper Melon studio in BA were the driving force behind the new look of Lucchetti, and their website features a fascinating overview of the character design process beginning with pencil sketches.

Variety’s Charles Newbery says its the local mastery of this “old-school skill” that sets Argentine animation apart and puts Latin America in position to challenge Asia for a larger share of the global animation pie. This would truly make the late Quirino Cristiani smile.

Cristiani was the Argentine animation director and cartoonist who directed the world’s first animated feature film using cardboard cutouts and political satire to oppose then-President Yrigoyen. Today, almost a century later, the current generation of Argentine animators are making their own mark, and according to Variety’s Newberrry, “international buyers, distributors and producers are taking note.”

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